The Whanganui campaign to elect /u/silicon_based_life to Parliament has travelled up the country. This morning, the candidate stands on a wooden seat, surrounded by a small but dense crowd, at the famous New Plymouth wind wand. The wind is blowing a fair bit, but TOP volunteers still hold up signs and passively encourage passers-by to join the crowd. A feeling of moderate excitement is in the air, in the wake of revelations about how popular /u/silicon_based_life has become in the electorate. In addition, the TOP economic policy is set to be introduced at this event.

“Good morning New Plymoooouth! Thank you all so very much for your coastal hospitality. The coast here reminds me of many weeks spent on holidays to the beachside towns of New Zealand back as a child. New Plymouth is even more vibrant and busy than those places. It feels good to breathe the sea air! By now, I’m not sure if you know much about me. But let me give you some idea. I’m a temporarily embarrassed Taupō boy, who has spent too much time away in the big city. Despite having the political and rural expertise to effectively represent Whanganui, I’m out of the loop on a lot of things. I’m going to need your help to remind me of where I come from and how I can work for you to make myself the best candidate Whanganui has to offer. After this little speech, The Opportunities Party and myself have organised a candidate workshop at the nearby shopping centre. I learnt a lot from the one in Whanganui yesterday and look forward to continuing the effort today.

Polite applause.

“Now, there’s another reason everyone is here today. Although this may ostensibly be about my Whanganui candidacy, the intentions of the Opportunities Party run deeper than that. Months of work in policy development have led to the formulation of our remastered economic policy, covering tax reform, business policy, changes to the tenancy act, and immigration. In the process that occurred since the last time The Opportunities Party was a thing, the policy has only changed to evolve with the changed priorities of the government. New issues require new areas of evidence to be applied to the situation, and that is what we have proudly done! After this speech, the full policy document will be released online. However, let me start by announcing the tax policy.

The crowd looks on expectantly, somewhat larger now than it was before.

“As we know, in their second term the Greens-Labour government imposed a new Capital Gains tax in New Zealand. This was a good start to dealing with the housing crisis. However, the major effects haven’t been seen yet, and in the next term it was significantly reduced by the new ACT-National government. The Opportunities Party has a simple and effective tax policy that will replace the current shambolic patchwork related to capital gains. By classifying all forms of income under the income tax scheme, we can re-define the tax brackets to account for the new income distributions. We will combat property speculation, work towards defusing the housing market, and give the lowest earners large tax breaks with this planned tax scheme. What’s more, the same net tax can be taken by the government – the tax burden can simply shift from active income to passive income, so that people aren’t punished for their hard work.

“So what’s the benefit here for Taranaki? The tax policy itself will benefit the entire country. Since Taranaki is a region held up by wage earners, a tax break for wage earners countrywide will benefit the region immensely. The many low-wage and unemployed citizens in the smaller Whanganui towns will also find significant benefit, especially in tandem with our social and UBI policies yet to be announced.

Applause and musing from the crowd.

“Due to the nature of the issues that affect Whanganui, many of our keystone business policies – increasing the oversight of monopolies and duopolies and increasing pay transparency for company boards, for example, aren’t worth discussing here. However, business grants received by companies in the Whanganui region will, under the development of an angel investment fund, become more transparent and more self-sustaining. We can reduce government intervention in the economy and keep grants at a safe level for proper investment. Alongside our vital environmental policies, a review of the RMA has the potential to both preserve environmental concerns and to make it easier for businesses to invest in property, premises, and resources. Businesses such as those that hold up the Taranaki and Whanganui regions will gain market freedom because of these policies, with any potential social and environmental effects offset by other policies, yet to be announced.

“In terms of immigration, I would like to make it clear we will not reduce immigration numbers. Instead, we’ll focus on attracting more high-skilled migrants to contribute to the economy in places like Taranaki.

“Our final policy in this release is the renter’s policy. For the many renters out there in Whanganui, this will be a breath of fresh air. The rental warrant of fitness ensures that landlords have the obligation to provide decent housing, and other changes to the tenancy act mean that renters will have long-term stability in their rental housing. This is good for both landlords and tenants, since it stabilises the lives of often poorer tenants, and allows landlords to hold on to more reliable tenants for longer. The other big policy, which I’ll skim here due to it’s lack of direct relevance to Taranaki, is the policy to sell state housing to community-based providers. Evidence from other countries shows that this is much better for the needs of the community and the housing tenants.

More applause, strengthened this time by a sense of relaxation within the crowd.

“Thank you all for hearing me, and The Opportunities Party, out! But that’s enough policy for now. I need to get to know the actual people of this electorate. The workshop is ready for us to attend. I hope everyone here has something to tell me to inform and strengthen my campaign. It is once again a pleasure to be out here in New Plymouth.”

/u/silicon_based_life and the crowd move out into the city, concluding the policy announcement event.

The economic policy release can be found by following the link below:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PNfjH43G2YGwArM5uZGEqaVJJQULYEyMoODv_8faFvI/edit?usp=sharing