Opportunity Party (New Zealand)

Opportunity Party
AbbreviationOpportunity
TOP
OPP
LeaderQiulae Wong
General SecretaryHayden Cargo
Deputy LeaderDaniel Eb[1]
FounderGareth Morgan
Founded4 November 2016 (2016-11-04)
HeadquartersAmera Place, Auckland, New Zealand
Youth wingYoung Opportunity[2]
Political positionCentre[3]
Colours
  •   Teal
SloganThe courage to change.[4]
MPs in the House of Representatives
0 / 123
Website
opportunity.org.nz

The Opportunity Party, formerly known as The Opportunities Party (TOP), is a centrist political party in New Zealand. It was founded in 2016 by economist and philanthropist Gareth Morgan. The party is based on the idea of evidence-based policy and being located in the political centre. It has contested three elections, and is yet to enter parliament.

The party received 2.4% of the party vote in the 2017 general election (after which Morgan resigned from the leadership), then 1.5% in the 2020 general election. It won an elected office for the first time in the 2022 local elections, with one member elected to the Featherston Community Board in the South Wairarapa District. It received 2.2% of the party vote in the 2023 general election, after which party leader Raf Manji stepped down.

In November 2025, businesswoman Qiulae Wong was announced as the party's new leader after a period of searching, and the party was rebranded to The Opportunity Party with a set of updated policy priorities.

History

Formation

The Opportunities Party was founded by economist and philanthropist Gareth Morgan, who launched it on 4 November 2016. On 10 January 2017 the party announced that it had 2,000 members and was applying for registration.[5] It was registered by the Electoral Commission on 6 March 2017.[6]

The party's chief of staff Geoff Simmons contested the Mount Albert by-election on 25 February 2017.[7] The party was criticised by David Seymour during the by-election for offering free bus trips for voters, which he asserted breached the Electoral Act.[8] The Electoral Commission cleared TOP of any wrongdoing.[9] Simmons received 623 votes (4.56% of the total vote), placing him third.[10]

2017 general election

Logo circa 2017

In May 2017, Morgan announced the party's first candidates for the 2017 general election,[11] and announced further candidates in the following months,[12][13][14] including former Green Party candidate Teresa Moore who joined Geoff Simmons as co-deputy leader.[15][16] TOP's party list had 26 candidates, of which 21 were also contesting electorates.[17]

TOP took TVNZ to court after being excluded from its televised election debates, but lost the case.[18] Morgan faced controversy during the campaign for referring to Labour leader Jacinda Ardern as "lipstick on a pig", suggesting that the new leader had style but not substance.[19] He also faced backlash when he criticised the public for being sad over the death of Ardern's cat. This backlash included an email from TOP candidate Jenny Condie, who said, "It is not merely Gareth's comments themselves – these are a reflection of the culture that exists within the party. There is a mismatch between our policies and our culture: between what we say we want to accomplish and how we actually behave." In response, Morgan told Condie to resign from the party.[20]

TOP gained 2.4% of the vote, winning no parliamentary seats.[21] Morgan vowed to continue fighting for a "fairer New Zealand" and maintained that TOP was not a failure as it was the fifth most popular party.[22]

Post-election events

In December 2017, Morgan, Simmons and two candidates resigned from their roles. Morgan said the party would contest the 2020 election but he would not lead it.[23] The following week, candidates Jessica Hammond Doube and Jenny Condie launched a splinter group from TOP with the placeholder name "Next Big Thing". They both attributed their low list rankings to their having raised questions over Morgan's controversial remarks during the election campaign.[24] Condie would become a councillor for Wellington in 2019,[25] while Jessica Hammond would return to TOP for the 2020 election,[26] after a culture shift within the party during its rebuilding phase.

On 9 July 2018, Morgan announced that the party board had decided to cancel the party's registration as it lacked the time and resources to contest the 2020 election. In late July, Morgan and the board announced that he would reconsider the decision after receiving expressions of interest from people sympathetic to the party's goals. Morgan also indicated in a Facebook post that he was willing to fund candidates and leaders sympathetic to the goals of the party.

