What could a Labour/Green/TOP/TPM Government achieve?
As a Left Wing mercenary, my heart will skip if we can get a Labour, Green, Te Pāti Māori majority, and if TOP can be added with that mix, it would be all my Christmases come at once.
Adding in TOP (if they cross 5%) would allow Chippy to have wider options on policy than being held hostage by a more uncompromising Te Pāti Māori (whose internal frictions caused so much fear in the wider electorate thanks to the Kapa-Kingi).
Labour will hold the centre and won’t spook the horses. I don’t look to Chippy for the socialist utopia, I look to him to be a decent human being who wouldn’t have borrowed for tax cuts we couldn’t afford and wouldn’t have handed hundreds of millions in corporate welfare.
If the Greens tag team with Te Pāti Māori in the negotiating process to present a united front in negotiations, that is where we will see the real progressive policy and the heavy lifting will have to be done by the Greens (who easily have some of the best policy) and Te Pāti Māori who have some of the most socialist tax policy.
TOP could bring disruptive ideas to the mix.
What could the Left offer TOP?
National exist to stop Labour getting in and Labour exists to stop the Left from ever gaining really policy wins.
TOP are disrupters.
What can the Left offer TOP if Labour + Green + TPM + TOP = 51%?
In think there are 3 very quick wins that could be offered to TOP.
1 – Free Public Transport for Students, the disabled, beneficiaries and pensioners with everyone else using Labours Public Transport Fare Cap.
2 – UBI for all Tertiary students.
3 – Feasibility study on Land tax. The current land tax proposal would see $17 500 from a million dollar valued land, (which works if UBI is used for everyone) but if you are only limiting UBI to tertiary students, that land tax is simply too high, but if if was .01 instead of 1.75, $1750 extra annually is far more palatable than $17 500.
TOP could gain a UBI for tertiary students, free public transport for everyone not covered by Labour fare cap and a Land Tax.
Those are wins TOP could bank and build upon.
They are also wins Labour, Greens and TPM could live with.
So what could a four-party progressive government actually do?
A Labour, Green, Te Pāti Māori, TOP Government could produce a legislative agenda on par with the Savage Government, a rebuilding of our social egalitarianism and a focus on all the people, not just the interests of rich donors.
If you are not excited by the possibilities a Labour, Green, Te Pāti Māori, TOP Government could actually produce if we win in November, you ain’t paying attention.
Because this is the moment, right?
For years the argument has been about what we can’t do — what markets won’t allow, what voters won’t accept, what coalition partners won’t tolerate.
But if these numbers hold, that excuse disappears.
And then we find out who actually has the courage to use power when they finally get it.
Climate Change changes everything.
Free Market Capitalism won’t work.
A very different State supporting community resilience with a larger State debt profile to fund infrastructure and green economy reforms alongside adaptation civil defence resourcing is the way forward to confront the challenges we face.
If Labour + Greens + TPM + TOP =51%, they must take up the challenges of our time with something meaningful.
Independent Media is more important than ever, especially in the lead up to the Election. TDB is the largest Left Wing Blog in NZ and we have been operating for 13 years now. We get zero funding g from NZ on Air and we don’t have no rich backers. If you can donate please do so here or directly into our account – 12-3065-0133561-56
You can’t have the UBI without tax reform. These are not side dishes, they’re a package deal. The one is paid for by the other. Aside from the majority of the funding, that is, which the public *already* pays to fund the tangled mess of income support systems we currently have.
Similarly, the public *already* pays about 90% of the cost of public transport. Funding the remainder won’t cost much in the scheme of things. But it will increase usage, making it worth running more frequent services and upgrading facilities, increasing usage further. The public will end up paying less per ride in subsidies that we do now, to displace way more private car journeys. In an urgent climate crisis, it’s a no-brainer.
True that this mainly applies to the cities when it comes to commuter services. But we need to bring back and expand intercity and inter-regional trains and coaches as part of an integrated national public transport system. So it benefits the regions too.
A clarification; I’m not necessarily proposing to make inter-region public transport free (although I’m open to that). But I am proposing to fuel it with renewable energy, not fossil fuels, then subsidise ticket prices enough to make it significantly cheaper than driving a car or flying.
That way, people outside the cities, the regions who don’t benefit from free commuter services, still get more practical public transport options, which save them money too. Town/ country equity *matters*.
The Potemkin Village Party
The Opportunity Party did not hold a traditional party conference, but instead made headlines on July 31, 2026, by launching its 2026 election candidate list at the WQ Hotel in Wellington. Leader Qiulae Wong announced a full lineup of 40 electorate candidates as the party campaigns to enter Parliament.
The selection process was not made public.
TOP’s policies are “designed” as “discussion points” and are not “botom lines”
With a rented leader, and no internal democracy, or in fact any internal structure at all. TOP are a Potemkim Village of a party.
TPM has shown itself to be highly unstable despite the huge wins in opposing the Treaty Principles Bill and if they can’t be a truly cohesive unit, they shouldn’t be in government as it could collapse a more progressive government and that would be the end of it. Needs to be a super minority Labour government if you actually want truly progressive policies, otherwise will be National-lite and same old shit and we ultimately lose again.
Meh.
Jeez mate, and the rest! UBI just for tertiary students…..so you mean like the student allowance they’re already getting? No, I think we need to be more bold with what TOP will deliver. UBI for the working masses is the game changer this country needs. All the low paid workers knowing that at least they have the guts of their rent payment for the week in their pocket. Go TOP!!!
