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 freedom.net.nz

Welcome to freedom

For 14 years, our journey has been driven by a single, unwavering goal: ensuring that the people of New Zealand have the ultimate say over their lives, their communities, and their future.

Our evolution reflects the changing battles we’ve faced alongside you:

• The Journey Begins: We originally stepped into the political arena 14 years ago as the NZ Outdoors Party, dedicated to defending access to our great kiwi outdoors for recreation and enjoyment, protecting our environment, and standing up for local communities.
• The Movement Expands: As the political landscape shifted, we stepped up to fight the heavy-handed mandates and top-down government overreach that threatened our fundamental liberties, expanding our banner to become the NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party.
• The Mission Today: Now, the battle lines are clearer than ever. We have listened to your feedback that our name needs to be sharp, instant, and unmistakable. To win the challenges ahead, clarity is our greatest weapon. That is why we are streamlining our name to simply: ‘freedom’

Protecting Our Rights from Future Trampling

The last five years exposed a dangerous flaw in New Zealand's political system. We watched in real-time as our fundamental human rights were trampled on, from freedom of speech, movement and the right to peaceful assembly, to bodily autonomy and the right to refuse medical treatment.

Our current NZ Bill of Rights is important, but because it is just ordinary legislation, a temporary majority of politicians in Wellington were able to override it with a simple vote on a Tuesday afternoon. The courts were powerless to stop them, and everyday Kiwis were left with no immediate recourse.

We plan to ensure this can never happen again. Our core platform will permanently enshrine the New Zealand Bill of Rights as supreme law. By elevating it to the absolute constitutional bedrock of the country, no future government or emergency declaration will ever have the legal power to bypass or strip away your individual liberties. The law will firmly protect the people, and the politicians will be forced to obey the law.

“ Fundamental rights protected by NZBORA, such as freedom of speech, movement, thought and conscience,  and the rights not to be discriminated against, experimented on or refuse medical treatment,  belong to the people anyway. These rights will no longer be able to be voted away by politicians or dissolved by bureaucratic policies. These rights belong to us as living people. These rights are sacred. “ - Sue Grey Freedom Leader

The Broken Illusion of "Consultation"

As a party, we have consistently spoken out, stood up, and fought hard on your behalf. Over the years, we have mobilised our members and submitted extensive, detailed paperwork to parliamentary Select Committees, loudly opposing bills and laws that Kiwis do not want.

But our experience exposed a harsh truth: the current consultation process is nothing but a toothless illusion. Time and time again, politicians go through the motions of the Select Committee process, completely ignore the thousands of voices crying out for common sense, and push ahead with their pre-determined agendas anyway. They hear us, but they refuse to listen.

Under Direct Democracy, the fake listening stops. Politicians will no longer be allowed to hide behind toothless consultation loops or ignore the public, because they will no longer hold the supreme power. Instead of wasting time writing endless submissions that just get tossed into a Wellington recycling bin while politicians ram through deeply unpopular laws, the power of veto shifts entirely to you. If a law doesn't have the support of the community, citizens can bypass the politicians, trigger an automatic referendum, and kill the legislation at the ballot box.

“Under direct democracy, all other decisions, such as how to collect and allocate public funds, what, if any,  free trade agreements to enter, and how to allocate, manage and use natural resources, will be returned to the people and communities to decide. Where possible these issues will be decided locally.”  Sue Grey Freedom Leader

Our New Core Pillar: Direct Democracy

We stand proudly by the specific platform ideas we have always championed. However change won’t happen until we fix a system that is fundamentally broken and routinely ignores the people. We are committed to much more than just shuffling the faces in Wellington. Instead, we are leading with a paradigm upgrade to our entire political system: bringing Direct Democracy to New Zealand.

We don't need to invent this from scratch. We can look to Switzerland, where a highly successful system of Direct Democracy has thrived for generations. Under this model, the people have the final say, and politicians act as administrators, to carry out the public will. It relies on two powerful mechanisms:

• The Power to Veto Unjust Laws (Citizens' Veto): If the government passes a law the public disagrees with, citizens can gather signatures to halt the law and force a binding nationwide vote to strike it down.
• The Power to Introduce New Laws: Citizens can draft a law themselves, gather signatures, and place it directly on a nationwide ballot.

