ACT policies 2026

ACT on economy, tax & cost of living

• New Zealand should tax the profit people make when they sell an investment property.

  Strongly opposes

  Opposed. Campaigning explicitly as the party of 'no new taxes' and a faster path to surplus through spending cuts.

  ACT: Faster path to surplus, no new taxes · verified 2026-08-13

• People who own more than $10 million should pay a yearly tax on it.

  Strongly opposes

  Strongly opposed. Campaigning on flattening income tax rates and cutting spending instead.

  ACT: Faster path to surplus, no new taxes · verified 2026-08-13

• The government should fix the deficit by spending less, not by taxing more.

  Strongly supports

  Its central pitch, merging ministries (including folding Te Puni Kōkiri, the Ministry for Women and the Ministry for Pacific Peoples into Culture and Heritage) and finding savings year after year with no new taxes.

  ACT: Faster path to surplus, no new taxes · verified 2026-08-13

• The government should buy back a major bank and break up the power companies and supermarkets.

  Strongly opposes

  Strongly opposed, argues for less state involvement in markets, not more.

  ACT: Faster path to surplus, no new taxes · verified 2026-08-13

• The age you can start getting NZ Super should rise above 65.

  Strongly supports

  Supports lifting the age of eligibility, arguing the current settings are fiscally unsustainable.

  ACT: Faster path to surplus, no new taxes · verified 2026-08-13

ACT on housing & renting

• Annual rent increases should be capped at around 2%, and landlords should not be able to evict without a reason.

  Strongly opposes

  Strongly opposed on property-rights and supply grounds.

  ACT: Rent controls crazy, even for Labour · verified 2026-08-13

• The government should build tens of thousands of new state and public houses.

  Strongly opposes

  Opposed, argues the shortage is caused by planning rules, and that the state should free up land rather than build.

  ACT: On Kāinga Ora and social housing · verified 2026-08-13

• Landlords should be able to deduct mortgage interest as a business expense before paying tax on rental income.

  Strongly supports

  Strongly supports deductibility, treating the 2021 removal as an arbitrary tax on one industry.

  ACT: We will end Labour's war on landlords · verified 2026-08-13

• It should be quicker and easier to get houses and roads built, even if neighbours get less say and there are fewer environmental checks.

  Strongly supports

  Central housing policy, argues planning restrictions are the root cause of unaffordable housing, and backed the Regulatory Standards Act to constrain rule-making.

  Regulatory Standards Act 2025 · verified 2026-08-13

• There are too many rules on landlords, and the cost ends up in the rent.

  Strongly supports

  Strongly opposed to landlord regulation, treats it as regulatory overreach into private property.

  ACT: We will end Labour's war on landlords · verified 2026-08-13

ACT on health & education

• Health money should go to medicines and hospitals rather than making doctor's visits free.

  Strongly supports

  Prefers lifting the Pharmac budget to 13% by 2033 and letting pharmacists treat more conditions to cut GP demand.

  RNZ: ACT's pharmacist-led primary care plan · verified 2026-08-13

• There should be a Māori-led health authority running health services designed for Māori.

  Strongly opposes

  David Seymour has called the Māori Health Authority an example of racial discrimination, arguing health services should be allocated on need rather than ethnicity.

  RNZ: Seymour on the Māori Health Authority · verified 2026-08-13

• Schools should focus on the basics with standardised national testing, and NCEA should be replaced.

  Strongly supports

  Strong supporter of standardised assessment and a knowledge-rich curriculum.

  ACT: Education policy · verified 2026-08-13

• Parents should have more choice of school, including more charter and special-character schools.

  Strongly supports

  Long-standing signature policy, reintroduced charter schools as part of the coalition agreement.

  ACT: Reinstating partnership schools · verified 2026-08-13

• Public services like health and education should be expanded, even if that means higher taxes overall.

  Strongly opposes

  Strongly opposed, argues for a smaller, more efficient state and lower taxes.

  ACT: Faster path to surplus, no new taxes · verified 2026-08-13

ACT on climate, energy & environment

• New Zealand should stay in the Paris climate agreement and keep to its emissions targets.

