A scheme that aims to identify the best principals and teachers and pay them more to spend time in other local schools or provide an example of best practice within their own. Schools that are struggling can ask for an allowance of $50,000 to top up the salary they can use to attract a principal. Will take $350 million from asset sales fund to build nine new schools in Auckland and 130 classrooms at existing schools.
Hire 2000 more teachers to fund one teacher-to-26 students at primary schools from 2018, and introduce a maximum average class size of 23 at secondary schools. Give an annual grant of $100 per student to schools that stop asking for voluntary donations. All students to have their own personal tablet or netbook by 2017. Opt-in policy would see the government put in $100, with parents paying the rest off.
Low-decile schools to get free after-school care and holiday programmes, free lunches, and school nurses. Measures delivered through "community hubs". Extend the 20 hours free early childhood education subsidy to 2-year-olds. Provide tertiary students with free off-peak travel on public transport.
Provide realistic support for playcentres to ensure their survival. Work towards truly providing choice for parents of special-needs students and where possible incorporate special-needs units into mainstream schools. Introduce universal student allowance that is not subject to parent means testing as a priority for full-time students.
Make te reo compulsory in all schools from primary level through to secondary level, and fees-free in the adult and community education sector. Maori history will be a compulsory component of the curriculum, designed and delivered jointly with mana whenua. Introduce civics education as a compulsory area of learning, including the importance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Redirect funding from bureaucracy to schools themselves (likely resulting in smaller class sizes). Test students entering school for learning difficulties, particularly dyslexia. Provide free tertiary education to a limited number of students (around 150,000).
Free tertiary education. Introduce a government funded breakfast and lunch programme into low decile schools. Include te reo Maori as part of the core school curriculum.
Allow state schools to convert to become charter or "partnership" schools. Establish a board of trustees registry. Make independent school funding proportional to the number of students taking up the funding, and increase it to 50 per cent of the per-student rate for state schools.
Free tertiary education. The inclusion of more of a character or civil component in the New Zealand Curriculum. Improve teacher quality through programmes such as Teach First NZ and an examination of entry requirements for training courses.
Healthy Families scheme in 10 communities to address obesity, physical activity, smoking and alcohol. Extend free GP visits to children under 13. More elective surgery.
Free dental care for pregnant women. Extend free GP visits to children up to 13 and those 65 or older. National bowel screening programme.
Levy on sugary drinks. Free dental care for students, beneficiaries and superannuitants. Extend free GP visits to all children up to 17.
Extend free doctor visits to all primary school children. Three free doctor visits a year for SuperGold card holders. Health checks for all Year-nine students.
Free doctor visits for under-18s. 1000 more obesity surgeries a year. More influence for Maori appointees on district health boards.
Four to six free GP visits a year for all children to age 10 and adults 65 or older. More public education to prevent obesity and type 2 diabetes. Oppose fluoridation of public water supplies.
Free eye, ear and dental care for everyone. Free primary care for everyone. Make tobacco available only on prescription.
Open ACC to competition from other insurers. More fees for patients if they can pay. More competition between healthcare providers.
Free annual health check for over-65s. Create national prostate screening programme. Look into national health insurance scheme to cover non-trauma disability, e.g. elective surgery for elderly.
Complete international trade agreements, encourage innovation through targeted R&D funding and new R&D hubs, fund more university places for scientists and engineers, attract foreign investment, continue ultra-fast broadband rollout, reform Resource Management Act to speed up consenting process. Establish more regular and transparent reporting on air quality, freshwater, biodiversity and oceans, reform marine reserve legislation, introduce stronger protection of rivers in national parks.
Increase minimum hourly wage from $14.25 to $16.25, develop long-term plans for regional growth and fund $200m in infrastructure, increase trades training and apprenticeships, new tax/loan incentives to encourage timber processing, re-introduce R&D tax credit. Make all rivers swimmable within a generation, introduce a price on freshwater use, more funding to prevent kauri dieback disease, increased protection for Maui's dolphin.
Increase Government R&D spend by $1 billion, fund more tertiary places in maths, science, engineering and computer science, create new Government-owned bank to invest in eco-friendly projects, ban deep-sea oil drilling. Make all rivers safe for swimming by introducing maximum pollution standards for rivers and a price on water, increase protection for Maui's dolphin.
