Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good morning everyone.
Before I begin, can I acknowledge:
President Sylvia Wood and Party Chief Executive Jo de Joux. Thank you for your relentless work keeping National fighting fit.
My good friend and our outstanding Deputy Leader, Nicola Willis. Thank you for the late nights and the long days, for getting us back to surplus, and for building an economy where every New Zealander can get ahead.
To all our Ministers, MPs, and candidates here today. Thank you for your sacrifices. The long hours, the time away from family, and your collective determination to Fix the Basics and Build the Future.
And to every one of our members and supporters here in the Hutt this weekend. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you for knocking on doors, putting up the signs, making the calls, speaking well of us, and waving billboards in the rain.
Because, like me, you know that now, more than ever, New Zealand needs a National Government.
And that's the case I'm here to make today. The case for National.
The case for our party, our team, our values, and our plan to Fix the Basics and Build the Future.
Those values aren't new.
Ninety years ago, right here in Wellington, on the 13th and 14th of May 1936, our political forebears came together to found this party.
Farmers, business owners, and community leaders - reeling from electoral defeat, in the depths of the Great Depression - determined to build a party that could defend the values they believed in.
Values that faced grave threats then, from global conflict and economic turmoil, just as they do now:
- Individual freedom.
- Reward for achievement.
- National security.
- Limited government.
- Strong families and caring communities.
Ninety years on, the recipe for success hasn't changed.
Sid Holland had it right in 1943, when he said the basis of New Zealand's material future was "a little word with big meaning – work."
Work is at the heart of our party.
We're a party of farmers, working hard to beat the weather, compete offshore, and pay the bills.
Of mums and dads, working double shifts, getting the kids to rugby practice, paying off the mortgage, and saving for the future.
Of small business owners, working every hour of every day, risking everything they have on a bet that brighter days lie ahead.
I didn't leave my career in business and come to politics to take a break. I came to work.
I came to work for a culture of opportunity, aspiration, and ambition.
I came to work for Kiwis like you. People who work hard, play by the rules, and deserve to get ahead.
In National, that's simply who we are. Business owners, lawyers, and farmers. Soldiers, sailors, and aviators. Mums and dads. Grandmothers and grandfathers.
Women like Katie Milne.
Fifth-generation farmer, volunteer firefighter, a mother and a grandmother - and the next MP for West Coast-Tasman.
Someone I know will make an enormous contribution to her community in public life.
And men like Mahesh Muralidhar.
Entrepreneur, mentor, Aucklander - and the next MP for Tāmaki.
Exactly the voice New Zealand's newest generation of business talent deserves in Parliament.
Ultimately, in National we are united by one belief: that if we work hard, New Zealand's best days lie ahead of us.
We're the party prepared to make the tough calls. Because it's only through responsible economic management that we will build a brighter future for every New Zealander.
And in a more volatile and uncertain world, that has never mattered more.
Make no mistake, we are living through an inflection point in history.
A world ordered by rules is giving way to one ordered by power.
Security, not economics, is becoming the backdrop to international relations.
And where countries and companies once obsessively pursued lean supply chains and borderless capital, national resilience is now the priority of the day.
Our own region, the Indo-Pacific, with both a burgeoning middle class and intensifying great-power competition, will be a source of unprecedented economic opportunity, and serious geopolitical risk.
And as we have seen again and again, through COVID, through last year's tariffs, through this year's conflict in the Middle East, a small trading nation like ours is disproportionately exposed to events offshore.
But here’s what we can control: how prepared we are, how resilient we are, and how well we stick together.
This is the world New Zealand must navigate – not with fear, but with clear eyes and a willingness to make the right choices to build a fantastic future for all New Zealanders.
Serious times call for serious leadership.
Not gimmicks. Not soundbites. And not bribes the country can't afford and the politicians offering them can't explain.
I'll be blunt.
In the current environment, it is scandalous how little of substance the Labour Party has to offer.
In an age of tariffs and trade barriers, they have no plan to lift exports or create economic opportunity offshore.
In an age of energy shocks and geopolitical uncertainty, they have no plan to secure the abundant, affordable energy our exporters need to compete.
In an age of maritime threats and regional instability, they have no plan to build the defence capability we need to keep our people, and our partners, safe.
No plan to make it easier to start a business, or to reward those who do.
No plan to fund the infrastructure we need, or to make it easier to build.
No plan to protect your financial security by lifting your retirement savings.
No plan to make local government more efficient and keep rates down.
And most importantly, at a time when governments worldwide are under growing pressure to demonstrate their fiscal credibility, they have no plan to get back to surplus and no plan to pay down debt.
Just a series of unaffordable and irresponsible bribes funded by higher taxes, more borrowing, that will drive higher inflation and higher interest rates.
