Over the weekend at our annual Rally, I was announced as ACT’s new Deputy Leader. I’m proud to take on this role because at this election it is vital that we lock Labour out and unlock New Zealand’s potential.
That means stopping the parties that want to divide New Zealanders by ancestry, expand co-governance, and keep writing Treaty activism into every corner of New Zealand, from our schools to our hospitals.The Rally was only the beginning. Now we need to turn that momentum into votes. Please chip in today so ACT can take this message across New Zealand, start this campaign with strength, and lock Labour out.
I am proud of both my Māori and British ancestry. I do not need to choose between them, and I do not need Te Pāti Māori, Labour, the Greens, or any unelected bureaucrat telling me what my identity is supposed to mean.
Te Pāti Māori claim to speak for all Māori. They do not speak for me. They do not speak for every Māori parent who wants their children safe and well educated, every Māori business owner who wants less red tape and more opportunity, or every Māori victim of crime who wants consequences.These are things all New Zealanders aspire to. They do not require race-based policies. They require a country where every person has the same rights, the same responsibilities, and the same chance to get ahead.
The Treaty should not be used as a weapon to divide New Zealanders. ACT believes, and I believe, that every New Zealander should have the same political rights, the same legal rights, and the same democratic say.That principle is on the ballot on 7 November.
Labour, the Greens, and Te Pāti Māori want more race-based power, more bureaucracy, more grievance, and more division. ACT says New Zealand’s future should be built on equal rights, personal responsibility, public safety, and opportunity for every citizen.That is how we unlock New Zealand’s potential.Since becoming a Minister, I have worked to put those values into law. I am rewriting the Arms Act so public safety is improved while licenced firearm owners are treated fairly. I brought back Three Strikes so the worst violent and sexual repeat offenders are locked up for longer. I have worked to speed up the courts because victims deserve justice without endless delay.
I changed the Proceeds of Crime Fund so money taken from criminals goes towards preventing violent crime, not being handed back to the Mongrel Mob as it was under Labour. I am reforming anti-money laundering laws to make it easier to do business, buy or sell a home, and open a bank account, while making it harder to commit crime.None of these things required treating people differently depending on what century their ancestors arrived here.
In Government, ACT has led the charge on restoring equal rights. We have not gone as far as ACT would have liked, but we have pushed this Government much further than it would have gone without us.
We scrapped the Māori Health Authority and Labour’s divisive, co-governed Three Waters bureaucracy. We introduced a requirement for need, not race, in the public service. We stood for the Treaty Principles Bill while every other party voted it down. We restored communities’ right to scrap Māori wards. And after months of pressure, the Government adopted ACT MP Cameron Luxton’s Member’s Bill to stop unelected appointees from voting on councils.
But none of this survives if Labour, the Greens, and Te Pāti Māori get back into power [and she’s right: it’s what KCDC is hoping for —Eds]
That is why ACT needs to be strong enough to lock Labour out, protect the progress we have made, and keep pushing further to unlock New Zealand’s potential.
 |  Hon Nicole McKee Deputy Leader ACT New Zealand |