ACT plans $1.1b foreign aid cut from 2028, Pacific and Ukraine exempt
ACT has proposed cutting more than $1.1 billion from New Zealand's foreign aid over four years from 2028.
The figure was reported on 11 October 2026 RNZ. On ACT's estimates, the cut would save about $283 million a year and return aid spending to 2017 levels, excluding support for Ukraine.
Party leader David Seymour said there would be no cuts to aid for the Pacific under the proposal. Spending in support of Ukraine would also be protected.
The current starting point is a $3.06 billion appropriation, Parliament's formal approval to spend, for the three-year period from 2024/25 to 2026/27. New Zealand's support for Ukraine has totalled about $152 million since the war began, according to the same report.
The cut sits inside ACT's fully costed fiscal plan, titled "Cut the Waste, Grow the Country". The party says the plan is designed to cut waste, grow the economy, and balance the books with no new taxes.
For context on how these plans usually work, the start date matters as much as the total. A four-year track from 2028 sits outside the current three-year period and in the next parliamentary term. That is normal for opposition costings. It lets a party count the yearly operating savings without unpicking spending already agreed, and leaves the detail to future Budgets.
In practical terms, the question is where the $283 million a year would come from. By protecting the Pacific and Ukraine, ACT has set out where it would not come from, rather than where it would. A future minister would have to make that call through the normal Budget and Cabinet process. The options include New Zealand's payments to international organisations, aid programmes outside the Pacific, emergency humanitarian money, or the cost of running the aid programme through MFAT.
The broader context here is what a costed aid saving does for the Budget maths. Aid is discretionary operating spending voted by Parliament each year. That makes it simpler to count as a saving than benefits or other payments that rise automatically, with fewer flow-on risks. Including it lets ACT show room for its other promises while keeping to no new taxes.
Looking at what this could mean after the election, the fixed number, start date and protections set a starting point for talks. Other parties can argue over the total, the pace, or the exemptions. The Pacific commitment limits what any future foreign minister could do, but it takes one criticism off the table. Any debate would then centre on aid lines outside the Pacific and how MFAT manages a smaller baseline without touching the protected areas.