In August 2018, the party appointed a new board and Simmons was appointed interim leader. The new team embarked on a "Listening Tour" across the country to gauge supporter reaction and interest.[27] In December 2018, an internal leadership election was conducted, with candidates for leader being Simmons, Donna Pokere-Phillips, Amy Stevens, Anthony Singh, and Jessica Hammond-Doube. An election was also held for the member-representative to the board. Simmons was elected leader[28] and Pokere-Phillips the member representative.[29]

2020 general election

Logo circa 2020

After gathering enough support to restart the party and continuing to register with the Electorate Commission, a rebrand and relaunch was held in October 2019. In the brand launch speech, Simmons called for a universal basic income and advances in environment and housing, and to "break the Labour / National duopoly".[30]

TOP nominated candidates in multiple electorates.[31] The Ōhāriu electorate was a particular focus: their Ōhāriu candidate Jessica Hammond Doube said that TOP intended to pour resources into that campaign, as it was the only seat that the party believed it could win.[32] She polled third with 4,443 votes, 18,494 behind the winner, the incumbent Greg O'Connor.[33] Simmons contested Rongotai and came fourth with 3,387 electorate votes out of 45,649.[34] At the beginning of his campaign he misspelt the electorate name as "Rongatai" in his advertising.[35]

TOP won 43,449 party votes, 1.5% of the total.[36] Simmons resigned as leader after preliminary results were released, and Shai Navot became interim leader.[37] On 27 January 2022, former Christchurch City Councillor and independent candidate for Ilam, Raf Manji, was announced as the new leader.[38][39]

2022 local elections

The party fielded four candidates in the 2022 local elections, the first time they had contested local elections. They had their first elected representative in John Dennison, who won a seat on the Featherston Community Board in the South Wairarapa District.[40]

2023 general election

Logo circa 2023

As of May 2023, TOP was averaging around 1–2% in opinion polls. Its leader, Raf Manji, said that realistically it would need to win the Ilam electorate to enter Parliament in the 2023 election. He had contested the electorate as an independent in 2017, coming second.[41] On 4 August 2023, TOP announced their party list where they put forward 13 electorate candidates throughout New Zealand, and announced Natalia Albert as the new deputy leader.[42]

TOP received 2.22% of the party vote. It did not win any electorates or meet the five percent threshold needed to enter Parliament.[43] Manji came second in Ilam, with 10,863 votes, against National candidate Hamish Campbell's 18,693 votes.[44] Manji stepped down as leader in December 2023.[45] In August 2025 the party's general manager, former Labour MP and minister Iain Lees-Galloway, advertised the party leader role on employment website SEEK.[46]

2026 general election

In November 2025 the party chose Qiulae 'Q' Wong to be their new leader.[1] Wong works at KPMG,[47] and is the former director of the New Zealand branch of B-Lab.[48] The party announced it would contest the 2026 general election with a range of policies that include reducing house prices through a land value tax, and introducing a "Citizen's Voice", consisting of citizens' assemblies for certain major issues.[49]

On 13 February 2026, Wong announced that the party would campaign on replacing all forms of welfare assistance including superannuation with a means-tested "citizen's income." Unlike universal basic income, people earning more than NZ$350,000 a year would not be able to access it. The citizen's income policy would be funded by a land value tax, and savings from the benefits that would be replaced.[50] On 16 February, general manager Iain Lees-Galloway announced that the party would run candidates in 30 electorates. Wong confirmed she would contest the Mount Albert electorate.[51] During the party's State of the Nation address in Auckland on 21 February, Wong announced that the party would campaign on promoting national unity, banning bottom trawling and investing in renewable energy.

