The foundation of our Party is built on the values of ambition and success; with lower taxes, reward for hard work, and equal opportunity for all at its core. Since the establishment of the National Party in 1936, our values have not just been words on a page. Their meaning drives our focus, our policy, and unites our people in a common purpose.
Empowering individual freedom and choice, personal responsibility, and caring communities is about making sure New Zealanders take ownership of their own future and set a good example for future generations.
We believe that Kiwis deserve a Government that will deliver opportunities for them and their families to get ahead, not take them backwards. National have a proven track record of doing the hard work required to deliver real solutions to the serious issues facing Kiwis today. It’s not easy, but it’s solving these problems that really changes lives for the better. Our values are Kiwi values.
Three top priorities for young people from Ōtautahi
National’s commitment to young people is simple, we will deliver a strong economy. We will create more jobs and opportunities so that young people thrive in whatever path they choose. National will back Kiwi businesses and deliver a strong economy that will support growth and opportunity.
During an economic crisis, when we are losing thousands of jobs and businesses are struggling, increased government spending and higher levels of debt are required in the short-term. Every dollar borrowed must be repaid by future generations.
We don’t want to see our children paying the price for wasteful spending now. National recognises the need to act responsibly for future generations by restoring public debt to prudent levels over the next decade or so, so New Zealand is prepared for future shocks and taxes do not need to rise.
Three priorities to address inequity in education
National will:
- Invest an additional $4.8 billion in school infrastructure, including $2 billion over five years for the Fix New Zealand’s Schools Alliance, and another $2.8 billion over a decade for new classrooms and schools to accommodate growth and reduce the need to impose restrictive zoning requirements. - Ensure there is better support for children with additional learning, behavioural and physical needs by providing schools with a $480 million boost in learning support - Aim to establish 25 new partnership schools by 2023, including some focussed on high-priority learners such as Māori and Pasifika; children with additional learning needs; and in specialist education areas such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).
Three priorities to address inequity in healthcare
National will:
-Provide equitable access to elective surgery by replacing the post code lottery with standard treatment levels across the country. - Make a concerted effort to address rare disorders, with a special fund that will widen the range of drugs available and ensure that people suffering from rare diseases aren’t overlooked. We will invest $5 million into PHARMAC per annum for rare disorders. - Require the annual Māori Health strategy to identify inequality measures, recommend interventions and monitor effectiveness against inequality targets.
Three priorities to address high youth suicide rates
National will commit to a nationwide ‘Zero Suicide’ prevention strategy, with an ultimate goal of reducing suicides in New Zealand to zero.
We will require schools to deliver a skills based mental health and resilience training program from years 1 to 13 to promote mental wellbeing with a focus on cyberbullying and how to build cyber resilience.
National will fund a new, fit for purpose baseline study of children and young people. This will enable us to understand the context and conditions underpinning the mental health of New Zealand’s youth and help inform the next generation of mental health services.
Three priorities to address mental health issues
The widespread impacts of Covid-19 has not been easy for many New Zealanders. Counsellors are seeing a growing number of referrals as a result of the impacts of Covid-19, but are being told by DHBs there is no funding available to respond to this growing demand. To address this, National will urgently fund 100,000 free counselling sessions to respond to the growing mental distress caused by Covid-19 from underspent mental health funding announced in Budget 2019. National was successful in providing similar support after the Canterbury earthquakes, which delivered over 50,000 free counselling sessions.
National will establish New Zealand’s first stand-alone Minister for Mental Health to drive our comprehensive strategy and better manage the mental health system.
Establish a $10 million contestable fund for free psychological first aid training for New Zealanders as an important first line of defence to responding to mental distress in our communities.
Three priorities to address climate change
We are committed to increasing uptake in Electric Vehicles is a core aspect of National’s plan to tackle climate change. We are targeting 80,000 EVs on our roads by 2023, four times our current level. To do so, National will incentivise the uptake of EVs by exempting them from fringe benefit tax until 2025 to encourage fleet uptake, and exempt EVs from Road User Charges until at least 2023. We will allow EVs to use bus lanes and high-occupancy lanes to incentivise consumers by shortening commute times and increasing driver benefits.