Raise minimum wage to $16, introduce fund which returns 25% of mining royalties to the immediate region, increase R&D tax incentives with goal of two per cent of GDP for R&D.
Double Maori and Pasifika trades training places, introduce living wage of $18.80, investigate tax credits for volunteers and community workers, oppose changes to Resource Management Act principles.
Make R&D tax-deductible, create a government fund for innovative start-up companies, undertake a comprehensive stocktake of New Zealand's minerals within Crown land to create platform for increased mining activity. Introduce nationwide scheme to clean up waterways and cut down on air pollution in urban areas, ban inshore fishing trawlers to replenish fish stocks.
Halve price of broadband and ensure universal access, introduce living wage of $18.80, repeal youth rates, create small business start-up fund. Moratorium on fracking and deep-sea oil drilling, regulate farming practices to reduce environmental damage, increase funding for communities to protect waterways.
Abolish or dramatically reform Resource Management Act to create a presumption in favour of private property rights, Liberalise employment law, sell off all state-owned assets. Reduce environmental regulations to better recognise property rights, explore innovative ways to protect natural resources.
Oppose changes to Resource Management Act principles, increase R&D spending to at least the OECD average, introduce zero tuition fees for science and research, review all legislation and regulations which unnecessarily constrain farming industry. Stronger regulations for offshore oil drilling, place all freshwater in Crown ownership in perpetuity, set stricter water quality limits.
Return a surplus of $297 million in the current financial year, growing to $2.9 billion in 2018. Limit new spending each year to $1.5 billion to avoid putting pressure on interest rates. Reduce net debt to 20% of GDP by 2020. Maintain performance targets in specific areas to improve public service results: eg NCEA results, reducing crime. Outline the conditions required for moderate tax cuts for low and middle-income earners in the next term.
Capital gains tax of 15% on all realised assets (except the family home) including businesses, shares and investment property. Introduce new top rate of 36c on income over $150,000 and increase trust rate to 36c. Give the Reserve Bank the ability to increase KiwiSaver contribution rates to take cash out of the economy as an alternative to raising interest rates. Make KiwiSaver universal. From 2016, gradually raise contributions from six per cent to nine per cent (4.5% each from employer and employee). Reinstate tax credit for research and development.
Replace the emissions trading scheme with a carbon tax of $25 a tonne except on agriculture which would be $12.50 a tonne (forestry credited at $12.50 a tonne). Use revenue to create a $2000 tax free band and to lower corporate tax-rate from 28c to 27c. Increase personal tax rate from 33% to 40% for all income above $140,000 and raise trust tax rate from 33% to 40%. Create a state-owned Green Investment Bank to facilitate private capital flowing into eco-friendly investments. Capital gains tax on all realised assets except the family home.
Lower tax rate from 28% to 20% for exporters. Reform Reserve Bank to give it more power to manage currency. Reintroduce tax credit for research and development. Buy back shares in state assets. Remove GST from food and rates.
Kainga Whenua loan scheme providing 100% loans up to $200,000 to build, maintain and repair homes on multiple-owned Maori land. Available only to those people who have no other access to finance to build, relocate to or buy on their multiple-owned Maori land.
Introduce tax-free band for first $20,000 of income, then a flat tax rate.
Financial transactions or "Hone Heke" tax on financial speculation or share transactions. Capital gains tax on income from the increase in value of property, shares, bonds and precious metals. Wealth tax on luxury items over and above GST.
Gradually reduce top income tax rates to 20 per cent as spending permits. Progressively reduce corporate tax rate from 28 per cent to 12.5 per cent by 2020. Require a 75 per cent vote in Parliament for new taxes.
Reduce income tax for families with children (through income sharing). Make KiwiSaver compulsory. Make superannuation flexible by allowing people to take a smaller allowance at 60 or larger allowance at 70.
