National Party cost breakdown

• This week, we have included National's planned 2 percent efficiency-finding plans for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. They estimate this to save $45.6 million over four years.

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The National Party has announced $5.11 billion in new spending over the next four years. This is equivalent to $2,467 per household.

Social spending

National's Baby Boost, a $1,500 payment based on 60,000 births a year, is costed at $360 million over four years, taking National's own costings at face value.

Extending paid parental leave from 26 to 30 weeks is costed at $327.4 million, taken from National’s own costings. On KiwiSaver, National would lift the Government’s own contribution ($385.2 million), extend KiwiSaver to those on parental leave ($121.9 million), and see an increase to the Crown’s KiwiSaver cost as an employer ($423 million).

On health, National’s fiscal plan adds $604 million for Pharmac’s medicines budget ($151 million a year), $194.8 million to lower the bowel screening age to 50, and $25 million of capital to unlock CAR-T cell therapy. National also has $70 million over four years to finish the fit-out of Christchurch Hospital with 96 new beds.

The plan funds another two years of the school lunch programme, to 2029, at $451.8 million. It also reduces the compulsory student loan repayment rate, which costs $76.6 million. The plan books $583 million of savings from stronger welfare expectations and case management.

Economic development

National's economic development commitments are mostly transport-related, and are now dominated by the Mill Road project. Mill Road Stage One and route protection is costed at $1.85 billion, made up of $1.75 billion allocated in Budget 2028 for construction and $100 million of route protection for Stages Two and Three. This is taken from National's own costings. National has also announced the Belfast to Pegasus motorway and Woodend bypass, which the plan funds with $800 million of capital in Budget 2027.

A new Rolleston intermodal freight hub is costed at $50 million, and a four-lane Queenstown road at $25 million, both taken from National's own figures.

The party has also flagged that Queenstown Gondola solutions could draw on National Land Transport Fund money. Based on a reported $400 million project cost and an assumption that half of that would come from the NLTF, we've costed this at $200 million.

National's Home Energy Fund, providing low-rate loans for solar, is costed at $7 million as a one-off Crown equity investment.

Twenty-three new trade missions over the term are costed at $1.4 million, using the midpoint of the cost of comparable China and Brazil trade delegations.

$5 million has also been costed for National's proposed Commerce Commission investigation into breaking up Foodstuffs. National’s Agriculture Manifesto adds $300 million of concessional water storage loans and a $10 million Critical Agri Inputs Fund. National says these are managed through the existing Primary Sector Growth Fund ($266 million in Budget 2026), so we have not counted them as new spending.

Environment & Arts

National would fund the Department of Conservation from an international visitor levy, which the plan costs at $105.1 million ($15.4 million, $17.9 million, $32.9 million and $38.9 million). We treated this as a wash in Week 2 assuming the levy pays for the spending, but the plan now puts a cost on it. National would also double funding for the QEII National Trust, at $17.2 million.

Government Services and Administration 

National has promised to establish a dedicated Auckland Transport Police Team, recruiting an additional 50 officers at a cost of $28 million or $14 per household.

National's proposal for a referendum on MMP has also been costed at $16.6 million. It also cuts the foreign aid budget by $431.2 million over four years. 2 percent efficiency-finding at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade would save $45.6 million over four years.

Their fiscal plan also sets aside $25.2 million for future announcements, and $1.2 million in 2028/29 for an election policy costings unit.

Note on baseline spending: This total does not include commitments National has said are already provided for in Budget 2026. This covers 100 new classrooms and the redevelopment of 14 schools in the South Island, and the completion of the new police station in Greymouth. As these are treated as baseline spending rather than new commitments, they have not been included in the total above.

(t) policies where we’ve taken parties’ costings at face value. 
(o) uncosted policies that we have had to cost ourselves.
(d) policies where we have disputed parties’ own costings.

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