We will take a pragmatic approach to meeting our international climate change commitments, and continue to incentivise decarbonisation through the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has recommended taking forestry out of the ETS and establishing a separate sustainable land use scheme. National is interested in exploring this idea. National will request the Climate Change Commission to recommend an appropriate long-term treatment of forestry in working towards our 2050 zero carbon target.
Three priorities to address racism in Aotearoa
National does not condone racism in any way. New Zealand is a home for all of us, regardless of our ethnicity or background.
Diversity is important to us. National has an extremely diverse caucus with MPs who are Indian, Korean, Pacific Islander, Maori, Filipino. This makes us the most representative Party currently in parliament. Our country is wonderfully diverse, and this is one of our most unique assets we have, and one we should always look after.
We believe in furthering the well-being of the individual regardless of their ethnicity. New Zealand needs to work collectively to see beyond the colour of someone’s skin, and make our judgements based on their actions as an individual, not as a stereotype. National has always, and will continue, to strive to give more power to different communities as they themselves are the best place to decide their own needs.
Three priorities to address child and youth poverty
National will drive a reduction in child poverty by establishing a meaningful reduction target for what really counts – the number of children suffering material hardship.
As well as these targets, National will implement regular reporting and a clear reduction target for the number of children experiencing physical and sexual abuse, to reveal the full extent of the problem in New Zealand and focus the public sector on stamping out abuse.
National will also empower parents with an entitlement worth up to $3000 for all expecting mothers that can be used to purchase services to support their child’s first 1000 days of development. Mothers and babies who have higher needs will be entitled to up to $3000 additional funding ($6000 in total), along with the support of a “navigator” to help them choose the services they need.
Three priorities to address and support youth employment
This recession will inevitably hit our youngest people the hardest. There has already been a significant increase in the number of young people applying for a benefit, and with unemployment forecast to surge in 2021, this will only get worse. Sadly, if a New Zealander finds themselves on a benefit before the age of 20, they will spend on average another 13 years on welfare. We believe it’s vital that we invest now to minimise the damage to a generation of young New Zealanders.
National will:
Create specialist Under 25 Job Coaches at WINZ offices, who will work with young adults who find themselves on JobSeeker Support to develop a personalised, intensive ‘Path to Work’ plan that provides ongoing support with their journey back into employment.
Provide targeted support to young people who would otherwise struggle to get their drivers licence.
Extend He Poutama Rangatahi – Youth Employment Pathways, into more regions to move young people who are not in employment, education or training into work.
Three priorities to support the pacific nations
National is committed to ensuring New Zealand is a responsible and a cooperative member of the Pacific, and to supporting our Pacific Island neighbours. National is committed to helping our pacific neighbours in adapting to climate change. We will tackle climate change in a measured and responsible way that honours the commitments we’ve made internationally and in the Zero Carbon Act. We believe in using new technology to reduce our emissions rather than new taxes and bans on key industries.
We are also committed to continuing our support to the Pacific nations through our foreign aid initiatives. Furthermore, we will continue to uphold the rules-based international order that allows the voices of small island nations to be heard.
It is important we continue to act responsibly in our relationship with Pacific Island nations. This includes better support so they can to grow their economies sustainably, provide core services for their citizens, improve their governance, better protect the environment and adapt to climate change.
What are three things your party will do to ensure that young people engaging with politicians will be safe?
We believe wholeheartedly that young people should feel safe when engaging and working with politicians. The Francis Report and more recent situations have pointed to a lack of respect for the power imbalances that occur within the Parliamentary environment and in the behaviours of some Members of Parliament. That is why National has agreed to, and will uphold to the best of our potential, the new Parliamentary Code of Conduct.