December 5, 2011 5:03pm by David Farrar

Banks most effective ACT MP ever

Based on the National/ACT confidence and supply agreement, John Banks is a more effective ACT Caucus than all the caucuses before him.

A Regulatory Standards Bill to be enacted into law within 12 months, based on Option 5 in this paper.
A spending limit law to be introduced within 24 months so that expenditure (excluding benefits, disasters, interest) can not increase by more than the annual rate of population growth and inflation. This is a huge win.
RMA reform so there is only one unitary plan per district
Trial charter schools in South Auckland so private and community groups (including Iwi) can establish schools that compete with existing schools, and receive funding on a per child basis

These are very significant policy wins for ACT. The spending limit and trialing of charter schools have the potential to have a major impact into the future – and for the better.

If these can be successfully implemented in the next three years, then I could see ACT gaining many of its former supporters back.

National’s second term is looking to have a lot of really positive and significant reform.