New Zealand general election | Qiulae Wong: Kingmaker with red lines

Qiulae Wong is looking forward to New Zealand's general election on Saturday. Photo: AFP/MARTY MELVILLE It all started with the job portal Seek. The New Zealand Opportunity Party announced the presidency there last year. Qiulae Wong, a management consultant at the time, found out about this, applied and got the job, even though she had never held political office before.

Ahead of the parliamentary elections on November 7th, the 38-year-old is now being seen as a possible kingmaker. Your party could decide who can form the government after the New Zealand election. Not least because of her “meteoric rise,” the media has already compared her with the former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Wong was born in Fiji. She worked in London for around eight years, initially in the ethical fashion industry, including for a start-up that helped companies like Vivienne Westwood switch to more sustainable business models. She then returned to Auckland, New Zealand's largest city on the North Island, where she had grown up as a toddler. According to her own account, the government's abrupt U-turn on climate protection drove her into politics. She experienced firsthand how companies' confidence in investments and planning ability suffered. That was “the final straw that broke the camel’s back” and caused her to look for other options.

Wong is running in Mount Albert, a constituency once held by prime ministers such as Jacinda Ardern and Helen Clark. It targets the votes of voters disillusioned with both major parties – the conservative Nationals and the left-wing Labor Party.

The centerpiece of their program is a comprehensive tax reform with a land value tax. Wong wants to make the hoarding of building land unattractive, make housing more affordable and gradually move the tax system away from income tax. According to the party, the introduction will be staggered over ten years.

The money is intended to finance an unconditional basic income, which the party calls “Citizen’s Income”. It would be 19,400 New Zealand dollars per year, a good 370 dollars per week - the equivalent of around 9,800 euros annually. This is intended to replace the most important social benefits, including old age pensions. Additional payments are provided for pensioners, parents, single parents or people with disabilities. Wong also sees this as a safety net for middle-class employees if their jobs are replaced by artificial intelligence.

Political scientists like Stephen Levine of Victoria University of Wellington are watching with interest the attention the Opportunity Party itself is receiving abroad. The party, which changed its name from the plural “Opportunities” to the singular, had never had a serious chance of winning parliamentary seats before. Now the formation of a government may depend on her.

The incumbent Prime Minister Christoper Luxon from the Nationals is currently ruling out cooperation with the party. Wong, on the other hand, wants to negotiate first with the party that wins the most seats. She formulated her five red lines as follows: lower prices, clean up politics, repair the health system, protect the oceans and regain credibility in climate protection. That's why the Labor, Greens and Te Pāti Māori camp is probably closer to her than the conservative right-wing parties.

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