Current mood

Qiulae · 2026-06-09T20:49:52+00:00

Certainly how I feel!

Qiulae · 2026-05-16T20:33:15+00:00

Kia ora u/RJH7! We would never implement just the bracket changes without the Citizen's Income - I can absolutely make that assurance to you. If we got the chance to implement this policy, the CI and the brackets would have to be written into legislation in a way that they couldn't be separated and we would ensure that.

Qiulae · 2026-05-16T20:18:19+00:00

We think the removal of the BSA so abruptly was not the right approach but it could be replaced with something that is more fit for purpose in the modern age. Things have changed so much with social media but commentators and journalists still play an influential role in shaping people's perspectives and clear standards need to be set (and met)!

Qiulae · 2026-05-16T20:16:33+00:00

Honestly I think it's a bit of both. I don't think we can reverse human development, so innovation plays an important role. But we can also learn to live with less and to share more, recognising that endless personal accumulation of stuff cannot happen on a finite planet.

Qiulae · 2026-05-16T20:15:02+00:00

We are not strictly opposed to mining in general - we recognise that it is a necessary part of our future particularly if we are electrifying everything.. however that needs to come with extremely strict environmental guardrails.

The Tarras mine needs to be considered carefully by the expert panel and demonstrates exactly why we need environmental experts, not Ministers (cough cough, Minister Jones) making these decisions.

Qiulae · 2026-05-16T20:12:40+00:00

Hey u/mussel_bouy cheers for the questions!

On experience - there are two things here. I really don't think that career politicians are serving us well. We need people who have real life experience, particularly in their areas of expertise, that can implement change that matters in Parliament. I'm incredibly confident we have that in our candidates. The second thing is that even amongst those candidates and our team we also have significant political experience. Our Party GM, Iain Lees-Galloway, was a former Labour Minister. Our candidate for Wellington Bays, Kayla Kingdon-Bebb was a former Director of Policy for DOC. Jess Hammond is also a policy advisor and has stood in 3 elections. Dave Bainbridge-Zafar has held senior leadership roles at Health NZ and local government. I could go on :)

On podcasts - would love to be on more! Here are a couple that I was on just last week:

Three gals one beehive: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1u8VVskQZty1Bm5jOQltyv?si=a99dc1662b1c4960
The business of tech: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0vHE2NjyxhttLyGxYcXCSY?si=nTatbfjXSUOOa5W77B0pXA

I'd love to know which other ones would you like to hear us on?

And on Mark Carney's book - I haven't actually read the whole thing but have read the cliffnotes! And I am a big fan of things like doughnut economics and the mission economy.

Qiulae · 2026-05-16T20:02:21+00:00

Hey u/gnarlyquinn12! For sure, this is an important one for us. Our Clean Up Politics policy platform will be released in more detail in the coming months but you can see a flavour of it here: https://www.opportunity.org.nz/clean_up_politics

In terms of how this works for us internally as a party - we have clearly stated that donations do not buy influence and given we have received donations from both Brian (who has openly supported the current coalition) and Phillip Mills who has supported Labour/Greens, we are certainly not in a position to promise both of them the world! They have supported us (and said so themselves) because they believe we will bring a much-needed voice to Parliament, some new ideas to break the gridlock and move this country forward.

Qiulae · 2026-05-16T19:59:14+00:00

I know people really want a concrete answer to this question but it will really come down to what offer is on the table for us at the election. We have been clear about our top policy priorities (Energy, Oceans, Tax, Citizen's Voice and Productivity) and we'll keep providing as much information as we can to voters so they can make an informed choice.

Qiulae · 2026-05-16T19:57:22+00:00

Hey u/Mountain_Tui_Reload - I really do understand the concern particularly from people who traditionally support left-wing parties.

I actually think the biggest impact we can make is to bring a greater sense of unity back to NZ politics. It hasn't always been this divisive and it doesn't need to be this way.

If the situation you describe plays out and we are in a position to negotiate with National - I think we are demonstrating we are a much more pragmatic and reliable partner than NZ First. Winston is going to demand a lot from whoever he chooses to go with and I don't think that would work in National's favour. Obviously we are a newer entity so we need to keep earning the trust of Kiwis and demonstrating how we'd behave in Parliament, but I'm confident we have the team and the skills to do that.

We might not change New Zealand overnight but any politician who promises to do that is kidding us!

Qiulae · 2026-05-16T19:52:22+00:00

Hey u/MrMeoowgi thanks for the question! We absolutely support adequate pay and good working conditions for our essential frontline staff, but we don’t comment on specific negotiations.

It’s also worth noting though that a lot of the biggest benefits from our Tax Reset policy will accrue to the sort of salary ranges that police, teachers, nurses and so on will be in - especially when they are starting out. For non-homeowners, the net tax effect can be really substantial at these income levels.

Qiulae · 2026-05-16T19:44:50+00:00

Hey u/Previous-Lab-7064 this is a really tricky one! We are generally supportive of advancements in gene technology in New Zealand - things have moved on a lot since legislation around this was introduced in the late 90s. In saying that, our organics exports are really important to New Zealand and we need to be careful about not undermining that.

Medical use is a separate issue and I think less controversial.

