Alliance Party opposes Kiwibank privatization plans

The Alliance Party has announced that preventing the partial privatization of Kiwibank will be a central pillar of its 2026 election campaign. The party condemned the National-led Government’s plans to sell off portions of the bank, describing the move as a “brazen sell-off of public wealth for private profit.”

Matt Robson, a former Alliance Cabinet Minister who helped secure the bank's creation during the fifth Labour-Alliance coalition government, criticized the proposal. Robson stated that Kiwibank was established under the leadership of the late Jim Anderton to provide New Zealanders with a permanent asset and a Kiwi-owned alternative to Australian-owned banks.

Under its Public Ownership and Economic Democracy platform, the Alliance Party opposes the dilution of Crown ownership and advocates for expanding public banking capabilities. Robson also called on the Labour Party to take a definitive stance against the planned sale or dilution of the state asset.