Complete most Roads of National Significance including Auckland's Waterview Connection, The Waikato Expressway, Tauranga's Eastern Link and Wellington's Transmission Gully by 2020, for more than $8 billion. Spend $212 million extra on regional highways from asset sales, on top of $360m from fuel tax. Keep supporting KiwiRail's 'tunaround' plan, to which it has committed $104 billion, and Auckland's electric trains, but concentrate on the main trunk rather than regional lines. Spend $100 million over four years on urban bikeways, in addition to $127m on walking and cycling nationally.
Rebalance transport spending from 'low-value' projects to congestion-busting, growth investments. Immediately half-fund Auckland's $2.2billion underground railway and priorities more bus-ways. Complete the Waikato Expressway but seek ways of reducing an 'unjustifiable $3billion high-interest mortgage' on Transmission Gully, with it otherwise supports, and replace Auckland's planned motorway extension to Wakworth with safety upgrades to the existing highway. Reopen Napier-Gisborne rail-line, investigate upgrading Northland line and adding a Mardsen Pt link. Ban trucks from fast lanes and exceed National's waling and cycling spend.
Spend $36.4 billion over 10 years on land transport, about $160m less than what National proposes, but allocate $14.8b to public transport, compared with a Government policy indication of $3.8b. Spend $15b on roads, but mostly on maintaining them, leaving less than $3b to extend what it calls a relatively mature highway network. Cancel Waikato Expressway bypasses of Hamilton and Huntly, and the Puhoi-Warkworth motorway extension. Fund 60 per cent of Auckland's underground railway, provide free off-peak public transport to tertiary students and apprentices and spend $100m annually on walking and cycling.
Create railways of national importance, starting with a $300m transfer from the Government's 'bloated' roads of National significance programme, which it will review. Reopen the Napier-Gisborne rail line and work towards adding passenger trains to all rails routes between main centres such as Hamilton to Aucklalnd with connecting coaches to outlying areas. Not allow roads to be corporatised or privatised, but back “practical, socially supportive and economically feasible demand management” including charging motorists on some major arterial and motorways. Add 200km of median barrier or other safety treatments to busy high-speed roads.
Reduce transport disadvantage by shifting focus from private cars to make public transport, walking and cycling core activities. Improve people's connections to their environment in rebuilt neighborhoods with a focus on community safety, including separated walking and cycling paths, and lower speed limits for areas with high pedestrian counts. Improve urban design and provide easier access to broadband, so people have less need to travel. Promote low-emission vehicles, and hold cross-party discussions to assess the impact to reduced oil production on Aotearoa.
Allocate road fuel taxes more closely to regions where they are raised, reducing Roads of National Significance funding while still leaving enough to clear major traffic bottlenecks such as with another Auckland harbour crossing. Introduce more road tolls to raise money for new projects. Scrap road-user charges on diesel vehicles, in favour of collecting fuel tax at the pumps. Extend bus-ways ahead of new passenger rail projects. Introduce road-side testing to catch drunk or drugged drivers.
Provide free and frequent integrated public transport in main population centres, and work towards reducing or abolishing fares elsewhere. Promote a move to low-emission energy sources for public transport, such as electricity or biofuel. Secure state ownership of the national transport infrastructure, including railways, air services and ports. Provide separate pathways for pedestrians and cyclists, and lower speed limit in areas with high pedestrian counts.
Has a roads policy rather than a more general transport manifesto. Believes roads and the public and private transport they facilitate are among New Zealand's most important infrastructure assets, and wants to reduce regulatory restriction and improve funding models for building them. Charge motorists for driving on roads, to ensure they are used more efficiently and provide price signals for building new ones, as well as raising revenue for public-private partnerships. Scrap the compulsory bicycle helmet law to double cycle use without spending taxpayer's money on separated bike-ways.
