With the election just two months away, the major parties continue to roll out major policy. Well, most of them, writes Henry Oliver in today’s excerpt from The Bulletin.

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Greens: A publicly-owned supermarket

The Greens have promised to split up the supermarket duopoly and establish a government-owned chain it’s calling “KiwiMart”, The Post’s Nick James reported. The party says it would cost $2.8bn to buy 120 supermarkets off Woolworths and Foodstuffs, along with two distribution centres.

Policy documents likened the proposed chain to Kiwibank’s impact on the banking sector but said it would be “at a competitive scale.” The announcement – which echoes New York mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan – follows years of public frustration with supermarket prices and the Commerce Commission’s finding that the sector is not sufficiently competitive.

NZ First: Super for citizens only

NZ First leader Winston Peters has announced that, if elected, only New Zealand citizens would be eligible for NZ Superannuation from 2029, 1News reported. Currently, permanent residents and residence-class visa holders are also eligible.

Speaking at a public meeting in Hamilton, Peters said the policy was about “economic fairness” and “putting New Zealanders first.” He argued it was unfair that someone who had lived in New Zealand for just 20 years – and only needed to be in the country for five years after age 50 – could receive the same super as someone who had worked and paid taxes their whole life.

The policy would have a three-year grace period before taking effect. Peters said the party wanted to “instil some meaning and value back into being a Kiwi.”

National: Lower deposits for more first-home buyers

National has promised to expand access to its low-deposit First Home Loan scheme, RNZ reported. The scheme, run by Kāinga Ora, allows buyers to purchase their first home with a 5% deposit rather than the 20% most banks require. Housing spokesperson Chris Bishop said the current income caps – $95,000 for single buyers and $150,000 for multiple buyers – were too restrictive and would be increased to $300,000 for anyone, whether single or combined income. The policy would cost $4m–$6m, funded from existing baselines.

The coalition scrapped Labour’s First Home Grant in 2024, which gave eligible applicants up to $10,000 towards their first home. Bishop said National’s policy was more effective, arguing that giving people cash was “a very blunt and ineffective way of actually helping.

Act: End net zero

Act has unveiled a climate policy that would repeal the Zero Carbon Act, get rid of the net zero by 2050 target, and cut the carbon tax, RNZ reported. Instead of a fixed target, Act would benchmark New Zealand’s emissions cap against major trading partners.

Leader David Seymour said the country’s approach to climate change was “broken and sending the country broke.” The party would also remove the Government’s minimum price for Emissions Trading Scheme auctions and return 100% of net carbon auction revenue to New Zealanders through a carbon tax refund.

Act would also oppose a tax on agricultural emissions and discourage productive farms being converted into carbon forests. Seymour said the Paris Agreement did not reflect New Zealand’s status as an agricultural nation, viewing methane and carbon dioxide as having the same impact. “We should look at pulling out,” he said, if the agreement wasn’t prepared to be “reasonable.”

Labour: No comment

Meanwhile, Labour has refused to commit to pricing agricultural emissions, the Herald’s Thomas Coughlan reported. The party had previously supported the He Waka Eke Noa proposal – a partnership between government and the primary sector to develop a farm-level emissions pricing system – but 18 years on, that is no longer the case. Labour’s silence on the issue is notable, given the party’s previous climate credentials (passing the Zero Carbon Act, establishing the Climate Change Commission, signing the Paris Agreement) and the fact that agriculture accounts for nearly half of New Zealand’s emissions.