The Opportunities Party (TOP) has unveiled its economy policy, which has a long-term focus on infrastructure, investment, innovation and immigration.
TOP Leader Raf Manji describes these as the "four pillars of economic dynamism," which are linked together.
"We see our economy as a series of interconnected systems that need stable, long-term, bipartisan planning and funding support. Our economic policy calls for action across the board - in infrastructure, investment, innovation and immigration - because we can’t afford to silo these critical sectors, or worse, turn them into political footballs to kick around every three years,” says Manji.
Included among TOP's policies are; developing a 30 year National Infrastructure Plan in collaboration with local government; making KiwiSaver enrolment compulsory at birth; updating and introducing regulatory frameworks for gene editing, artificial intelligence and therapeutic products designed to support research, innovation and commercial outcomes; and with immigration, establishing a regional talent visa to let regions recruit directly on behalf of local companies and sectors and ease pressure on Auckland.
Manji says TOP’s economic plan includes the following key policies:
Infrastructure
● Develop a 30 year National Infrastructure Plan in collaboration with Local Government.
● Develop a Long-term Funding and Financing Model using Crown Infrastructure Partners and other fit-for-purpose commercial models.
● Introduce Long-Term Alliance Contracting Models to deliver long-term plans, workforce certainty and lower risk.
● Use Infrastructure Funding as a pro-cyclical tool by setting nominal GDP targets.
Investment
● Return Reserve Bank mandate to price stability only.
● Liberalise the overseas investment framework to attract productive foreign investment and support local innovators.
● Make KiwiSaver enrolment compulsory at birth (currently voluntary).
● Review role of KiwiSaver contributions for freelancers/contractors, and in supporting price stability.
Innovation
● Support Research & Development investment by increasing tax credits.
● Increase funding for post-doctoral research scholarships and seed-stage investment.
● Allow accelerated depreciation and digital grants for SMEs.
● Update and introduce appropriate regulatory frameworks for Gene Editing, Artificial Intelligence and Therapeutic Products to support research, innovation and commercial outcomes.
Immigration
● Review the Accredited Employer Visa Scheme ensuring checks and balances to stamp out migrant worker exploitation.
● Reduce the salary bands for Skilled Work visas, which many businesses, including our growing tech sector, say are too high.
● Establish a new Regional Talent Visa to let regions recruit directly on behalf of local companies and sectors, easing the pressure on Auckland and attracting much-needed talent elsewhere in the country.
● Introduce the Teal Visa to harness high net worth individuals who want to make productive investments and live in New Zealand. The Teal Visa investment will fund a new Climate Resettlement Programme.
23 Comments
There is a lot of sense in what Raf says:
the problem with reducing salary bands in tech is that doing so undercuts local talent - an issue that plagued the tech sector for at least a decade before the border closures forced the issue.
nzers don't want to train nzers. so our graduates go offshore.
they also don't want to pay livable wages. so they import people who don't understand how much it actually costs to live here.
if you're competing for top-tier talent, you need to pay top-tier prices. and people offering top-tier prices aren't whinging about salary bands.
Exactly. Surely lowering the wage is dumbing down the knowledge economy? I meet so many people who want to “work with computers” but if they can’t surf the web to find out how, what sort of problem solving abilities do they really have. I also meet many immigrants who have an IT background, coding is one thing, but understanding business logic and workflow demands of the local market still needs a strong command of the English language.
Very much so. It's time we were honest about the fact every immigrant is competition for those already here for jobs, housing healthcare etc.
Of course some will 'add value', but the vast majority just do existing jobs for less. How many new petrol stations, fish'n'chip and dairy shops have they built? Not many, they just worked in the same buildings someone else used to work in. These jobs were done, would still be done for the right price. Now bus drivers have a pathway to residence, it's like paying them a six-figure salary when you include the carrot of residence yet try getting paid that as a NZ born 'lazy' kiwi.
Original TOP 1.0 policy was for much less immigration (not none) and it made sense to me. Less people = less pollution, less youth unemployment, less demand for existing housing (lower prices and rents aka more affordable housing), more local training offered, higher local wages. It just seems like growth for growths sake, over 2 million more people in my lifetime and I'm not seeing anything close to a better standard of living for existing residents with the exception of landowners and the odd employer.
I will certainly be voting TOP due to the excellent LVT and tax switch policy, but I do not think population growth is logical/beneficial at this point. Why can't any party just pledge to have a referendum and ask the existing residents what population they want? Then use the result as a starting point for long-term planning.
Yeah I don’t think anyone has come up with a Population Goal for New Zealand. It seems lazy to me to just say, “hey let’s get more people, cause surely they’ll produce more…”. Maybe more taxes, but more so more waste, more demand on our crippling infrastructure, more load on our housing, etc. crikey we need to get our own house in order before we fling the doors open.
Can't find TOPs immigration policy.
Found this from 2017 Who should I vote for? Immigration policies at a glance | Newshub
I'm sure someone in TOP hierarchy will be reading this page - lets hear why the policy page has been pulled from the TOP website?
It used to be along the lines of 'its not what NZ can do for you, but what can you do for NZ' (before we let you in).
Not in the TOP hierarchy, but this site has a good comparison:
https://www.interest.co.nz/elections/2023/policy/84900/immigration
The link to TOP's policy isn't right, should be to here:
https://www.top.org.nz/economy
It's basically just the bullet points listed here though
After a session sifting all the parties websites last month, Top has my vote.
Greens - Want to ask Maori how to do everything, let's respect them and support them, not follow their lead on everything.
Labour - Tbf, I didn't check their website, they're cooked
National - Playing whack-a-mole, no strategic vison
ACT - Despite them increasingly appealing to people across the spectrum, they'll just benefit the top few % (which I'm part of funnily enough)
Te Pati Maori - Only focused on helping Maori, not the poor, fair enough but not my jam.
Can't vote Labour given the mess that they have made of Education and Crime. Can't vote Act or National because I have a social and environmental conscience. I'm not Maori, don't like the Greens approach to identity issues and NZ First have gone crazy. I always vote, therefore TOP is the only option.
Is one where you keep voting for the same people/parties who haven't delivered before, yet expecting "this time it will be diffrunt". That's a real waste of a vote and one could argue an abrogation of your civic duty. But hey, keep voting for blue or red and keep coming back on this site DD and complaining why nothing ever changes, maybe people just like to vote for bad policy so they have something to whine about?
There is no such thing as a wasted vote if every single eligible voter votes for the direction they wish the country to go in via the election process. This represents the best form of democracy. People like yourself who may flip flop and end up voting for a party or person different to their core belief of the countries future direction, simply skew and muddy the waters of democracy.
Vote how you want to NZ and do away with the outdated mentality of strategy voting.
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