ACT leader David Seymour announced a new welfare policy on 28 June 2026. The core idea is that benefits should help people get back into work, not become a permanent way to earn money. Personal responsibility is central, according to ACT's announcement.

The policy has three parts: making the welfare system fairer, getting benefits recipients to take more responsibility for their own situation, and making sure working-age people on benefits are expected to find jobs. Seymour has not released the costs of the policy or said when it would become law. The announcement does not say which benefits would change or what new requirements would apply.

Seymour has been talking about tougher welfare rules since his 2024 State of the Nation address, when he set out what ACT wanted as part of the National-led government. This announcement fits that pattern — it is something ACT wants to push in the coalition's second year.

Not all the government agrees on welfare. National usually makes small, careful changes to benefits. ACT wants bigger, structural change — fewer people relying on long-term support, stricter rules for receiving benefits, and a shift in how the state treats people on welfare. Seymour's announcement shows where ACT wants to go. Whether it becomes actual law depends on the whole Cabinet, not just ACT.

The way Seymour has framed this policy is worth noting. He says the current system is unfair to people who work and pay taxes, as well as to benefit recipients who could work. That argument is not new in New Zealand — earlier welfare reforms in 2012–2013 made similar points. But past governments have tightened the rules without making the big structural changes ACT is now proposing.

ACT has more power in government than it has ever had. The party holds more seats than before, and Seymour is Deputy Prime Minister. That gives ACT more say in Cabinet decisions. But whether it is enough to push National further on welfare conditions remains unclear.

The announcement lacks important details. When welfare policy goes through the government's policy process, it usually looks different from the first version. Without costing, details on how many people would be affected, or specifics on what new rules would be imposed, this announcement is mainly a statement of direction. The real work — turning it into a law that Cabinet agrees on — still needs to happen.