On 2^nd November 2016, Gareth Morgan, a multimillionaire businessman and philanthropist, announced the formation of his new political party: The Opportunities Party (Morgan, TOP 2016). It was formally registered on the Electoral Commission’s Register of Political Parties, on the 6^th March 2017 (Electoral Commission New Zealand 2017). Morgan states his intentions for forming the new party as “a rebellion against the politics of mediocrity, against the inertia of the Established parties” (Morgan, TOP 2016). Frustrated with what Morgan sees as a false left-right political dichotomy, he set out to establish a party that he claims bases its policies on evidence and pragmatism. Using public policy research conducted by his own Morgan Foundation to inform his policy decisions, the party draws on national and international studies to support his policy choices and priorities. As a new party, and one that has come in well below the required five percent party vote threshold to win any seats, and did not win a single electoral seat (MMP Review 2012), TOP may be considered a ‘fringe’ micro party (Edwards 2015).

Although Morgan claims that he is politically neutral, equally respecting and critiquing both left-leaning Labour and right-leaning National (TOP About 2017), it would be a stretch to say he is ideologically neutral. The party’s vision, as stated on their website, is aspirational (TOP Vision 2017). TOP wishes to “materially improve fairness” by addressing key issues such as poverty, housing affordability, environmental sustainability and “making the most from our natural capital”, and “national pride” (Morgan, TOP 2016). Ideologically, this places TOP into what would be considered leftist schemas. These schemas fall into separate but overlapping ideologies: modern liberalism, ethical socialism, and environmentalism (or green ideology), and ethnocultural nationalism (Heywood 2017). All these ideologies are aspirational in nature, and place “fairness” as their central tenet in varying ways. They are made concrete in policy (TOP Policy 2017), and expressed in the language used in the policy documents on their website, and in the promotional media used to advance the party’s policies on the campaign trail. For the most part, Morgan has been unwavering in both vision and policy.

First of the policies listed on TOP’s website is tax reform. Morgan is an economist, achieving his PhD in economics, so it is no surprise that it is in tax reform that he sets his highest priority and springboard to achieving his overall vision. Most specifically targeted under his tax reform proposals are closing tax loopholes, setting a capital gains tax, and reducing income tax on wage earners. Tax reform is the first step in creating a more egalitarian society, greater economic fairness, and reducing the wealth gap. It would also address the housing bubble through corrective economic action, and has been a key issue on the campaign trail. In alignment with modern liberal theory and ethical socialism, Morgan states “[w]hether it’s discouraging tax dodging or encouraging capital to move to the highest earning areas possible, it’s all good – fairness leads to economic efficiency. They are soulmates (TOP Tax Policy 2017)”. In other words, the redistribution of tax benefits and burdens will move capital from speculative financial activity, which only serves to create ‘bubbles’, into more productive areas of economic activity which is fairer and works to solve economic imbalances faster and with greater overall stability.

Using social media as his main promotional platform, he distributed infomercials that spelled out exactly what he saw was unfair in the current tax system, why it was so unfair, and how it would effectively be dealt with. These infomercials were all delivered as parodies of the ‘property-owning class’, and were quite scathing of both National’s existing tax policy, and of Labour’s timidity in addressing capital gains tax (Facebook: TOP 2017).

Another aspect to TOPs economic reform, is the implementation of an Unconditional Basic Income (TOP What Is UBI 2017). This is perhaps the most controversial of his economic policies, with critics coming from both left and right. UBI is a very progressive idea, and Morgan hasn’t campaigned as robustly on this as he has on tax reform – though he hasn’t ignored it on the campaign trail either (Morgan, Press Release 2017).

On environmental policies, Morgan has been critical of the Green Party’s refusal to be in a coalition with National. In an interview with Meg Williams for Spinoff.co.nz, Morgan said, “[t]he Greens drive me nuts because they won’t work with National, which means that half the time, because National’s in government half the time at least, we don’t have strong representation on environment. I just think that’s irresponsible. Totally irresponsible (Williams 2017).” Morgan is passionate about strong environmental policy (TOP Environment 2017), including policy that directly addresses climate change (TOP Climate 2017), and a separate “Clear Water Action Plan” (TOP Water 2017). There is much overlap between TOPs environmental policies and those of the Green Party, and Green candidate Theresa Moore – a marine scientist – switched her party affiliation to TOP, though it was TOPs tax reforms and UBI proposal that swung her in TOPs direction (Cooke 2017).

