Girish Mahajan (Editor)

The Opportunities Party

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Abbreviation
  
TOP

Founded
  
4 November 2016

House of Representatives
  
0 / 121

Founder
  
Gareth Morgan

Political position
  
Centre

The Opportunities Party

Ideology
  
Big tent Radical centrism Environmentalism

The Opportunities Party (TOP) is a registered political party in New Zealand. It was founded by philanthropist Gareth Morgan in November 2016. The party supports "a prosperous, fair and equitable society", environmental sustainability, and the adoption of a written constitution.

Contents

Foundation and 2017 elections

Gareth Morgan launched the party on 4 November 2016. On 10 January 2017 the party announced that it had 2000 members and was applying for registration. It also announced that it was considering standing electorate candidates. The Electoral Commission posted notice of the registration application on 21 January. The party's logo is a variant of the Wā kāinga / Home flag. The creators of the Red Peak flag criticised the party for using a logo similar to their flag without discussing it with them.

Morgan spoke at the annual Rātana commemorations in January 2017, during which he criticised New Zealand First and its leader Winston Peters, saying that Peters was "an Uncle Tom" whose party was "selling Maori down the river". Peters, who also spoke at the event, responded by calling Morgan a "thinned down version of Kim Dotcom".

The party announced that party chief of staff Geoff Simmons would contest the 2017 Mount Albert by-election. The party was criticised by the ACT party for offering free rides for Mount Albert voters, which they asserted breached the Electoral Act. However, the Electoral Commission cleared TOP of any wrongdoing. Simmons received 600 votes, or 4.6% of the vote, placing him third.

The party was registered by the electoral commission on 6 March 2017.

Policies

Between January and March 2017, TOP released policy statements in seven areas. Policies include:

  • Modify the income tax system to include a minimum yearly income assessed for all major assets, defined to include housing and land. As proposed, the tax change would be fiscally neutral, leaving the total tax take unchanged.
  • Work to attract highly skilled migrants.
  • Limit net immigration to 1% of annual population growth, and make access to permanent residency harder and longer.
  • Cease intensification of land use until impacts on rivers and lakes is offset.
  • Create a written Constitution.
  • Create an upper house of parliament.
  • Eliminate fossil fuel use in New Zealand by 2050.
  • Implement a universal basic income.

    • References

    The Opportunities Party Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA