What is TOP? A left-wing party in disguise, pure hype, or something else?

Monday, 29 June 2026

Opportunity Party leader Quilae Wong says the party’s radical policies are discussion points rather than hard bottom lines.

The Opportunity Party has risen from the doldrums to the cusp of Parliament - registering 4.6% in a poll last week.

Since being formed by philanthropist Gareth Morgan in 2017, the party has gone through several iterations, leaders and changes without ever building a movement strong enough to propel it into the Beehive.

Stuff looks at the latest version of the party: Its people and policies; its claim to be centrist; and whether its hype is real or manufactured.

Quilae Wong is a relative unknown with no prior political experience.

The key figures

Quilae Wong (leader): Wong is a 37-year-old sustainability consultant and mother of two from Auckland. She studied law and politics and helped fashion brands and businesses move to sustainable models in NZ and London. She has no background in politics and became leader in November after applying for the job through a competitive process. Wong is running in the Mt Albert seat, a Labour stronghold held by MP Helen White.

General manager Iain Lees-Galloway was a minister in the Jacinda Ardern-led Labour Government.

Daniel Eb (deputy leader): Eb is South Africa-born (with a “weird German last name”) and Auckland-based. He has a background in communications and regenerative farming.

He is the son of PR guru Deborah Pead, and once worked for her PR firm (Pead last week rejected any formal links or support for his party). He is running in Kaipara ki Mahurangi.

Iain Lees-Galloway (general manager): Former union organiser who became a Labour MP and Cabinet minister in Jacinda Ardern’s Government, holding the immigration and workplace relations portfolios. His political legacy included work on exploitative labour laws. He was an MP for 12 years (based in Palmerston North) before resigning over an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.

The Opportunity Party, led by Qiulae Wong, has aspirations of being the “kingmaker” after November’s election.

Dr Kayla Kingdon-Bebb (policy director, candidate): An environmental leader and former public servant who leads the NZ branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). She has degrees from Queen’s University in Canada and Cambridge in the UK. Conservative commentators have highlighted her role as one of nine people behind the 2019 He Puapua report, a response to the UN Declaration on Indigenous Human Rights which laid out the path to a somewhat radical co-governance model between Māori and the Crown in New Zealand. This report was heavily criticised by the right bloc when they were last in opposition.

Several reports have cited former Green Party leader James Shaw as playing a behind-the-scenes policy role at the party, but he has not confirmed this (and did not respond to a request for comment).

In all, the party has signed up 43 candidates so far and has said it will be running a large on-the-ground campaign.

The party’s list leans heavily towards academics and professionals, with a few exceptions. Most have had no more than peripheral engagement in politics rather than party-led activism. Another notable member is Southland candidate and public health researcher Bianca Beebes, who founded the sex worker advocacy group Fired Up Stilettos. She was vetted by the Greens to be a candidate.

Key policies

The party has published 14 policy areas on its website and its campaign has so far centred on three core proposals: A universal basic income (called a Citizen’s Income); mandatory KiwiSaver; and a Land Value Tax.

Implementing the policies would require radical reform of the tax and welfare systems - a tough ask for a party which, if elected, would be a minor part of a larger coalition or Opposition. Wong acknowledged to Stuff last week that any tax reform would be unlikely immediately and the policies were designed more as discussion points than bottom lines.

“It’s really important for a party like ours to be able to set out our long-term vision for a range of areas, including tax and things like health and education,” she said.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon speaks with media about the latest 1News Verian poll result, on 24 June, 2026.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that we're going to be able to get all of that into a coalition agreement.”

Citizen’s Income: Replacing most of the welfare system with a universal basic income (UBI) of $370 a week, and more for parents and pensioners (possibly with means testing for wealthier superannuitants). It would be funded by the Land Value Tax. A basic income has been the party’s flagship policy since 2017. While some countries and jurisdictions have trialled small-scale versions of a UBI, no country has implemented it nationwide.
Land Value Tax: A 1.75% annual tax on the value of urban land and 0.5% on rural land, designed to discourage land-banking and multiple property ownership and redirect investment into businesses. It could have exemptions or deferrals for farmers and retirees or others who are “asset rich but cash poor” - such as allowing pensioners to pay it through their estate after they die. The party predicts it would drive property prices down by 10-15% over several years. A person living in a median-price Auckland property would pay around $10,800 a year (the party says this would be offset by the basic income).
KiwiSaver 2.0: The retirement contributions scheme would be compulsory for all New Zealanders and, over time, employee and employer contributions would rise to 6%.

Other policies include a focus on improving democratic participation through measures such as citizen assemblies. The assemblies are used in Ireland and influenced the repeal of a ban on abortion.

But is it really centrist?

One of Opportunity’s key selling points is that it could go into coalition with either conservative or liberal governments.

This has been a recurring criticism of the Green Party in some quarters: that it had pigeonholed itself on the left, and should instead model itself on overseas, moderate Green parties which could govern with any side.

Some voters say they want a more centrist, environmentally focused party - though previous attempts at this (such as the Sustainability NZ Party) have not fared well.

Political commentators and centre-right parties have noted that the party’s personnel and policies lean heavily left. The prime minister very strongly made that point last week.

Deputy leader Daniel Eb challenged this characterisation last week, noting that one of its policies - the UBI - was originally a neoliberal idea.

Wong has said that if she were in the kingmaker position after the next election, she would go with the party with the largest share of the vote. She would approach the other side only if those negotiations failed.

Organic or media-driven?

Some figures on the right have argued that Opportunity’s rise in prominence is media-driven and other fledgling parties have not received the same amount of attention.

There was wall-to-wall coverage of Opportunity last week. While I can’t speak for every newsroom, this is because its poll result of 4.6% placed it within reach of Parliament. This is inherently interesting and newsworthy but yes, it is just one poll.

It was the highest result for a new party in a credible, mainstream poll since Colin Craig’s Conservative Party reached the same figure in 2014 (later falling to 3.97% in the election). If the party reached 5% on election day, it would be the first time a new party held the balance of power in New Zealand.

Opportunity’s publicity was given a further boost when Prime Minister Christopher Luxon criticised the party in a press conference later that day.

“Looking at TOP, frankly, it looks like a vote for Labour and the Greens,” he said. “You know, they want a land tax, they want to make every New Zealander a beneficiary with a universal basic income.”

The Gareth Morgan-led TOP won 2.4% of the vote in the 2017 election. Under a new leader, economist Geoff Simmons, it polled 1.5% in 2020. And in 2023, under councillor Raf Manji, it won 2.2%.