ACT's $12.4b Fiscal Plan: What It Would Cut and What Rivals Say
ACT released its 'Cut the Waste, Grow the Country' fiscal plan on Sunday afternoon, 11 October. The party said it would cut spending and lower debt by $12.4 billion.
The announcement came on a busy day on the 2026 election campaign trail. The other parliamentary parties used Sunday to pitch on jobs, schooling, lunches, migration and the cost of living RNZ.
ACT, led by David Seymour, described the document as fully costed. The party said it is designed to cut waste, grow the economy, and balance the books with no new taxes. Before the release, the party said Sunday would show how New Zealand can get back to surplus and cut what it called wasteful spending. A surplus means the Government collects more than it spends, like a household earning more than it spends. ACT also claimed it is the only party with a faster path to surplus and no new taxes.
ACT said lower debt would give New Zealand room to respond to the next earthquake, financial crisis or pandemic ACT.
What ACT would cut and change
Most of the $12.4 billion comes from savings. ACT proposes raising the superannuation age by three months every year. That is the age people can start getting NZ Super.
It would cut disability benefits by $653 million. It would prevent migrants from claiming benefits for five years after entering the country.
ACT said part of the plan would be achieved by abolishing what it called "demographic" ministries. It would also cut foreign aid and back-office spending. Back-office means admin and head-office costs, not frontline services.
On the spending and revenue side, the plan includes an unspecified policy costing $100 million a year. It includes unspecified tax relief costing $264 million in its first year, rising to $303 million in 2031.
It also includes a $100 household carbon tax refund. Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong questioned how ACT would deliver the refund when there were no bids in the most recent Emissions Trading Scheme auction. That scheme requires polluters to buy carbon units. An ACT spokesperson said the party would remove the price floor on carbon units to ensure they sell. A price floor is a minimum price.
Rivals respond
The Greens labelled the plan "welfare for the wealthiest". In a published response titled "ACT's welfare for the wealthiest", the party said the Fiscal Plan hands more money to the super-rich and pays for it by cutting support Green Party. The Greens also said the plan will 'shovel money upwards'.
Labour accused ACT of "punching down" over the plan.
The broader context here is that fiscal plans are tested on credibility as well as arithmetic. Rivals, economists and the Treasury baseline are used to check them, and they limit what parties can negotiate after polling day.
Elsewhere on the trail
The Greens used the same day to announce a youth employment offer. The party said it would guarantee jobs for every New Zealander aged 16 to 24 who has been out of work for six months or more.
The proposed Jobs for Young People pilot would provide jobs through iwi, business, the public sector and non-profits. The Greens proposed scaling up the Mayors' Taskforce initiative to get 32,000 young people into work.
National vowed to make completing Year 11 mandatory. Education spokesperson Erica Stanford said students can currently leave school when they turn 16.
Labour confirmed details of a plan to reinstate the former school lunch programme from the start of 2028. The party said its school lunches would cover 244,400 students in the 1014 schools already included.
Labour said its school lunches would cost $5 a meal, and $6.50 for students in years 9 to 13. They would be made in school kitchens, by iwi and hapū partners or by local caterers. Labour's cost of living plan also included a commitment to restore rural school bus routes. Leader Chris Hipkins toured an independent grocer in Takanini for the announcement.
New Zealand First promised to scrap the Accredited Employer Work Visa and replace it with a "shortage-led" Skilled Work Visa if re-elected.
Dame Jacinda Ardern returned to the campaign trail on Sunday. She re-entered New Zealand politics in a drive for more Labour donations. She broke her relative silence on New Zealand politics to record a video.
The broader context here is coalition maths and differentiation. That is about which parties could combine to form a government under MMP, and how each party marks out its ground. ACT is bidding to own debt reduction and state-sector restraint, while its tax relief path is open to scrutiny on costings and ETS revenue assumptions. Rivals are bidding to move the debate to distribution. Who pays, who gains, and what is guaranteed to be protected.
In my view, the questions to watch are narrow. How the superannuation track is legislated year by year. What sits inside the back-office and aid reductions. How the five-year migrant benefit stand-down interacts with residency settings. And whether removing the ETS price floor can sustain the refund line without eroding the climate policy signal.
