OPINION:
Richard Prebble
All parties disappoint. National used to stand for property rights. Labour has abandoned taxing landlords. The Greens have gone from environmentalists to socialists. Sir Roger Douglas campaigned for zero income tax. ACT now says the country cannot afford a tax cut.
But no party has ever abandoned its founding principles faster or more completely than Opportunity.
Garth Morgan spent $3 million of his own money promoting a guaranteed income and land tax. He believes that AI will cause huge unemployment and that land tax will lower house prices.
Before the campaign, before a single vote, let alone negotiations, TOP has abandoned both policies.
On 29 September 2026, TOP leader Qiulae Wong announced five non-negotiable policies.
Neither land tax nor a citizens’ income was among them.
How many TOP members joined because they believed in one or both policies?
On 9 October, Wong said TOP could set aside tax reform for the next parliamentary term.
They have stolen Garth Morgan’s party.
TOP’s only principle is doing any deal with anyone for power.
Politicians have a saying that the most dangerous place to drive is down the middle of the road. But TOP, a party of learner drivers, is willing to drive down any road, with any driver, on any side of the road.
What mystifies me is not that Luxon rules out a deal with TOP.
A four-way coalition with a party of learner MPs is no way to run a country.
It is Luxon’s insistence that he is ruling out a coalition because of TOP’s tax policy. The whole country knows Qiulae Wong would ditch TOP’s tax policy for a seat around the cabinet table.
There is an even more fundamental issue. If a party is willing to abandon its principles and betray its own supporters, why would it hesitate to betray its coalition partners?
An agreement with an opportunist lasts only until a better opportunity comes along.
Richard Prebble is a former minister and ACT Party leader
