Summarised by Centrist
Parties are promising cheaper groceries, lower power bills and healthier communities, but their policies differ sharply over how much control government should exercise over businesses and private property.
Labour’s supermarket plan would separate wholesale and retail operations, guarantee smaller grocers access to stock and remove trading restrictions. National proposes splitting Foodstuffs, subject to Commerce Commission approval. ACT opposes forced break-ups, while the Greens want publicly owned KiwiMart.
Te Pāti Māori proposes a roughly $3 billion food tax credit for people earning $60,000 or less, alongside investment in community food production and Māori-owned supermarkets.
Labour would retain landlords’ ability to deduct mortgage interest, despite previously condemning the policy as “tax cuts for landlords”. Hipkins says Labour’s proposed capital gains tax would instead apply when investment properties are sold, and he does not want to risk higher rents by changing interest deductibility.
Property rights also feature in the Greens’ commercial rent policy. Councils could auction leases on shops empty for more than a year, with landlord safeguards. Changes allowing market rents to fall would cover existing leases as well as new agreements.
ACT’s farming package promises less regulation, scrapping the Zero Carbon Act and Climate Change Commission, a rural workforce visa and stronger rural policing. Its electricity policy would make lines companies justify infrastructure spending against cheaper alternatives and give households more choice over selling surplus power.
National wants screens banned in early childhood education, restricted in Years 1–3, and school-readiness checks introduced. NZ First emphasises illness prevention through nutrition, dietary-guideline reviews and research, including vitamin C hospital trials.
Meanwhile, National’s proposed MMP referendum remains uncosted, with Luxon declining to rule out a question on Māori seats.
Read more at The NZ Herald | RNZ | 1News
Re-published from the Centrist with permission