New Zealanders deserve better.
These are serious times, and the stakes are high.
National's answer is our plan to Fix the Basics and Build the Future.
It’s a plan designed to back you to get ahead.
With higher wages, more jobs, better schools and hospitals, and a real shot at the Kiwi dream.
It's a plan to make government more efficient and get back to surplus faster so New Zealand isn't exposed to the risk of higher taxes, higher inflation, and higher debt.
And that means making tough choices.
Bringing the public service into the 21st century. Throttling the size of the bureaucracy and embracing technology, so the services you pay for are more responsive and more affordable.
Ending the culture of handouts, where every problem was met with another cheque, paid for by you, the taxpayer.
In a world of energy uncertainty, National has a plan to unleash abundant, affordable energy here at home.
Fast-track consenting to accelerate renewable energy - wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal.
An end to Labour's oil and gas ban, cooked up with the Greens and New Zealand First, that put ideology ahead of domestic energy security.
And stronger strategic energy reserves. The diesel, coal, and LNG we need to keep the lights on when the lakes run dry and the wind doesn't blow.
In a more competitive world, National has a plan to drive investment, boost productivity, and create jobs.
Replacing the RMA, to clear away a jungle of red tape.
Backing the businesses that invest, by cutting their taxes through Investment Boost - not smashing ambition with a Capital Gains Tax.
And making it easier to take a risk by ripping through the rules and compliance that hold back construction, agriculture, horticulture, business lending, and tourism.
In a more volatile world, with the old rules crumbling and new powers on the rise, National has a plan to work harder for New Zealand's interests.
Boosting defence spending and investing in the cutting-edge capability we need to protect our region and our people.
Signing ambitious new trade agreements with India, the UAE, and the GCC, and a new fuel-security agreement with Singapore to keep our economy moving, even in a crisis.
And in an age of AI, robotics, and a second space race, National has a plan to transform the education your children and grandchildren receive.
World-leading curriculums, with an hour a day of reading, writing, and maths, designed to make sure every Kiwi kid masters the basics wherever they come from, and wherever they're going.
An end to NCEA, and a new qualification that prepares your children and grandchildren to compete on the world stage - not fall further behind.
And universities ruthlessly focused on the skills, research, and frontier technology we need to build the next generation of companies that can win on the world stage.
In short: in serious times, National has a serious plan.
A plan to fix the basics and build the future.
It’s a plan all about you.
It’s about your job, your income, your kids’ future.
It’s about safety in your community.
Your family doctor, your local school.
And it’s a plan that’s working.
220,000 new jobs set to be created in the next four years.
Wages rising faster than inflation.
Exports booming.
The books getting back to surplus.
More police on the beat and fewer victims of violent crime.
Real progress in reading, writing, and maths.
More families seeing the benefit of life-changing treatments for cancer and other illnesses.
We’re making tremendous progress. We’re rebuilding a culture of ambition, aspiration, and opportunity that will turn this country around.
But our plan needs more time.
We need three more years of National – not bumper stickers, slogans, and irresponsible promises that just make the country poorer.
Because make no mistake.
Look what is at risk.
It’s not serious to make $18 billion of promises with no plan to pay for them.
It’s not serious to spend $30 billion buying a bank, when we already own one.
It's not serious to raise taxes on every New Zealander who works, to further subsidise the lifestyles of those who don't.
It's not serious that when it comes to Education, you can't even be bothered answering your emails, let alone lifting achievement.
And it's not serious that your only policy on law and order is to defund the Police and lower the prison population.
Last month, I committed that National's platform at this election will secure New Zealand's future in a more volatile and uncertain world.
A central pillar of a stronger, more resilient New Zealand is our financial security.
Put simply: an economy that can't support itself in a crisis is a strategic risk as much as a financial one, and it undermines our national security.
Our ability to defend ourselves, invest in critical infrastructure, make the social investments that matter, and respond when a crisis hits - all of it ultimately rests on the strength of our economy and the health of our public finances.
So, New Zealand needs to get its finances in order and build a bigger economic engine. An engine that drives the growth that creates jobs and lifts incomes, while keeping inflation, taxes, and debt low.
Economic productivity and fiscal discipline are not separate from national security. They are national security. Otherwise, whether it’s an earthquake, new tariffs, or another conflict, when the next moment of testing arrives, we will find we neither have the resources nor the credibility to respond.
Without economic responsibility and financial security, we cannot have anything else.
A key component of building greater economic security is driving higher levels of savings and investment for the future.
In November last year we announced our policy to lift employee and employer contributions to 6% each, for a combined 12%, matching Australia by 2032.
That policy is ambitious and will mean a 21-year-old entering the workforce today will reach age 65 with an additional $400,000 in savings.
