What National Stands For

·          A globally competitive economy

·         Regular tax reductions

·         Higher standards in education

·         Tough on crime

·         Effective healthcare, sooner

·         Valuing families

·         Building opportunity for all

·         Encouraging ambition


The National Party was founded on principles of individual responsibility, private enterprise, and reward for individual effort. These principles are the only sure path to a society of personal freedom and rising standards of living for all.

We value honesty and fairness, hard work, respect for achievement, and integrity.  These virtues underpin successful societies by reconciling the dynamism of free enterprise and the freedom of expression we value in a modern society, with the need for compassion, a sense of fair play, and our need to ensure safe communities for our children to grow up in.

But our traditional Kiwi values are being destroyed by a growing government-funded culture of dependency.  The government is too big, too bureaucratic, and too unresponsive.  We have created a ticking social time bomb.  It is reflected in entrenched welfare dependency, educational failure, and rising levels of criminal activity.

Overlaid on this, but closely related, is a deterioration in race relations and the emergence of two standards of citizenship.

Too many New Zealanders are abandoning this country because of these problems.  We need to reinvigorate our society if we are to create the sort of society that will be attractive to our children and grandchildren, a society that will allow them to meet their aspirations here in New Zealand.