New party flops as minor candidate's cost-of-living pitch lands uncosted
A first-time minor party candidate has declared his six-policy manifesto the best of any party contesting November's election, despite it containing no costings and resting on pledges about chip scoops and phone boxes.
The Justin Party released its first six policies on Saturday, a slate the candidate frames as help built around the small things he says other parties ignore — landing in a campaign where the cost of living has dominated the agenda ahead of the election.
The commitments include free drinking fountains in libraries and public spaces, a mandated chip scoop size, a ban on oral phenylephrine, a revived public phone box network, a push to bring character back to bank advertising, and a rule that clocks on public buildings show the correct time.
Justin Hu defended the launch despite it carrying no costings.
"Because I don't need any. When a policy is just common sense, you don't have to commission a report to prove it," he said.
"Nobody needs a Treasury model to tell them a clock should show the right time."
Hu rejected suggestions the launch lacked rigour. "The minute a party reaches for a spreadsheet to justify something this obvious, you know they've lost the plot."
The pitch comes as the major parties trade blows on household budgets. Labour rolled out its own cost-of-living relief policy earlier this month.
Inflation and the cost of living have been the country's top concern for four years running. According to an Ipsos survey, 59% of participants identified it as the top issue, though the pollster noted concern appeared to be stabilising.
Hu went further, claiming the document outclassed those of his rivals
"I'll say it plainly, because I believe it: this is the most comprehensive and well thought through manifesto of any party standing this year," he said, noting each policy named the ministry or agency that would deliver it.
The phone box revival, which Hu has called his personal priority, sits with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the chip scoop standard with the Commerce Commission, and the phenylephrine ban with Medsafe.
The candidate pushed back on critics who had dismissed the phone box plan as nostalgia.
"A box on a corner doesn't run flat, doesn't track you, and doesn't care whether you've got credit," he said.
"When you're a kid who's missed the bus, or someone sleeping rough who needs a helpline, that box is the most useful thing on the street."
He said the slate was only the opening round, with more policy to come on transport, housing, the internet, the right to repair, and a permanent end to daylight saving.