Regarding the Clear Water Action Plan, TOP wishes to establish an ownership model with due regard to the Treaty of Waitangi. Doing this, Morgan says, would solve many of the issues surrounding the establishment of a commercial model of use. To keep water as a sustainable resource and to reduce pollution, TOP proposes to make polluters pay. He uses a carrot and stick approach to this: “Businesses will have their pollutant contribution to the catchment measured. Those who are above the sustainable level will pay a penalty, those below will receive payment from the penalty pool. Those who don’t pollute will become more profitable, the profitability of those who do will fall.” New water consents for commercial use, such as bottling and irrigation, will be auctioned through tender to set a market price. Existing consents may remain in place, but the price shall rise to meet the established market value. No consents shall be issued for commercial use that is not environmentally and socially sustainable (TOP Water 2017).

It is interesting to note that much of Morgan’s policy and rhetoric use words that reflect his humanism and ethical socialism, even those related to physical environment and climate change policy. Ideals of social justice, fairness, and social sustainability permeate his political philosophies. He appears to come from a very Maori holistic perspective of manaakitanga (caring for others) and te whare tapa whā (the four cornerstones of wellness) whether it is about the land and water, or setting a blueprint for a codified constitution (TOP Democracy 2017).

There is an ethnocultural nationalism (Heywood 2017) to his some of his policy statements that reveal a deep respect for the Treaty of Waitangi and of Maori culture, and its uniqueness to Aotearoa. When asked on the campaign trail how he would deal with “issues of ethnic preference”, Morgan responded with a brief but eloquent lesson on the Treaty of Waitangi (Facebook: TOP 2017). This is further expressed in TOPs Democracy Reset policy: “TOP’s vision is to ensure Maori receive equally effective delivery of public services such as health, education and social welfare through the devolution of provision”, and adds “[t]his is consistent with the principle of rangatiratanga” (self-determination) (TOP Democracy 2017).

Unfortunately, TOPs Achilles heel appears to be Gareth Morgan himself. While he is the brains behind TOP, and has created policy that is supported by research from multiple peer reviewed sources, which has been fully costed, and is aspirational rather than punitive, TOP struggles to ‘connect’ with many voters. He was much maligned in the press some time ago, before deciding to form TOP, over suggestions he had made regarding the effect of cats on native and/or endangered birdlife. The feline loving public were outraged, and the SPCA called Morgan’s program to reduce cat populations “hare-brained” (Wade 2013). While his efforts to control the cat population were sound, at least as far as the Department of Conservation were concerned – despite also distancing themselves from Morgan himself (Department of Conservation 2013) – he has not quite been able to escape some voters’ ire ever since.

While he has shown himself to be passionate about many of the issues that concern New Zealanders, and his policies appear to address those concerns with thorough research providing clear solutions – albeit a bit too radical and reformist for many to accept right now, perhaps – he lacks the charisma needed to be taken more seriously. He has a devil may care attitude to dress codes, usually appearing publicly in casual ‘sweats’ instead of a suit, his tact when frustrated can be lacking, and his timing ‘off’. An example of this was when he called Jacinda Ardern “lipstick on a pig” (Robinson 2017). It was a tone-deaf moment, but Morgan remained unrepentant. His language can be blunt, and he can express himself coarsely. This can be off-putting to some voters, especially given he is a newly formed party and voters have not had the chance to get to know his policies yet. It is also not helpful that he suggests that he “doesn’t want the job” and therefore may not be committed to any long-term struggle for change (Anderson 2017).

Most of his campaigning has been conducted in town halls around the country, on social media, and in media interviews. In many instances, such as the issue of housing and tax reform, he has promoted policy very well through the production of fun and engaging videos that should appeal to ‘millennials’. He was disadvantaged by his exclusion from the minor parties televised debate (Satherley 2017), which, had he represented at his best, may very well have increased his share of the vote.

He entered the election to affect policy, and has stated he simply wants the major parties to adopt those policies and incorporate them into their own, so he can go back to riding his motorcycle in exotic lands (Anderson 2017). He appears an insightful if flawed character, who obviously cares about this country and the people who call it home, but he is no typical politician.

 

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