Complete the Roads of National Significance with greater reliance on public-private partnerships. Put more car parks around city-centre fringes, to encourage people to catch buses or trams or cycle or walk their final two kilometers. Legislate for compulsory third-party vehicle insurance. Prioritise Auckland Airport rail over an underground railway costing four times as much. Review the compulsory cycle helmet law but improve bike lines to encourage more pedalling and lower speed limits in areas of high pedestrian use.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT: Amended Overseas Investment Act regulations in 2010 to introduce a new rule to protect New Zealand's economic interests and an offsetting "mitigating factors" test to consider local involvement in any proposal to buy up "large" amounts of farmland. IMMIGRATION: Currently reviewing the Investor Plus scheme for wealthy immigrants. Raised the cap on Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workers who come temporarily from Pacific nations to work in horticulture and viticulture from 8000 to 9000.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT: Foreign purchases of more than 5ha of rural land must create more jobs or more exports than if a New Zealander bought the land. A ban on foreigners buying existing NZ houses unless they have residency. IMMIGRATION: Adopt "counter cyclical" migration controls to curb numbers during strong economic growth and allow more during slower phases. Adjust the points system to incentivise migrants to settle in regions. Review the Investor Plus scheme.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT: A ban on farm sales over five ha to foreign investors. Strengthen the national interest test for foreign investment and ensure the Overseas Investment Act is properly enforced. IMMIGRATION: Support for entrepreneurs and migrants with green/sustainable economy skills to move to New Zealand.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT: Restrict ownership of houses and land including farmland to New Zealand citizens and permanent residents. Introduce a register of foreign ownership of farmland and residential real estate. IMMIGRATION: A strictly controlled cap on family reunion immigrants with "fairness" across all nationalities. A cap on older migrants to control impact on health and other services. Strategies to encourage regional dispersion of immigration to take pressure of Auckland.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT: A ban on land sales to foreigners. If land is to be sold Maori should have a right of first refusal. IMMIGRATION: Must be compatible with "Maori aspirations for economic development and employment and training opportunities". Education for citizenship must as a priority incorporate understandings around Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT: Opposes all substantial land sales to foreign business interests. Would change the criteria of the Overseas Investment Act to prevent sales. Supports alternative approaches such as joint ventures and leasing options. IMMIGRATION: Fewer immigrants with regime that’s more responsive to the country’s economic needs. Align New Zealand's regime more with Australia's. Migrants must have pre-paid private health and accident insurance for their first eight years in New Zealand.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT: Require any foreign investment to satisfy a Te Tiriti o Waitangi impact assessment and approval from mana whenua. IMMIGRATION: Did not provide details.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT: Privately owned farmland should be removed from the criteria considered by the Overseas Investment Office process. Overseas Investment Office approval process should only apply to “significant” assets. IMMIGRATION: Remove the requirement for immigration agents to be licensed. Ensure that immigrants do not gain easy access to welfare. Introduce a five-year probation period during which immigrants who offend can be sent home if convicted of an imprisonable offence.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT: Supports the current Overseas Investment Act but wants to see it applied more rigorously. IMMIGRATION: Establish a global online service that matches potential skilled migrants with job opportunities in New Zealand to help fill critical skill shortages. Ensure that advice and information is available to businesses to support them in hiring migrants to fill skill shortages.
Target domestic violence by establishing a Chief Victims Advisor and introducing an intensive case management system which provides specialist support for the most at-risk victims. A new 'home safety service' to support people who want to leave violent relationships. A conviction disclosure regime which may allow a person to be told if their partner has a history of violence. Consider mobile safety alarms for victims and GPS tracking for offenders. Reduce gang-related crime with a cross-agency gang intelligence centre and a suite of changes to help monitor gangs and prevent their expansion.
Begin a prime minister-led programme to eliminate domestic and sexual violence. Provide $15 million a year for frontline services, primary prevention and education, and trial transitional housing for abused people. Reform the justice system to ensure victims of sexual cases are not intimidated by court processes, and amend the definition of consent to place the burden of proof on the Crown, instead of the victim. Reverse cuts to police. Review safety of prisons and improve protections for Corrections staff. Increase reintegration services for ex-prisoners. Establish a UK styled criminal case review commission to deal with miscarriages of justice.
Speed up and expand Corrections' shift towards restorative justice by providing more funding for community-based alcohol and drug treatment programmes and jobs training in prisons. More funding for reintegration services such as accommodation for released prisoners and help to get into work. Provide greater funding for police to allow them to properly fulfil their "prevention first" approach. Ensure everyone in New Zealand has access to justice, in particular legal aid.
