Summarised by Centrist
ACT and NZ First have both used weekend campaign events to attack Labour while also drawing sharp contrasts with National, exposing growing tension inside the centre-right bloc ahead of the election.
At ACT’s party rally in Auckland, David Seymour said his party’s two missions were to “Lock Labour out” and “unlock New Zealand’s potential”.
“No other party can say the next three things,” Seymour said. “We’re not Labour, we’ve never worked with Labour, we’re not Labour-lite.”
Seymour attacked Labour’s spending promises, the Greens’ tax plans and Te Pāti Māori’s “toxic mix of racism and socialism”.
But he also targeted ACT’s coalition partners, warning voters about Winston Peters’ unpredictability and accusing National of drifting toward “Labour lite” politics.
ACT announced new welfare policy, including tighter independent medical certification for health-related benefits and mandatory electronic money management for some long-term Jobseeker recipients.
Seymour said welfare should “unlock potential, not trap it”.
ACT also pledged to cut the number of government departments from 43 to 19 and reduce the number of ministers from 28 to 18.
The party also confirmed Nicole McKee as its new deputy leader, replacing Brooke van Velden, who is retiring from politics at the November election.
McKee, the Minister for Courts and Associate Justice Minister, said families, workers and small businesses had carried the cost of “bad decisions, wasteful spending, and red tape”.
Meanwhile, NZ First deputy leader Shane Jones used a public meeting in Kaikōura to attack both Labour and National.
Jones said NZ First would not support “Luxon’s National Party India free trade deal”, which he described as “unfettered immigration” by another route.
“We’re not having it, end of story,” Jones said.
He also rejected National’s warning that NZ First could put Labour back into power, mocking Simeon Brown as “a Temu Napoleon” and calling the claim “fake news”.