But friends we have to go further.
That’s why if re-elected, National will make further changes to KiwiSaver, so Kiwis are set up for their retirement and have a secure financial future.
First, and this is big, we will make sure every New Zealander is saving for the future, by making KiwiSaver compulsory for working New Zealanders.
Right now, the majority of Kiwis in paid work are getting prepared for their financial future, through a regular contribution to KiwiSaver.
But for many Kiwis, especially those on low-incomes, the self-employed, and many young people, saving for their future isn’t a priority.
I think that’s a mistake.
The truth is the single best time to start saving is when you’re young, because that’s when every dollar has the most time to grow.
And while finding the room to save in a tight budget is tough, life in retirement without a reliable pool of savings can be so much tougher.
In November last year, when National released the first tranche of our KiwiSaver policy, we said at the time that we would not make contributions compulsory.
In the months since I’ve heard a consistent message from New Zealanders that they believe we can go further, with a policy of compulsory savings that sets more Kiwis up for a financially secure retirement.
With so many Kiwis already contributing, I just think that’s the right call.
Now is the time for a last big push to get the remainder of the country enrolled, contributing, and building for their own financial future.
We know times are tight, and so the usual protections for genuine hardship will remain in place, as well as an exception for those on paid parental leave, and smaller contributions for the self-employed.
But the principle is simple: if we want a generation of New Zealanders to retire with real wealth behind them, the habit of saving must start early.
The message: National will back you to save for your future, with a strong KiwiSaver at the heart of that vision.
And for the country, it means a flourishing pool of national savings available to invest in the businesses and infrastructure New Zealand needs to thrive.
Second, let’s talk about young people.
At the heart of our party lies a belief in New Zealand as a property-owning democracy, where every Kiwi has a real stake in the future of our economy.
Education is critical to that story, which is why our focus on financial literacy in schools is so important.
Young people won’t understand the impact of their financial choices without a real grounding in what it means to balance a budget, to take out a mortgage, and save for a rainy day.
But there’s more we can do, and KiwiSaver is a critical part of that story.
So, today I can announce that from 1 July next year, National will enrol every child born in New Zealand into KiwiSaver at birth, and we’ll back them in with a $1,500 kick-start, invested for growth, from day one!
It’s not enough to understand the impact of interest rates and investment in theory, National will make it a practical, financial reality.
Third, we will support mums and dads when they need it most.
Having a baby is one of life’s great joys, but it’s also a time when family budgets are stretched with a new arrival to provide for, and often a parent stepping back from paid work.
Too often, it’s the parent taking time out, usually mum, whose retirement savings fall behind and never quite catch up.
I don’t think that’s acceptable.
When I said earlier that National believes in strong families, I meant it. Being a parent is a big job, and it shouldn’t come at the expense of your retirement savings.
So, National will top up KiwiSaver during paid parental leave, with the Government keeping up the employer contribution, whether you choose to contribute or not, so that taking time to care for a new baby doesn’t come at the cost of your retirement.
For a stay-at-home mum or dad with two kids, their retirement savings could be around $15,000 larger by the time they reach 65, thanks to this change in policy.
Having a child shouldn’t mean sacrificing your financial security in retirement.
Fourth and finally, in the National Party we back Kiwis who want to keep working past 65.
Every week, I meet Kiwis from all walks of life who choose to keep working, because they can, because they love it, and because they still have a contribution to make – no matter their age.
But right now, the day you turn 65, your employer can stop contributing to your KiwiSaver.
That’s not right, and it’s out of step with how Kiwis actually live and work today.
So, that’s why National will require employers to keep contributing to KiwiSaver for workers over 65.
Just because you’re 65 doesn’t mean it’s time to stop saving for your future, and it doesn’t mean it’s time for your employer to stop supporting you in that mission either.
Friends, make no mistake, this election is a choice.
We can build a more productive economy. We can lift incomes. We can strengthen our regions. We can create more opportunity for the next generation. And we can do all of it while protecting the things that make New Zealand special.
This country has incredible potential, and it can be even better for our kids and grandkids. We can be one of the best places in the world to live, raise a family, and build a business.
But none of it happens by accident. Serious times demand tough choices and serious leadership. It means spending carefully and investing in New Zealand's future.
It means refusing to saddle Kiwis with higher taxes, higher inflation, and higher debt.
We know that story, we’ve seen it before.
We can’t risk going back – and I am utterly determined that on November 7, New Zealanders will choose to keep going forward.
But we can't do it without you.
We need every single member in this room knocking on doors, delivering pamphlets, having conversations over the back fence, and making the case to Party Vote National.
So, let's go to work again. Let's make the case, and let's get out there together.
Let's win this election, and let’s Fix the Basics and Build the Future!
Thank you.