The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20191219171704/https://internet.org.nz/policies

Our policies

The Internet Party was founded on the spirit of the internet, to help build an open, free, fair, connected and innovative society. Check out our 2017 policies.
Revise National Standards

We will take schools and the education system into the digital age, stepping up support for capability development and pedagogical change. We will:

  • Boost resources, systems and capabilities for teachers and educators to support pedagogical change, developing student-centred digital learning environments.
  • Review National Standards with a view to eliminating them, or modifying them to better reflect individuality and feedback-based learning.

Free Tertiary Education

If Free Tertiary Education was prioritised above tax cuts, and for new spending, it could be delivered immediately. We will work to deliver free education, protect academic freedom, and foster diverse areas of study. We will work to deliver:

  • No fees for study in public tertiary institutions and wānanga.
  • A universal student allowance and brand new summer jobs programme for students.
  • Student allowances for post-graduate students and the Training Incentive Allowance.
  • Development of a comprehensive loan forgiveness programme for those with existing debt.

Triple ICT Funding
  • Invest an additional $75 million to triple the amount of ICT funding to schools.

Coming Soon


Student Loan Forgiveness

Coming Soon

Privacy and Internet Freedom

We will resist mass surveillance, and work to safeguard your human rights and strengthen internet freedom. We will work to:

  • Immediately repeal the GCSB Bill and TICS Bill, and develop intelligence sharing agreements that are fit for our future.
  • Ensure the Bill of Rights is fit for a digital age and enshrine internet freedoms, potentially with a new Bill of Digital Rights.
  • Strengthen due process and transparency in internet filtering, website takedowns, and the role played by internet intermediaries.

Universal Access

We will work to halve the cost of internet use and ensure universal access to fast broadband across New Zealand so that all Kiwis are included in a digital future. We will:

  • Push for building a second fibre internet submarine cable connecting New Zealand to the rest of the world, and ending the international bandwidth monopoly.
  • Deliver fibre broadband to those outside the main cities using a community-led, locally suitable solution to deliver ultra-fast broadband to 97.8% of New Zealanders.
  • Overcome the digital divide by providing internet access to all New Zealanders currently unable to afford it, or who lack the necessary confidence, knowledge or skills to utilise it and access its benefits.

Encryption and FOSS

Coming Soon


Digital Bill of Rights

Coming Soon

Digital Innovation

We offer vision, leadership and determination to make New Zealand a prosperous country by becoming a global leader in the digital age. We will work to:

  • Boost innovation by increasing government investment in R&D by an additional $1 billion over the next 3 years and establishing university-centred innovation hubs.
  • Establish New Zealand as a world start-up incubator, by making it a place where talent wants to live, providing ‘Ideas Grants’, and increasing the availability of domestic and overseas venture capital investment.
  • Close the skills gap by doubling the number of tech workers in the digital economy through measures such as updating the immigration points system, facilitating non-university career paths and encouraging more people into IT careers.

Copyright Reform and CC

We will ensure that New Zealand’s copyright legislation is fit for the opportunities and challenges of the digital age. We will work to:

  • Boost options for accessing online content legally and ensure that New Zealanders are not held liable for getting around geo-blocking to access legal content online.
  • Update the Copyright Act 1994 for a digital age, including amending the 3 Strikes law; introducing a ‘fair use’ exception; and strengthening ‘safe harbour’ provisions.
  • Mandate that all taxpayer-funded research be made open access with the public able to freely access and re-use it.

Open Research

Coming Soon


Cooperative Funding

Coming Soon

Responsive Government

We will increase transparency, make government services better, and increase people’s participation in government. We will:

  • Publish all Cabinet papers and government expenditure online.
  • Lead technology-enabled government transformation, bringing government into the digital age, to deliver services when and how people and businesses want them.
  • Push for online voting; create a Democracy Portal; and introduce direct democracy, including through facilitation of conditionally binding referenda and the repeal of laws passed by Parliament.

Sovereignty and Independence

We will safeguard the ability of New Zealanders to democratically exercise sovereign control and make decisions without undue influence over our country. We will:

  • Commit to not using Executive power to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) without extensive public debate and independent assessment of the benefits and costs to New Zealand.
  • Review New Zealand’s participation in the Five Eyes intelligence sharing arrangement with a view to exiting from it.
  • Use diplomatic channels to oppose the USA’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) to protect the privacy and rights of New Zealanders against the imposition of US legislation.

Crowdsourced Constitution

Coming Soon

Increase Kiwi Arts Allocation

We support innovative initiatives and the use of digital technologies that will enhance New Zealand’s art sector and strengthen our culture. We will:

  • Promote the use of Creative Commons licensing to help build an active culture of sharing, remixing and re-use with a view to reforming copyright laws.
  • Initiate a review of current funding programmes and their social/economic outcomes, with the aim of strengthening infrastructure and support for artist development and the growth of audiences.
  • Support further discussion around the development of ways to recognise past and present works and achievements, as well as ways to increase the ratio of Kiwi music - especially new music – played on commercial radio.

