National says New Zealanders being "sick of being told what to do" is the reason behind the right bloc's gain in a new political poll.
The right bloc coalition of National and ACT rose to a combined 48 percent in the latest TVNZ-Kantar poll, suggesting they could form a Government. The poll came exactly a week after the Labour Government delivered its Budget.
Senior National MP Erica Stanford told AM the numbers reflected how New Zealanders' felt about the current Government.
"I think what this poll shows is that people want an aspirational Government; they're sick of being told what to do, they're sick of being told to have shorter showers and maybe turn down their heaters by a Government's who's just got this beautiful mix of hypocrisy and patronising tones," Stanford said, referring to the widely-slammed 'Find Money in Weird Places' campaign launched this week.
She said New Zealanders didn't "want that anymore".
"They want a Government that's going to deliver for them and, after that Budget, the Government didn't get a boost at all, that is highly unusual," Stanford told AM host Ryan Bridge. "It just shows the public want a Government that can deliver and that's a National-ACT Government."
While the right bloc was up, Labour and National on their own were extremely close in the poll - with the former sitting on 35 percent and the latter 37 percent.
Labour 'focusing on the things that really matter' - Wood
Senior Government Minister Michael Wood said Labour's focus was on delivering "things that really matter to people".
He wasn't fazed by the latest poll numbers, saying other recent results "show National and ACT maybe one or two seats ahead, some show us maybe one or two seats ahead".
"It shows that it's going to be a very, very close election and that's why we're focusing on the things that really matter to people; why Chris Hipkins [is] delivering things like lower prescription charges for New Zealanders," Wood told AM, appearing alongside Stanford. "I think those are the things I think people are going to respond to," he added.
ACT's leader David Seymour said the poll showed "we can end Labour's reign of woke terror".
A National-ACT Government would deliver "real change", he said.
