Summarised by Centrist
National has formally ruled out working with the Opportunity Party.
“We wouldn’t be in business with people who want to increase taxes,” Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said.
He described his position as “very, very strong”.
Opportunity was just below the 5 per cent threshold needed to enter Parliament in the latest RNZ-Reid Research poll.
Luxon criticised Opportunity’s proposed universal basic income of up to $370 a week and its planned annual land tax of 1.75 per cent on urban land and 0.5 per cent on rural land.
He said the policies would “make every New Zealander a beneficiary” and impose a “massive” tax on land.
Luxon’s office later confirmed his comments amounted to a formal rule-out of any governing arrangement with Opportunity.
Luxon subsequently said National’s caucus and board had discussed the position “for several months”.
“They’re as centrist as I am an All Black, frankly,” he said.
Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong said the rule-in, rule-out approach was “the old school way” of doing politics and argued voters were tired of political tribalism.
She said Opportunity’s wider tax package would deliver a tax cut to 70 per cent of New Zealanders, leave 20 per cent broadly unaffected and require the remaining 10 per cent to pay slightly more.
Wong said her party remained open to working with National and believed Luxon would reconsider if he needed Opportunity’s support to govern.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said Luxon had been “caught on the hoof” and had “just made it up as he went along”. Senior National MPs insisted the decision had been widely discussed and should not have come as a surprise.