Castle Doctrine law for people to protect their homes and families using necessary as opposed to reasonable force. Homeowners would be able to use "any firearm that is lawfully available to that person" to defend themselves. Reintroduce the offence of being intoxicated (from drugs or alcohol) and disorderly in public, including penalties of a $2000 fine or three months' jail. A minimum non-parole period of 40 years for murder, and cumulative sentencing for offenders convicted of more than one crime.
Repeal "three strikes" law and legislation which bans prisoners from voting. Re-direct funding into community-led justice. Ensure community law centres are properly funded and extend the centres to six more regions. Introduce whanau facilititors. Support whanau-focused alcohol and drug treatment in and out of prison, and introduce computers in jail cells. Review institutional racism in the justice system. Scrap the Independent Police Conduct Authority and replace it with an Anti-corruption Commission, which would absorb the powers of other agencies' investigative functions.
Tougher sentences for offenders. Abolish parole so criminals serve full sentences with no early release. Increase the number of working prisons and increase inmates' workload.
Increase the use of non-custodial, rehabilitative and restorative approaches to crime, and improve access to jobs, education and housing for released prisoners. Introduce a Sentencing Council to advise and provide guidelines on appropriate sentences, and amend the Sentencing Act to promote community based sentences. Investigate the procedures used in sexual assault cases and consider alternative trial processes. Support Labour Party move to shift burden of proof to accused in rape cases. Abolish all prisons and replace with "habitation centres" which focus on restorative justice (Mana).
Introduce "three strikes" legislation for burglary which creates mandatory three-year sentences for a third conviction. Review sentencing laws and introduce "tough and principled sentencing" that deters serious crimes. For murder cases, the accused would be sentenced according to the degree of murder. Reform victim compensation scheme by making the state pay a lump sum to the victim and then take responsibility for collection. Tougher sentences for livestock theft and confiscation of weapons and vehicles used.
Ensure minimum police staffing levels in communities, especially in rural areas, and require police to co-ordinate with social services and child protection agencies. Prioritise victims by requiring judges and parole boards to make victims' safety paramount when considering bail or parole applications. Make sure victims are fully compensated through a ten per cent levy on offenders' income. Encourage early intervention programmes by increasing access to parenting courses, values education in schools, truancy crackdowns and more funding for mentoring programmes, mental health services and adult literacy. Make drug and alcohol rehabilitation courses available for all inmates.
An unconditional target of 50 per cent below NZ's 1990 carbon emissions levels by 2050. Short-term target of five per cent reduction by 2020, or 10-20 per cent if there is a global agreement. Meet these targets through a mix of domestic emission reductions, the storage of carbon in forests and the purchase of emission reduction units from other countries. Maintain the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), whereby companies have to buy a carbon unit to cover each tonne of pollution they emit, and the Government gives trade-exposed businesses up to 90 per cent of their units free of charge. 90 per cent of NZ's electricity will be generated from renewable sources by 2025.
Adopt more ambitious emissions reduction targets than the present Government. Establish an independent Climate Commission to set out a carbon budgeting process which ensures significant cuts in emissions. Strengthen the ETS, require transparency around carbon pricing, and restricting cheap international units. Retain commitment to reach at least 90 per cent renewable electricity generation by 2025.
New Zealand to be carbon neutral by 2050. Establish a Climate Commission to provide expert and independent advice to the government on carbon prices, carbon budgets, and other measures. Phase out the ETS and set an initial price on carbon: $25 per tonne on CO2 equivalent emissions for all sectors except agriculture, which pays $12.50. Foresters credited at $12.50 per tonne. Recycle all revenues raised from a carbon tax back to families and businesses through a $2000 income tax-free band and a one per cent company tax cut.
Abolish the ETS. Support the establishment of a formal planning process to develop strategies, plans, research programmes and targets to achieve fossil carbon reduction relevant to NZ. Support 'net metering', whereby electricity retailers will be required to purchase power generated by customers at the price it is normally sold to the customer, which could encourage renewables.
Urgently establish alternative, environmentally friendly alternatives to fossil fuels. Champion solar panels for government agencies, hospitals and schools. Subsidise solar heating and expansion of energy hubs for rural communities. Support a proposal that will see the planting of 100,000ha of new forests over the next 10 years.
Scrap ETS, focus instead on localised environmental measures to improve air quality. Pull out of international treaties such as the Kyoto agreement.