” Before we indulge in jams and butter it’s best to first have the toast ready.”
Make our vote compulsory, ban the lobbying of our politicians then halve ministerial salaries until there’s no homeless people wandering the streets and in there somewhere we must have a public, royal commission of inquiry up and into every orifice of every AO/NZ bank now australian owned.
I bet these fine, upstanding volk would eagerly agree.
Rich list. Are you on it?
Top Ten
Nick and Mat Mowbray
Graeme Hart
Sir Peter Beck
Goodman Family
Todd Family
Sir Peter Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh
Sir Michael Friedlander
Sir Rod Drury
Talley Family
Peter Cooper
Newcomers
James Cameron
Zhang Family
Alex Kendall
Stewart Family
Lawrence Railton
Tim Edney
Paul Copplestone
Dave Ferguson
Sanderson Family
Speedy Family
Craig Piggott
Glenn Ritchie
Skipp Williamson
Levi Fawcett
Steven Adams
Bruce Miller and Matt Walsh
Steve Stockman
Hamish McKenzie
Faull Family
” For years the argument has been about what we can’t do — what markets won’t allow, what voters won’t accept, what coalition partners won’t tolerate ”
Those voices are as loud as ever. The NZLP are probably the loudest voice in the room and the Greens have lost their voice completely.
Hipkins and his front bench are the same people who failed and were defeated three years ago. They don’t want to share power with anyone unless they sign up to a do nothing agenda for three years apart from a few nice sounding polices.
” Unfortunately, Labour has not broken away from the economic model that has held sway in this country for the past 40 years, despite the manifest failures of that approach. At best Labour merely wants to re-distribute the profits of neo-liberalism a little more equitably to those in need – while ignoring how this model keeps on generating hardship and need among more and more people. Will Hipkins dare to release New Zealand from what Bernard Hickey has called the 30/30 fiscal straitjacket? Hardly. As Hickey says:
The Treasury’s 30/30 rule of aiming to constantly reduce the size of Government and debt to below 30% of GDP is adhered to by both National and Labour. It is the Government’s ‘North Star.’ It will dominate in this Thursday’s Budget 2026 through spending cuts and restraint designed to put a sinking lid on the size of Government to meet an arbitrary target.
Under Grant Robertson, Labour willingly signed up to his “ Budget Responsibility Rules” that pledged to keep Labour firmly on the neo-liberal straight and narrow. Nothing has changed since. As a result, Labour really isn’t a centre-left party. It is a soft right-wing party.
https://werewolf.co.nz/2026/05/gordon-campbell-on-labours-vanishing-act/
Thanks Mat for the accurate description of the faults with Labour. We have 2 minor left parties or center left with TOP that are the only hope of getting any policy movement from Labour and with their record it is more of a vote and hope exercise than a sure thing which is why despite Martyns refusal to believe in the supernatural I am sure that it has the ultimate answer for us.
Before voting TOP everyone should read Simon Wilson’s piece on his substack. None of their policies appear to have come about on any sort of principal. Q is already saying there is negotiating room should the egg head in charge get sufficient votes to be able to negotiate with anyone else, TOP want to be there.
What could the Left offer TOP?
A more interesting question is;
What could the Right offer TOP?
Qiulae Wong has said that TOP’s policies are “discussion points” and not bottom lines.
So what could National offer TOP to drop their bottomless discussion points?
Cabinet seats?
Ministerial seats outside of cabinet?
A Cabinet minister in New Zealand earns a base salary of $327,100 per year.
Ministers also get an extensive package of additional allowances and financial perks on top of their base salary. Superannuation Contributions up to $36,240 annually, provided as a matching government top-up (amounting to roughly 20% of an ordinary MP’s base salary).Wellington Accommodation Allowance: Up to $52,000 per year to cover rent, mortgages, or hotel costs if their primary residence is outside the capital city.
Free travel Accommodation: at roughly $8,000 annually, capped at a maximum of $350 per night for ministerial travel.
Expense Allowances of $19,000 per year.
If National ACT and NZF don’t want to share executive power with TOP MPs they could be made Ministers Outside of Cabinet with a salarly of $276,000.
Qiulae Wong answered a job for Leader of TOP advertised on Seek.
The job ad for leader of TOP didn’t list a salary package, but any seriously ambitious job seeker would have looked it up.
The leader of a small party in the New Zealand parliament earns an annual salary of between $201,100 and $218,300 NZD, depending on the exact number of MPs in their party. A nice little earner sure, but the chance to effectively double it must be tempting..
Making public transport “free” won’t fix anything. The problem with public transport in NZ isn’t the price, it’s the low frequency and unreliability of services on many routes. Invest in upping the frequency and reliability of services, rather than making it “free”. And rather than a UBI for tertiary students, get back to a tuition-free funding model for much fewer students, and a system focused on quality rather than quantity of university education. The bums-on-seats model is a dog and needs to go.
I find myself agreeing with you here which confuses me although I like to think that there’s some good in everyone.
We are never going to get Japanese or Hong Kong levels of public transport are we? Not outside the major cities anyway. And even then the population density just doesn’t support it. I’m pretty sure we could do better, but it’s still going to be a few levels below the best.
Labour’s free money flow depends on house values rising so they can claw bacj the CGT.Wirh thus four in charge the Public servants will grow swallowing up more money. The police would be hampered by the softly softly approach of Greens and TPM both police haters. There may be some moves to help the downtrodden which I wish the Coalition could do but overall it would be a disaster for the country like last time