During the campaign, opinion polls showed support for the party rising above 5%, the threshold for entering parliament.[52] The party is open to a coalition with either Labour or National, with Wong saying that they would first negotiate with whichever party received the most votes, although she subsequently qualified her party's position by stating that it would not support a government that had Winston Peters as foreign minister.[53][54] On 27 July, the National Party ruled out working with Opportunity, with their leader Christopher Luxon stating: "We wouldn't be in business with people who want to increase taxes."[55]

Opportunity policy is to make three main reforms of the taxation system, being introducing a citizen's income, a land value tax, and compulsory membership in the KiwiSaver savings scheme. The citizen's income (a version of a UBI) would entail almost all adults getting paid $370 a week, which would replace many state welfare benefits, including the unemployment benefit; the party claims that this will save millions in bureaucracy and will give people dignity.[56] However, the figure of NZ$370 a week has been criticised as a "poverty-level payment" and as an amount that "will not be enough for most people to survive on".[57] The land-value tax is proposed at 1.75% on the market value of urban land (0.5% on rural land) and a realignment of PAYE tax with only three brackets. Revenue from the land-value tax would finance the citizen's income policy. The party estimates that 70% of New Zealanders would be net positive in this scenario, 20% net neutral, and 10% would end up paying more tax. The party believes that this would disincentivize the property market and would redirect wealth to productive parts of the economy.[58][59] They are looking to boost renewable energy through long-term cross-party support, increasing it by 30GW before 2050. The party would merge energy regulatory agencies and consolidate the distributors down to eight.[60][56]

In August, the party announced a policy to "clean up politics". This would involve regulating lobbying with a national database, implementing a year-long cooldown period before ministers and officials can become lobbyists, and setting stricter rules around conduct. The party would also reform political donations by introducing a cap of $30,000 per donor for a party in each electoral cycle and lowering the threshold of disclosing the donor to $1,000.[61] The party claims that the donor cap is the figure recommended by the Independent Electoral Review.[62]

Electoral results

National

General election Candidates nominated Seats won Party vote
Votes %
Electorate List
2017 21 26
0 / 120
 63,261 2.4% Steady
2020 21 21
0 / 120
 43,449 1.5% Decrease
2023 13 13
0 / 123
 63,330 2.2% Increase

Local

Election # of candidates Winning candidates
Mayor Local council Board Regional council Total Mayor Local council Board Regional council Total
2022 0 3 1 0 4
0 / 3
1 / 1
1 / 4
25%
2025 no candidates

Officeholders

Leader

# Name Image Assumed office Left office Notes
1 Gareth Morgan 4 November 2016 14 December 2017 Party founder
2 Geoff Simmons 18 August 2018 3 November 2020
- Shai Navot 3 November 2020 27 January 2022 Interim leader
3 Raf Manji 27 January 2022 3 December 2023 Candidate for Ilam, came 2nd in 2017 and 2023
4 Qiulae Wong
16 November 2025 present

Deputy leader

# Name Image Assumed office Left office Notes
1 Geoff Simmons 24 May 2017 14 December 2017
2 Teresa Moore 28 August 2017 9 July 2018 Appointed co-deputy leader along with Simmons
3 Shai Navot 30 April 2020[63] 3 November 2020 Became leader
3 March 2023 4 August 2023 Co-deputy leaders[64]
4 Jessica Hammond
5 Natalia Albert 4 August 2023 3 December 2023 Appointed Deputy Leader following 2023 general election candidate list announcement[42]
6 Daniel Eb 20 March 2026 present Appointed Deputy Leader

