Source: New Zealand Labour Party
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards.
In no particular order, here are the National Government’s Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power.
Handed $2.9 billion in tax cuts to landlords
Gave a $216 million tax break to a tobacco company
Repealed our world-leading smokefree legislation
Cancelled the iReX ferries then failed to come up with any alternative, costing the country millions in cancellation fees and rising costs
Broke their promise to rebuild Dunedin hospital in full, and scaled back other hospital upgrades
Placed a hiring freeze on the health workforce
Promised to fund cancer drugs, then didn’t follow through in Budget 2024
Cut the First Home Grant, making it harder for people to get on the housing ladder
Paused the Enabling Good Lives programme, removing choice and control from disabled people
Brought back the failed experiment of charter schools, moving public money into private hands with no oversight
Put a gun lobbyist in charge of reviewing gun laws brought in after March 15
Scrapped universal free prescriptions
Set a target of 500 more police officers but is unlikely to deliver
Broke their promise to fund state houses past 2025
Cut flexible funding for the disabled community without consultation
Binned half-price public transport
Cut three billion dollars from climate funds
Failed to provide any certainty to the construction sector, resulting in 12,000 fewer jobs
Failed to notice a $6 billion hole in Simeon Brown’s transport budget
Sidelined environmental laws in favour of private profit for destructive industries through their Fast-Track Approvals Bill
Pushed families out of emergency housing to save money, with zero thought of where they would go
Hiked up vehicle registration fees
Promised to bring down rates through water services reform, but rates are on track to be higher than ever
Allowed police to withdraw from family harm callouts, despite protests from victim support advocates
Lumped a massive 12c petrol tax hike on Kiwis in 2027 after promising they wouldn’t
Mandated the removal of safe speeds around schools for most of the day
Underfunded the health system, forcing after-hours clinics to close, GPs to put up their fees, and grad nurses to look for work overseas
Resurrected boot camps against all good evidence, and they immediately failed
Promised they wouldn’t cut frontline services, then did
Failed to deliver more than half the electric car chargers needed to meet their target
Said they wouldn’t borrow for tax cuts, then borrowed $12 billion for tax cuts
Cut disability support funding for programmes during school hours
Restricted access to residential care homes
Allowed ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill to go through to second reading despite not supporting it, triggering a record-breaking hīkoi
Prompted record numbers of Kiwis to move overseas (one every 6.5 minutes)
Shrank free and healthy school lunches down to a snack
Changed child poverty targets to make them easier to achieve
Cancelled school classrooms and other building projects
Cancelled rural school bus routes forcing rural parents to add hours to their daily commutes
Claimed they would prioritise the parent category visa, then delayed it
Removed fair pay agreements
Fought against Labour’s ‘app tax’ then introduced it themselves
Cut the pay equity taskforce, claiming it was ‘no longer needed’
Cut thousands of public sector jobs
Fumbled the economy so badly there are 23,000 more people on Jobseeker support and unemployment is at a four-year high
Shifted Disability Support Services into to MSD against the disabled community’s wishes
Scrapped the minimum wage top-up for disabled workers
Scrapped free ECE for two-year-olds before it came into effect. It would have saved parents up to $133.20 per week per child.
Reinstated 90-day no cause dismissals for new hires
Is repealing the ban on new offshore oil and gas exploration