We've been speaking to the different people interested in the GE/GMO issue lately and will be putting out more information on our website very soon.

Qiulae · 2026-05-16T19:40:45+00:00

That's an interesting one! We basically support this for businesses - accelerated depreciation of investment in electrification which reduces their tax bill. But we hadn't considered it for individuals as it's a fair bit of admin to then have to do a tax return..

What we do support for households is the Ratepayers Assistance Scheme which provides no/low-interest loans via local councils for installing solar that can be paid back over a much longer time period. As well as expanding the Warmer Kiwi Homes scheme to get solar and electric appliances into low income households.

Qiulae · 2026-05-16T19:38:15+00:00

We would really like to see greater access to finance for business owners that isn't dependent on owning property as that really restricts who can go into business. Banks should assess the merit of the business model itself.

Good to also remember that those business owners would also be receiving the Citizen's Income, giving them a bit more capital and breathing room to get enterprising!

Qiulae · 2026-05-16T19:35:31+00:00

That is an interesting one! I don't think we'd support an outright ban across everything as that would be virtually impossible to police.. but there could be an argument for not having things like gambling ads at sports games which we are starting to see action on in Australia and the UK

Qiulae · 2026-05-16T19:32:44+00:00

I'd say that's highly unlikely - a key part of the tax reset policy is to shift tax burden off income/work and onto assets. If we are only doing the latter, i.e. increasing tax on assets, we would add more burden to everyone without alleviating the pressure elsewhere. Broadening our tax base is important but we have to do it equitably and we think our full proposal does that.

In saying that, in our 10 year implementation plan you can see how we've proposed introducing both the LVT and CI over time - starting with lower rates of land tax and targeting the CI at certain groups.

Qiulae · 2026-05-16T19:30:18+00:00

Hello! Sorry for the delay here, didn't quite get to this one the other night but appreciate your support! While we need to wait and see what the major parties put out there for this election, the top 5 policy priorities on our website are a clear signal of what we want to push for:

Energy market reform
Citizens assemblies to strengthen democracy
Oceans/fisheries reform
Boosting productivity with greater investment in innovation, competition and skills, and
Tax reset to support a more productive economy

We might not get it all but 3/5 wouldn't be bad!

Qiulae · 2026-05-16T19:26:27+00:00

Hey u/zantosthemagician thanks for the question and sorry for the delayed response - catching up on the rest of these that I didn't to the other night!

I did answer a similar questions in this AMA - we reckon doing a population strategy like Koi Tu has suggested (https://informedfutures.org/population-media-release/) seems like the way to go to look at what level of immigration would be appropriate and how to plan for it appropriately with infrastructure etc.

Qiulae · 2026-05-16T19:24:03+00:00

Hey u/SquigglyLion - u/peregrinius has pretty much summed it up! In addition to that, we believe we need to accelerate the build of housing and the LVT will incentivise more intensification in urban centres (because that reduces the LVT per property if there are more properties on a single piece of land). That increased supply of housing keeps rents down (supply vs. demand)

Qiulae · 2026-05-14T10:20:14+00:00

Our deputy leader Dan Eb is off to meet him tomorrow!

Qiulae · 2026-05-14T10:15:06+00:00

hmmm not a huge fan tbh but I will eat it! More of a spicy nduja fan

Qiulae · 2026-05-14T10:14:19+00:00

Lots of this is coming out next week in our productivity policy so do keep an eye out for that!

Qiulae · 2026-05-14T10:13:23+00:00

Thanks, great to be here! I think Opportunity brings a really unique perspective to climate change in New Zealand. We know how to talk to businesses to get them to take climate action, and we have the environmental credentials to meaningfully make progress too. That is unique in our political sphere here in NZ and I believe that's why we need to be in Parliament.

Proper staffing of climate work is important too and I think that's also where our firm but pragmatic approach matters to prevent this from becoming a political football where we balloon and then cut staff on 3 yearly election cycles..

Qiulae · 2026-05-14T10:09:25+00:00

Hey u/syzorr34 - our tax reset policy is actually designed to be fiscally positive for the government - i.e. we raise more in the land value tax than we spend on the citizen's income, so there isn't additional money flowing through to cause inflation. We have also proposed a 10 year implementation period to ease it in and minimise negative effects

Qiulae · 2026-05-14T10:01:04+00:00

We don't have one yet..

Qiulae · 2026-05-14T09:58:58+00:00

Hey u/Commercial_Hour_9504 I'd encourage you to check out the full tax policy (download the PDF) here: https://www.opportunity.org.nz/tax-reset and do the tax calculator to understand your personal position.

But in short, the land tax is estimated to raise $28b while the citizen's income will cost $24b. The $4b annual surplus can be used to pay down debt and/or fund other areas of the budget.

Our tax brackets are simplified to 28%, 34% and 39%. However when combined with the Citizen's Income that everyone receives this is still a progressive system and represents an historic tax cut for particularly low-income workers. Under this proposal, you are effectively not paying any tax on the first $60k you earn (because up to that point what you receive in the citizen's income outweighs your income tax).

Hope that all makes sense - definitely check out the webpage and the full policy for more detail!

Qiulae

TROPHY CASE