Notable candidates

References

  1. 1 2 "Team". The Opportunity Party. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
  2. ↑ "Young TOP". Archived from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  3. ↑ Shaw, Richard (6 July 2026). "This 'centrist' party is rising in NZ polls. Will it prove power broker?". The Conversation. Retrieved 14 July 2026.
  4. ↑ "The courage to change". Retrieved 16 November 2025.
  5. ↑ Sachdeva, Sam (10 January 2017). "Gareth Morgan registers political party to prepare for potential early election". Stuff. Archived from the original on 31 August 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  6. ↑ "Register of political parties". Elections. Archived from the original on 1 June 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  7. ↑ Sachdeva, Sam (1 February 2017). "Gareth Morgan's party to take on Jacinda Ardern in Mt Albert by-election". Stuff. Archived from the original on 31 August 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  8. ↑ "ACT Party says TOP's offer of free bus rides to voters breaks the law". Stuff. 17 February 2017. Archived from the original on 31 August 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  9. ↑ "The Opportunities Party cleared of 'treating' after giving free rides to voters". Stuff. 21 February 2017. Archived from the original on 31 August 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  10. ↑ "Mt Albert – Official Result". www.electionresults.govt.nz. Archived from the original on 14 January 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  11. ↑ "Gareth Morgan Announces The Opportunities Party (TOP) First Set of Candidates". TOP. Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  12. ↑ "Gareth Morgan Announces The Opportunities Party (TOP) Second Set of Candidates". TOP. Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  13. ↑ Jones, Nicholas (15 June 2017). "Mika to stand in Auckland Central for Gareth Morgan's new party". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  14. ↑ "Mika Haka". TOP. Archived from the original on 25 February 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  15. ↑ "Teresa Moore". TOP. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  16. ↑ "Gareth Morgan adds new deputy co-leader of TOP, releases party list". Stuff. 28 August 2017. Archived from the original on 27 July 2024. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  17. ↑ "Party and candidate lists for 2017 Election". New Zealand Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 7 October 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  18. ↑ Manch, Thomas (9 September 2020). "Election 2020: TOP furious as TVNZ includes Advance NZ, Māori Party in debate". Stuff. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  19. ↑ "Storm erupts over Gareth Morgan's 'lipstick on a pig' tweet". The New Zealand Herald. 20 August 2017. ISSN 1170-0777. Archived from the original on 27 July 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  20. ↑ Rowe, Don (11 November 2017). "'Another day where it feels embarrassing to be associated with TOP': the email which enraged Morgan". The Spinoff. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  21. ↑ "2017 General Election – Official Result". New Zealand Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 7 October 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  22. ↑ Swinnen, Lucy (24 September 2017). "Party 'for a fairer New Zealand' falls flat, as Gareth Morgan's TOP falls far short of 5 per cent". Stuff.co.nz. Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  23. ↑ "TOP loses leader Gareth Morgan and three other candidates in matter of hours". Stuff.co.nz. 14 December 2017. Archived from the original on 21 July 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  24. ↑ Cooke, Henry (19 December 2017). "Ex-TOP candidates start new political action group". Stuff.co.nz. Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  25. ↑ "Councillor Jenny Condie". Wellington City Council. 18 February 2020. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  26. ↑ Simmons, Geoff (23 January 2020). "First Candidate Announcement for 2020". TOP. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  27. ↑ "The Listening Tour: Workshop Results". The Opportunities Party. 21 November 2018. Archived from the original on 10 January 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  28. ↑ "Parliamentary Leader Results" (PDF). d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  29. ↑ "Member Representative Results" (PDF). d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 January 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  30. ↑ "TOP Brand Launch". TOP. The Opportunities Party. 8 October 2019. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  31. ↑ "TOP Candidates". The Opportunities Party. 20 March 2020. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  32. ↑ Manch, Thomas (13 June 2020). "The battle for Ōhāriu: TOP is back, and it's hoping to spoil a fight between Labour and National". Stuff. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  33. ↑ "Ōhāriu – Official Result". New Zealand Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 15 December 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  34. ↑ MacManus, Joel (9 July 2020). "TOP leader Geoff Simmons announces run in Rongotai". Stuff. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  35. ↑ "The Opportunities Party's Geoff Simmons misspells electorate's name in advertising campaign". The New Zealand Herald. 24 September 2020. Archived from the original on 8 November 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  36. ↑ "2020 General Election and Referendums – Official Result". Electoral Commission. 