Emission reductions to see the country carbon neutral by 2050. Establishment of a Climate Commission and adoption of a carbon budget process to properly plan for carbon emission reduction. Repeal of the ETS; replace with policies and regulations to reduce carbon emissions in "a fair and just way", and immediately regulate the flow of cheap foreign carbon credits. Regeneration of native forests. Set a target of 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025.
Abolish the ETS and introduce other measures aimed at reducing emissions.
Investigate minimum pricing to ensure the pricing of carbon on the ETS remains at a level high enough to reduce emissions. Encourage more riparian planting with a move towards requirements to have river and stream banks planted, in order to act as carbon sinks, limit soil erosion and reduce agricultural runoff. Remove regulatory barriers, including legislative barriers to encourage new electricity generation using hydro, geothermal, wind and tide, where economically sustainable. Support moves to a more sustainable transport infrastructure.
HomeStart grants of up to $20,000 for couples to add to KiwiSaver savings used for a deposit on a new home. Special Housing Areas to fast track consenting process. Legislation to curb development contributions levied by councils on developments. Inquiry into building products supplier practices. RMA reform.
The KiwiBuild government-run $1.5 billion scheme to build 100,000 affordable new homes mostly in Auckland and Christchurch initially. A capital gains tax and controls on foreign investment in residential real estate to curb speculation. Force local authorities to ensure the release of new land for building with a national policy statement under the RMA.
A rent-to-buy scheme for families with children. Limits on house ownership by foreign non-residents. A capital gains tax excluding the family home and support for Labour's KiwiBuild.
Establish a new state agency to buy and sell land for residential developments. A two per cent interest rate for five years for buyers of those sections but with houses built using normal bank finance. Restrict home ownership to “New Zealanders” only.
Kainga Whenua loan scheme providing 100% loans up to $200,000 to build, maintain and repair homes on multiple owned Maori land. Available only to those people who have no other access to finance to build, relocate to or buy on their multiple-owned Maori land.
Tell owners of large "land banked" holdings to build homes within five years or face the government intervention. Allow higher-density housing.
Low-interest, no-deposit Maori Home Ownership Scheme for Maori first home buyers. Kiwibank Home Ownership Scheme with low-interest loans for specified low and middle income individuals and families. Build 10,000 new state homes per year for rent and rent-to-own.
Remove regulatory constraints on the supply of land for building by scrapping the RMA. Amend the Bill of Rights to protect the right to own and use property as the owner sees fit to get rid of planning restrictions.
Allow families to capitalise their Working For Families entitlements for a year as a lump sum to help purchase their first home. Work in partnership with iwi to develop former Crown land for housing.
Keep up pressure and one-to-one support to reduce jobseeker support numbers to 55,000 by June 2017; extend payment by card, not cash, to youth until age 20 (up from 18 now); review all social housing tenancies regularly.
Pay extra $60 a week for a year to all new babies' parents on under $150,000 after they have used up paid parental leave; continue income tested payment until age 3; exempt elderly, disabled and children from social housing reviews.
Extend $60-a-week in-work tax credit to cover beneficiaries' children too; scrap work requirements for sole parents and others with caring responsibilities; restore 'house for life' for state house tenants.
Tougher scrutiny of doctors to check people claiming benefits due to illness; require beneficiaries to take more parental responsibility; loans at 2 per cent interest for first-home builders and council housing.
Roll out Whanau Ora nationally to support whanau to improve their own lives; ask every Maori organisation to employ two more young people; devolve state housing to Maori and Pasifika community groups.
Pay family benefit of about $50 a week to parents at home with preschoolers; support National's sole-parent work tests; exempt elderly and infirm from state house tenancy reviews but offer tenants a rent-to-buy option.
Give the unemployed community work, paid at the living wage; raise benefits; end child poverty; work towards paying all adults a universal basic income; build 10,000 new state houses a year.
Put lifetime time limits on jobseeker and sole-parent benefits; outsource support services to private providers; avoid more state participation in the housing market.
Require sick beneficiaries to seek treatment for their illness, and provide state funding for that treatment; allow couples with children to split their incomes for tax purposes; review state housing tenancies annually.