Government confirms its 100-day plan

The new government has confirmed its plan for its first 100 days, with 49 items Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says are "ambitious for New Zealand".

The new Cabinet met today for the second time to discuss the plan, which combines the 100-day plan National campaigned on with the priorities of its two partner parties ACT and New Zealand First.

Announcing it at his first post-Cabinet briefing on Wednesday, Luxon said New Zealanders voted for a change of government, a change of policies and a change of approach.

"Our government is starting the way we mean to go on - ambitious for New Zealand. With 49 actions to deliver in the next 100 days, this plan is hugely ambitious but we will be working as hard as we can," he said.

Leader of the House Chris Bishop said the new Parliament would get started from next week with the usual ceremonial matters.

This starts with the election of a Speaker on Tuesday, and the official opening on Wednesday with the Governor-General delivering the Speech from the Throne - laying out the government's agenda.

This would be debated by party leaders, with a few first speeches from new MPs rounding out the week. The following week would then include further debate and maiden speeches, while the government would also move into urgency to pass and repeal a series of laws.

They were aiming to pass four pieces of legislation repealing laws Labour brought in, as well as progressing 90-day trials to select committee, by Christmas.

"The first bill that we will introduce and move through all stages will be a bill to return the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to a single mandate, a single focus on fighting inflation," Bishop said.

"We intend to move a bill to repeal the Labour government's Fair Pay - or so-called Fair Pay - legislation to repeal that through all stages. We will remove and repeal the Natural and Built Environment Act, and the Spatial Planning Act - Labour's RMA 2.0 Acts - through all stages.

"We will repeal the ute tax - the Clean Car Discount - through all stages, and we will introduce and refer to select committee a bill to extend 90-day trial periods for all businesses."

Luxon again said the plan was ambitious.

"I think we're going to do more in 100 days than the (last) government did in the last six years".

The plan revolves around three focus areas: The economy, law and order, and public services.

Rebuilding the economy and easing the cost of living:

• 1 Stop work on the Income Insurance Scheme
• 2 Stop work on Industry Transformation Plans
• 3 Stop work on the Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme
• 4 Begin efforts to double renewable energy production, including drawing up a national policy statement on renewable electricity generation.
• 5 Withdraw central government from Let's Get Wellington Moving (LGWM)
• 6 Meet with councils and communities to establish regional requirements for recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle and other recent major flooding events
• 7 Make any additional Orders in Council needed to speed up cyclone and flood recovery efforts
• 8 Start reducing public sector expenditure, including consultant and contractor expenditure
• 9 Introduce legislation to narrow the Reserve Bank's mandate to price stability
• 10 Introduce legislation to remove the Auckland Fuel Tax
• 11 Cancel fuel tax hikes
• 12 Begin work on a new government policy statement reflecting the new Roads of National Significance and new public transport priorities
• 13 Repeal the Clean Car Discount scheme by 31 December 2023
• 14 Stop blanket speed limit reductions and start work on replacing the Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits 2022.
• 15 Stop central government work on the Auckland Light Rail project
• 16 Repeal the Fair Pay Agreement legislation
• 17 Introduce legislation to restore 90-day trial periods for all businesses
• 18 Start work to improve the quality of regulation
• 19 Begin work on a National Infrastructure Agency
• 20 Introduce legislation to repeal the Water Services Entities Act 2022
• 21 Repeal the Spatial Planning and Natural and Built Environment Act; introduce a fast-track consenting regime
• 22 Begin to cease implementation of new Significant Natural Areas and seek advice on operation of the areas
• 23 Take policy decisions to amend the Overseas Investment Act 2005 to make it easier for build-to-rent housing to be developed in New Zealand
• 24 Begin work to enable more houses to be built, by implementing the Going for Housing Growth policy and making the Medium Density Residential Standards optional for councils

Restoring law and order:

• 25 Abolish the previous government's prisoner reduction target
• 26 Introduce legislation to ban gang patches, stop gang members gathering in public, and stop known gang offenders from communicating with one another
• 27 Give police greater powers to search gang members for firearms and make gang membership an aggravating factor at sentencing
• 28 Stop taxpayer funding for section 27 cultural reports
• 29 Introduce legislation to extend eligibility to offence-based rehabilitation programmes to remand prisoners
• 30 Begin work to crack down on serious youth offending
• 31 Enable more virtual participation in court proceedings
• 32 Begin to repeal and replace Part 6 of the Arms Act 1983 relating to clubs and ranges

Deliver better public services:

• 33 Stop all work on He Puapua
• 34 Improve security for the health workforce in hospital emergency departments
• 35 Sign an MoU with Waikato University to progress a third medical school
• 36 By 1 December 2023, lodge a reservation against adopting amendments to WHO health regulations to allow the government to consider these against a "national interest test"
• 37 Require primary and intermediate schools to teach an hour of reading, writing and maths per day starting in 2024
• 38 Ban the use of cellphones in schools
• 39 Appoint an expert group to redesign the English and maths curricula for primary school students
• 40 Begin disestablishing Te Pukenga
• 41 Begin work on delivering better public services and strengthening democracy
• 42 Set five major targets for health system, including for wait times and cancer treatment
• 43 Introduce legislation to disestablish the Māori Health Authority
• 44 Take first steps to extend free breast cancer screening to those aged up to 74
• 45 Repeal amendments to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 and regulations
• 46 Allow the sale of cold medication containing pseudoephedrine
• 47 Begin work to repeal the Therapeutics Products Act 2023
• 48 Establish a priority one category on the social housing waitlist to move families out of emergency housing into permanent homes more quickly
• 49 Commission an independent review into Kāinga Ora's financial situation, procurement, and asset management

Asked about his confidence in getting through all the items on the 100-day plan, Luxon said the way they went through negotiations was working through the policy programmes from all three parties.

"We know there's a lot in it, we know we've got a massive amount of ambition, we know we're biting off a lot in order to get it done, but we're determined to do so. So frankly, hitting the country with a lot more intensity than we've observed in the last six years, to say 'we are going to get things done'."