For a party with no sitting MPs, The Opportunity Party has been subject to extensive coverage coming up to this year’s election, and their polling is steadily creeping toward the five percent threshold they’ll need to enter Parliament in November. However, one criticism has been thrown at them from both sides of the political spectrum: what, exactly, does the party stand for?
Opportunity has spent much of the 2026 campaign pitching itself as an alternative to Aotearoa’s increasingly partisan political system. Led by Quilae Wong, the party says they want to “fix politics” and build the “next economy”, ultimately positioning themselves as the circuit-breakers in terms of the current state of Parliament. But for voters, particularly the thousands of students who are voting for the first time, understanding what those promises actually mean isn’t so straightforward.
Following the lively OUSA leaders debate on August 11th, Opportunity’s Deputy Leader and candidate for the Kaipara ki Mahurangi electorate, Daniel Eb, sat down with Critic Te Ārohi to explain, defend, and justify some of their top policies.
Universal Basic Income (UBI)
At the forefront of Opportunity’s economic policy is a proposed Universal Basic Income (UBI) (or “Citizens Income”) which would put up to $370 into the pockets of “nearly every” Kiwi weekly, coming to a maximum total of $19,400 annually. The catch? Someone has to pay for it. To solve this, Opportunity proposes a land value tax of 1.75% on urban land and 0.5% on rural land, with Citizens Income replacing most existing benefits, including the student allowance, to help foot the bill.
We asked Daniel who stands to gain and who stands to lose under a UBI system. “No one will be worse off,” he said, pointing to a 10-year model that Opportunity has tested. The idea behind a Citizen’s Income, he said, is to create a welfare system that is more flexible in the face of AI-driven job losses, economic shocks, and geopolitical instability.
Daniel said that “students like yourselves, who have no income while you’re studying” will be one of the groups that benefit the most from the Citizens Income. He explained that students will see “between $50 and $70 extra a week on top of your current student allowance”. Returning to the topic of student allowances, we asked him whether student loan living-cost payments would also be affected. Daniel wasn’t entirely sure, but believed that they would likely be replaced by the UBI too.
“You just have the cash, and we trust you to spend it the right way,” Daniel added, speaking to how the UBI would be distributed. He pre-emptively encouraged students not to spend it all on alcohol, before sheepishly admitting that he would’ve done exactly that himself.
We then asked if students who are currently eligible for additional support through the allowance would receive further benefits on top of the Citizen’s Income, or whether every student would simply get the same amount. On this, Daniel couldn’t give us an answer, admitting that the party has not yet modelled the idea.
Daniel also explained that people already receiving benefits, such as Jobseeker support, would be the other group benefiting the most under the UBI. According to Daniel, the current welfare system can create a disincentive to work, but Opportunity's “tax reset” would amount to the biggest tax cut in New Zealand history.
The Supermarket Duopoly
Moving to a more topical and less speculative issue, we asked Daniel for his thoughts on the supermarket duopoly and what Opportunity would do to break it up. His simplified explanation? Turn the Commerce Commission from a “watch dog” into an “attack dog”, giving it greater powers to take on duopolies and other “uncompetitive markets” through the High Court. Daniel doesn’t think the government should simply mandate the breakup of businesses and organisations. Instead, he argues that we need the “right people with the resources to do the right job” to make sure the process is handled properly.
If you could implement one policy right now, what would it be?
To make sure Daniel didn’t get too comfortable, we asked the million-dollar question: if you could implement one policy right now, what would it be? “Geez Louise,” he replied.
Daniel’s pick was an Opportunity policy which has only been released officially following our interview, dubbed “Clean Up Politics”. The policy aims to crack down on political lobbyists and donations, build an anti-corruption commission and bring the policy-making process “into the daylight”.
“It’s a little bit unsexy. Well, actually it might be sexy, given some of the stuff that’s happened recently,” he said. “We’re really lucky in New Zealand. We have a very effective, trusted governmental system, but you don’t get that for free, you have to keep pushing that and defending that and making bad actions be seen and be visible. And so, I think it’s unsexy, but in the long-run it’s really necessary.” He added that people need to have faith in the government, because if not, we could get into some “really bad places”.
Position on the “Definitions of Woman and Man” Bill
Daniel was quick to say that Opportunity vehemently opposes the coalition government’s recent Definitions of Woman and Man bill that narrows the terms “woman” and “man” to a biological level. He called it “unscientific”, "political point-scoring” and ultimately "unnecessary".
What would you say to students who feel disillusioned or overwhelmed by the current state of politics and feel like we aren’t going anywhere?
“I’d say you’re not the only ones,” Daniel reassured. But Opportunity is entering the thrall with spring in its step. “No one in the party has been a politician before,” Daniel explained. “But we have some public servants who know how the system works.”
He acknowledged that the party’s lack of political experience would come with both advantages and disadvantages. But, he argued, that was the point. “I’d rather have new people come into the system with a history of building businesses and leading environmental movements,” he continued, pointing to what he described as “really cool, awesome people” on Opportunity’s candidate list.
“Give them a crack,” he said, “because again, the system isn’t working the way it’s supposed to.”
Student Association Fees
With ACT announcing its proposal to make the student services levies voluntary for students on the eve of the OUSA leaders’ debate, it was only natural that we asked Daniel what Opportunity’s position was on the matter.
Daniel again admitted that the party hadn’t yet looked into the issue, and had no detailed response to it. However, Dunedin candidate for Opportunity Dave Bainbridge-Zafar, who was sitting in on the interview, was quick to jump in. He said the party does not support ACT’s proposal, labelling the idea as “ridiculous”. He argued that student associations play an important role through the provision of student services, and need the support and funding that is provided by a compulsory levy.
Parting Words from Daniel
Whether Opportunity can adapt their big ideas into workable policy in government remains to be seen, and will likely continue to be speculated by the public and media alike in the election build up. For a party campaigning on changing our politics forever, perhaps the biggest question is whether they can convince voters that Opportunity knows how to hit the ground running, and put change into tangible actions.
After a quick photo and a quick chat about student life, Daniel was off, no doubt relieved that his day of bickering on the debate stage and then being grilled in the Critic office was over. He did, however, leave us with some final words of wisdom, “I can’t think of a group of New Zealander’s that need to be lifted up more than young people, because you build the future in which all of us are going to live”.
With many different issues front of mind for tauira, there’s certainly topics that couldn’t be unpacked in just one article. Critic Te Ārohi will keep covering what we can, but for any party you’re considering voting for, make sure you do your background research to see what politicians are offering to fix before the polls open.
