No TOP is not a centrist party
Ashley Church sets out why TOP is not a centrist party. The evidence is overwhelming:
- 38 out of 43 candidates come from left-wing backgrounds
- The general manager is a former Labour Cabinet Minister, who is also in a business partnership with the fiancee of the Labour Leader.
- A top ranked TOP candidate is the partner of a former Green Party co-leader
- They are proposing the largest ever increase in tax and welfare spending in NZ history
- They want adults aged 25 and under to be tried in the Youth Court, which would see hundreds or thousands of serious violent recidivists walking free
- Over 95% of their policies fit comfortably with Labour and the Greens and Te Pati Maori
It’s not even close.
If TOP are in Parliament I would offer odds of 20:1 (if DIA allowed me) that they would support a Labour-Green-Te Pati Maori Government over a centre-right one.