  Opposes

  Wants emissions plans reset 'around realistic targets' and is critical of the current framework, stopping short of leaving Paris.

  interest.co.nz: ACT's climate policy · verified 2026-08-13

• New Zealand should look for more oil and gas, including funding a survey of offshore reserves.

  Strongly supports

  Supports resuming exploration and expanding resource extraction as an energy security and growth measure.

  interest.co.nz: ACT's climate policy · verified 2026-08-13

• Farmers should not have to pay for the greenhouse gases their animals produce.

  Strongly supports

  Campaigning for a split-gas target and keeping agriculture permanently out of the ETS, arguing NZ farmers are the most emissions-efficient in the world.

  interest.co.nz: ACT's climate policy · verified 2026-08-13

• New Zealand should make it easier to mine and develop natural resources, including on the seabed.

  Strongly supports

  Strongly supports resource development and reducing consenting barriers.

  interest.co.nz: ACT's climate policy · verified 2026-08-13

• Farm animal numbers should be reduced and synthetic nitrogen fertiliser phased out to clean up rivers.

  Strongly opposes

  Strongly opposed, treats it as an attack on productive farming.

  interest.co.nz: ACT's climate policy · verified 2026-08-13

ACT on law, order & justice

• Sentences should be longer, with automatic minimum jail terms for repeat offenders.

  Strongly supports

  Campaigning on adding burglary to the three-strikes regime, with a minimum three-year sentence and no parole or home detention.

  Newswire: ACT's three strikes for burglary · verified 2026-08-13

• Prisons should be phased out by 2040 and replaced with community-led alternatives.

  Strongly opposes

  Campaigning in the opposite direction: a three-strikes rule jailing repeat burglars for a minimum three years with no parole, home detention or early release.

  Newswire: ACT's three strikes for burglary · verified 2026-08-13

• We should build more prison capacity and put considerably more police on the front line.

  Strongly supports

  Supports expanded capacity as the necessary consequence of longer sentences.

  National: Restoring law and order · verified 2026-08-13

• The justice system should spend more on fixing the causes of crime, like poverty and addiction, and less on punishment.

  Strongly opposes

  Its published law-and-order policy is built on mandatory minimum sentences rather than addressing drivers of offending: three strikes for burglary, no parole and no home detention.

  Newswire: ACT's three strikes for burglary · verified 2026-08-13

• Gang patches should stay banned in public and police should have more power to disrupt gangs.

  Strongly supports

  Supported the gang patch ban and expanded police dispersal powers.

  National: Restoring law and order · verified 2026-08-13

ACT on te tiriti, rights & immigration

• An independent commissioner should be able to block laws that breach Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

  Strongly opposes

  Strongly opposed, campaigning to define Treaty principles in law and to put the question to a referendum.

  Treaty Principles Bill · verified 2026-08-13

• There should be a binding referendum on whether to keep the Māori electorates.

  Strongly supports

  Supports putting questions of Māori-specific representation to a public vote, consistent with its equal-citizenship framing.

  Treaty Principles Bill · verified 2026-08-13

• Net migration should be cut significantly to take pressure off housing, roads and hospitals.

  Opposes

  Wants a market-driven system where employers hire the workers they need, but pairs this with tighter English requirements, a welfare stand-down and an overstayer enforcement unit.

  NZ Herald: ACT's immigration policy · verified 2026-08-13

• Non-citizens who commit serious crimes should be deported, and a dedicated unit should track down overstayers.

  Strongly supports

  Explicit campaign policy, deport serious non-citizen offenders and create an overstayer enforcement unit, plus a five-year welfare exclusion for residency visa holders.

  NZ Herald: ACT's immigration policy · verified 2026-08-13

• Te reo Māori should be actively promoted across government and society, including in the names of public agencies.

  Opposes

  Opposes state promotion of language by ethnicity and has campaigned on abolishing demographic ministries. It has not published a specific te reo policy for 2026, so this is inferred from that consistent position rather than a stated commitment.

  ACT: Faster path to surplus, no new taxes · verified 2026-08-13

Compare with another party