6 November 2020. Archived from the original on 23 July 2023. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  37. ↑ "The Opportunities Party leader Geoff Simmons resigns, interim leader named". Stuff. 3 November 2020. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  38. ↑ "Raf Manji, former Christchurch city councillor named as TOP's new leader". Stuff. 27 January 2022. Archived from the original on 27 January 2022. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  39. ↑ "Listen: TOP's third leader joins Gone by Lunchtime". The Spinoff. 27 October 2022. Archived from the original on 27 October 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  40. ↑ "Starting at the bottom: Elected TOP candidate wins party milestone". 1 News. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  41. ↑ "Election 2023: TOP bets its future on Ilam – can it win?". 1 News. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  42. 1 2 Manji, Raf (4 August 2023). "The Opportunities Party announces a fresh team to bring new ideas to Parliament at the 2023 General Election". TOP. Archived from the original on 3 August 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  43. ↑ "2023 General Election – Official Result". Electoral Commission. 3 November 2023. Archived from the original on 25 November 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  44. ↑ "Ilam – Official Result". Electoral Commission. 3 November 2023. Archived from the original on 23 November 2023. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  45. ↑ Gill, Sinead (3 December 2023). "TOP leader Raf Manji resigns". The Post. Archived from the original on 3 December 2023. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  46. ↑ Burr, Lloyd (15 August 2025). "The leaderless political party that's turned to SEEK". Stuff. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  47. ↑ "Opportunity: TOP rebrands as new leader chases 5% threshold". 1News. Retrieved 16 November 2025.
  48. ↑ "A decade of B-Corp. Now what? Qiulae Wong, NZ manager of B Lab". Podcasts NZ: New Zealand Podcasts. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
  49. ↑ "Platform". The Opportunity Party. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
  50. ↑ Edmunds, Susan (13 February 2026). "Ditch NZ Super entirely, minor party says". RNZ. Archived from the original on 13 February 2026. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
  51. ↑ Schmidt, Veronica (16 February 2026). "Opportunity Party to double candidates this election, Qiulae Wong to stand in Mt Albert". The Spinoff. Archived from the original on 16 February 2026. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  52. ↑ Shaw, Richard (7 July 2026). "This 'centrist' party is rising in NZ polls. Will it prove power broker?". Radio New Zealand.
  53. ↑ Smith, Sam (2 July 2026). "The Opportunity Party 'would be happy' to go into coalition with National". Stuff. Retrieved 14 July 2026.
  54. ↑ Chen, Liu (3 July 2026). "Chinese voters reconsider allegiances after Peters' 'racist' remarks". RNZ. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
  55. ↑ Dexter, Giles (27 July 2026). "National rules out working with Opportunity Party". Radio New Zealand. Retrieved 27 July 2026.
  56. 1 2 "Explainer: What is the Opportunity Party and what are its policies?". RNZ. 30 June 2026. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
  57. ↑ Peters, Tom; Braddock, John (2 June 2026). "The right-wing politics of New Zealand's Opportunity Party". World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  58. ↑ "It's time for a tax reset". Opportunity Party. Retrieved 11 May 2026 – via Google Docs.
  59. ↑ Russell, Alexia (8 May 2026). "The Opportunity Party: The election dark horse". RNZ. Retrieved 11 May 2026.
  60. ↑ "Healthy Oceans". Opportunity Party. Retrieved 11 May 2026 – via Google Docs.
  61. ↑ "Opportunity Party vows to 'clean up politics' with lobbying and donations reforms". Radio New Zealand. 16 August 2026. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  62. ↑ "Clean-up Politics". Opportunity Party. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  63. ↑ Opportunities Party (30 April 2020). ""Congratulations to Shai Navot..."". Twitter @top_nz. Archived from the original on 6 May 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  64. ↑ "The Opportunities Party announces sevens team for Parliament". 3 March 2023. Archived from the original on 3 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  65. ↑ "Former Minister of Immigration Hon Tuariki Delamere standing for TOP in Auckland Central". Indian Weekender. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  66. ↑ MacManus, Joel (24 October 2020). "How Abe Gray became New Zealand's 'Gandalf of Weed'". Stuff. Archived from the original on 6 March 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  67. ↑ "Auckland Central – Official Result". electionresults.govt.nz. Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  68. ↑ "Jessica Hammond Doube". 24 August 2017. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  69. ↑ "From Bob Dylan to waiting lists: The times they are a-changin' in Ohariu". Stuff. 30 August 2017. Archived from the original on 27 July 2024. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  70. ↑ "The battle for Ōhāriu: TOP is back, and it's hoping to spoil a fight between Labour and National". Stuff. 13 June 2020. Archived from the original on 12 June 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
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