ACT’s 20 point plan

Yes that is Rodney, with his 15 year old co-star in school pantomime. This sets a new standard for what local MPs will do for their constituents 🙂

ACT have released a 20 point plan on an A4 pledge card. I have to say I think it is very smart work, and a good combination of the skills of Roger Douglas and John Ansell, plus of course Rodney. Sir Roger loves having 10 and 20 point plans for everything, while John’s use of plain language shines through. Each proposal lists other countries where the policy is working well (showing it is practical), spells out the benefits in clear language and estimates what a difference it will make to economic growth and the average weekly pay for a NZer.

I enjoyed that under their privatisation line, the countries they list as successfully implementing that policy are “Practically all except Cuba, Myanmar, North Korea”.

Their full list of proposed policies are:

1. Government waste. Cut state spending to Australian levels.
2. Tax. Cut and flatten rates.
3. Local government. Limit to core activities.
4. Public service: Close departments we don’t need, Reduce bureaucracy, Return bureaucracy to non-political role, Limit Cabinet to 12 ministers, Limit Parliament to 100 MPs.
5. Red tape. Get rid of all nutty regulations, Appoint Minister of Regulatory Reform, Pass Regulatory Responsibility Act to set checklist for good lawmaking.
6. Resource management. Reform the Resource Management Act.
7. Education. Create competitive market.
8. Healthcare. Create competitive market.
9. Accident compensation. Create competitive market — as used to work well here.
10. Welfare. Create competitive markets for sickness, invalid, and unemployment insurance.
11. Immigration. Welcome more good quality immigrants.
12. Labour. Allow freedom of contract to make it easier to trial new workers and replace poor performers.
13. Privatisation. Sell state businesses where private fi rms can serve customers better.
14. Infrastructure. Build better networks (e.g. roads, water, electricty). Replace user charges with tolls that reward off-peak use.
15. Tariffs. Cut remaining tariffs on imports. Strengthen bonds with the US.
16. Housing. Free up more land for homes.
17. Law and order: Bring back private prisons _ now best practice overseas, Let private firms free up cops for ‘zero tolerance’ policing, Speed up courts (e.g. night courts) to reduce unfair delays.
18. Climate change. Adopt saner policies. Low carbon tax better than carbon trading.
19. Constitutional framework. Strengthen. Adopt Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Pass Regulatory Responsibility Act _ to set checklist for good lawmaking. Return to Privy Council. Hold referendum on MMP voting system.
20. Families at risk. Appoint mentors to teach parenting and life skills.

Again congrats to ACT for putting up very clear policies, in an well articulated manner. Of course I do not agree with all of them, but there are certainly some that have wide support from the centre right.