Support Public Broadcasting

Coming Soon


Review Arts Funding

Coming Soon


Digital Arts Initiatives

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Meals In Schools

Coming Soon


Whanau First

Coming Soon

No More Empty Houses

We will work to implement a practical solution to house all New Zealanders, that will both decrease the welfare burden and help to cool the overinflated property market. We will:

  • Mandate that all empty investment properties be made available for rent at market rates, and provide a digital platform that matches homeowners with vetted tenants. We will ensure affected properties are maintained in pristine condition, and relinquished for resale after the appropriate timeframe has passed.
Renewable Energy

We call for urgent action to protect New Zealand's environment and build a clean, sustainable economy. We will:

  • Set a goal of 100% of electricity generated from renewable sources by 2025 and work to turn New Zealand into a world leader in green technologies.
  • Develop a global green data centre in New Zealand, and tackle e-waste while supporting smart cities and smart homes.
  • Impose an immediate moratorium on risky mineral extraction and waste disposal, and enhance environmental protection, including carbon pricing and biodiversity.

Animal Welfare

We recognise the decades of scientific evidence, undertaken around the world, which proves animals are sentient beings (that animals can feel pain and distress). We believe animal cruelty should not be tolerated for economic reasons or impact. This includes the welfare of animals being compromised for entertainment. We will work to:

  • Ban all live exports, including export for slaughter and breeding (and close all loopholes that categorise “livestock”). This is a trade in suffering.
  • Phase out ‘Factory Farming’ practices; stop any future ‘intensive farming’ (including the intensification of dairy) and help collaborate with the industry to promote humane and sustainable farming practices instead.

E-Waste

Coming Soon


Exploration Moratoriums

Coming Soon

Employment

Coming Soon


Workplace Safety

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Funding Review

We will balance the ever-increasing demand for more health expenditure and better healthcare for New Zealanders by emphasising individual-led healthcare and cutting waste. We will work to:

  • Accelerate the current slow progress to create an e-health environment to enhance the quality and safety of health services.
  • Provide all New Zealanders with an electronic personal health record that they own, control, and can choose to share with caregivers, family members and providers.
  • Cut waiting lists by improving operations at a whole-of-system level, and eliminating waste.

Medicinal Marijuana

We recognise that current approaches to cannabis do not work. We will promote an evidence-based approach to cannabis law reform and treat cannabis use as a health issue instead of a criminal issue. We will work to:

  • Legalise medical use of cannabis and set up a licensing system to regulate and administer the cultivation of natural cannabis for medical use.
  • Decriminalise personal use of cannabis so that possession and cultivation of cannabis for personal use will no longer carry a criminal penalty.
  • Develop and promote a model for regulating the legal production and distribution of cannabis for personal use to enable the taxation of cannabis and the monitoring of its supply.

Our Own E-Records

Coming Soon


Public Insurance

Coming Soon

No More Hungry Kiwis

We will implement a practical, win-win solution to feed all New Zealanders that both decreases the welfare burden and saves businesses money. We will:

  • Follow the lead of countries that have required all supermarket surplus food stock - usually stored in dumpsters then shipped to waste refuse centres - be redirected to food banks for distribution to those in need.

Issue-based E-Voting

Coming Soon


Human Rights Review

Coming Soon

Rehabilitation Support

We believe in a fair, restorative, balanced and solutions-focussed system of justice for New Zealand. We will work to:

  • Increase the use of non-custodial, rehabilitative and restorative approaches to overcoming crime in the community, through a series of actions based on international evidence and best practice.
  • Improve prison systems and programmes so that, when released, prisoners will have access to jobs, education, housing and other services, and will be less likely to re-offend.
  • Investigate the procedures used in sexual assault cases.

Reinstate Privy Council

Coming Soon


Rape Crisis Funding

Coming Soon


Sentencing Review Panel

Coming Soon

Public Inquiry

We believe that Cantabrians must have the opportunity to have their voices heard in the rebuilding of Christchurch and that their democratic rights must be restored. We will:

  • Advocate strongly for transparency and accountability from all institutions and organisations involved in the city rebuild.
  • Strengthen democratic governance in Christchurch by reinstating a democratically elected Environment Canterbury council.
  • Support the continued development of Christchurch’s tech sector, including the establishment and development of tech hubs such as EPIC, and direct a portion of the already-committed central government funding to rebuilding Christchurch as a world-leading smart city.

Independent Support Service

Coming Soon


Reinstate EC Council

Coming Soon


Review Public Services

Coming Soon

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