If I were National I’d make a few things even clearer in this campaign and keep doubling down on the below. @NZNationalParty
1.) You’re voting for a whole team. Not just a leader.
Put the talent front and centre. Who can run the portfolios and drive improvement and hold people accountable? In my view National wins this head to head hands down. Keep highlighting the comparisons. Show people why the team matters.
2.) Someone has to generate the wealth that pays for everything.
We need entrepreneurs and talented people waking up every day determined to build great companies. They create jobs and investment and the tax revenue that funds our public services. Make New Zealand a place where those people want to stay and build and succeed. That’s how we lift living standards. Make this connection clearer for voters.
3.) Don’t let Labour escape scrutiny of its record.
Keep bringing the debate back to outcomes on crime and education and spending. Use clear figures and concrete examples. People need to be reminded of what went wrong and what’s improving and what’s at stake
4.) Make accountability for spending a central issue.
Keep highlighting documented examples of waste. What was spent? What was delivered? Who took responsibility?
Specific examples land much harder than general statements. That was my takeaway from Chris raising foreign aid spending in last night’s debate. Give people the example and the context so they can judge for themselves.
Make the debt and annual interest bill real. Use verified figures with clear timeframes and compare the interest costs with spending on essential services like policing. Show people what that money could otherwise pay for.
Apply that same scrutiny to your own spending.
Keep reminding people: every dollar comes from someone who worked for it.
5.) Paint a much bigger picture of what New Zealand could be.
A highly productive country punching above its weight with companies winning on the world stage. Businesses bringing offshore revenue home and building entire ecosystems of suppliers and skills and well-paid jobs around them.
There’s a reason people move to strong economies. Let’s build one that attracts talent and gives our own people a reason to stay.
6.) Never let “free” go unchallenged.
When Labour says “free” remind people it means taxpayer funded. Free to use still means someone pays. What does it cost? How will you fund it? What will you stop spending on to afford it?
7.) Keep doubling down on no new taxes.
8.) Make it clear what people will actually notice in their daily lives.
For every policy answer one question: how does this make my life better?
A shorter wait for treatment. Less time getting consent to build a home. Better progress in the classroom. Talk about results people can feel and measure.
9.) Show how people can get ahead here.
Connect the bigger economic vision to a young person’s first job. A family’s first home. Someone starting a business.
Give people a clear path from working hard to building a better life in New Zealand.
I’m probably missing plenty. But I believe National should stick to its core values and make the case for them with confidence. In my view getting drawn into attacks on supermarkets does little to persuade voters that you have a credible plan for prosperity and moves away from
core values.
Back enterprise. Reward effort. Demand accountability. Show people how those principles will improve their lives