Unlike New Zealand's current toothless "Citizens Initiated Referenda", which requires an almost impossible 10% of all registered voters (roughly 400,000 signatures) just for a non-binding vote that the government can throw in the bin, the Swiss system sets a realistic, achievable bar. If we adapt the Swiss percentage model to New Zealand's voting population, triggering a binding referendum to veto a bad law would only require about 35,000 signatures (0.9%). Proposing a brand new law from the grassroots up, would only require 70,000 signatures (1.8%). Because these thresholds are kept low, the democratic pinnacle becomes a realistic standard that local communities and ordinary grassroots organisations can actually reach, and if the proposal is adopted, the law is binding on both the people and the politicians.

What We Can Learn from the Swiss: Decentralisation & Smaller Government

New Zealand is currently one of the most nationalised countries in the developed world, with almost all tax revenue and decision-making power hoarded by a bloated bureaucracy in Wellington. These "one-size-fits-all" rules fail to reflect the diverse economic, environmental, and community needs of our local regions.

By adapting the Swiss "principle of subsidiarity", we will push to dismantle this centralization. Subsidiarity means a law or task must always be handled at the lowest, most local level possible.

The advantages of this smaller, leaner central government model for New Zealand are massive:

• Decentralised Power: Decisions regarding local infrastructure, land management, and regional development will be returned entirely to local communities, stripping Wellington of its absolute control.
• Ending Bureaucratic Waste: A smaller central government eliminates the self-perpetuating layers of highly paid policy ministries in the capital, using local knowledge and directing resources into beneficial local outcomes.
• Regional Financial Autonomy: Instead of relying strictly on property rates, local regions should retain a portion of the GST and tax wealth generated within their own boundaries, engage local contractors and services, creating local financial independence and infrastructure.

Turning Policies into Direct Legislative Options

When we shift to Direct Democracy, our specific platform goals transform. They cease to be a wish list of political promises that we have to plead with a coalition government to pass. Instead, they become direct options for you to choose whether to vote into law.

• Outdoors Access & Resource Rights: Instead of Wellington imposing top-down environmental restrictions, local communities gain the legislative teeth to vote on resource allocation and conservation rules that fit their specific geography.
• Individual Freedom: Fundamental rights protected by the NZ Bill of Rights become untouchable. If politicians attempt to cross it, the public holds the supreme veto.
• Regional Funding: Financial autonomy is locked into place. Your region keeps its share of locally generated tax wealth to build infrastructure based on local, voter-approved priorities.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi & "Self-Determination for All"

When the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, Article 2 explicitly guaranteed tino rangatiratanga. This translates directly to self-determination, local autonomy, and the right to govern your own affairs- for all New Zealanders.

Direct Democracy combined with decentralisation implements that promise. By shifting supreme decision-making power down to the regional and community levels, we ensure no top-down political majority can ever dictate to your community or override your local rights. To protect this permanently, we propose enshrining Te Tiriti o Waitangi right alongside our Bill of Rights as supreme law, locking your fundamental liberties and regional self-determination safely out of the reach of central politicians

Our Ultimate Goal: Becoming Obsolete

We are not building a political party to keep politicians in high-paying jobs for life. In fact, our long-term strategic mission is unique in New Zealand history: We are pushing to put ourselves in a transitory position where we will become obsolete.

Under a Direct Democracy framework, the role of a standard politician dramatically shrinks. We will need fewer politicians, and the ones who remain will be there as administrators to implement your clear, binding choices via regular referendum voting.

Once this system change is enshrined, and the power is safely locked in your hands, our job is done, and we will proudly step aside.

“Under direct democracy New Zealanders will be able to nominate new laws, vote on each proposed law reform, AND when enough ask, we can unite to challenge existing laws and policies.

Direct democracy takes power back from politicians and political parties, and returns it to New Zealanders so we can choose our future. 

There will be challenges transitioning from the old system to the new. That's why we need a team of champions to step up to make this happen.” - Sue Grey Freedom Leader 

Our Roadmap to Power Shift

Real, systemic change doesn't happen overnight, but we have a clear, realistic strategy to get there over a two-election cycle:

This Election (Our 10% Target): Our goal this election is to secure 10% of the vote, establishing a powerful, unignorable crossbench commonsense presence in Parliament. As a condition of any coalition agreement, we will firmly demand the enshrining of the NZ Bill of Rights as supreme law within the first 100 days and a binding referendum on implementing Direct Democracy at the next election. This locks in your fundamental protections.

The Next Election (The 50%+ Push): With our feet firmly on the floor of the house, we will use our platform to show New Zealanders how the model works. By the following election, we aim to cross 50% of the vote, giving us the mandate to fully implement the Direct Democracy referendum and framework and permanently return supreme governing authority back to the citizens. 

Our name changes, but our spine remains identical. We are ready for this next chapter, and we are incredibly grateful to have you standing right there with us.

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