The 38-year-old leader of New Zealand's Opportunity Party (TOP) is canvassing voters in central Wellington, just a few days before Kiwis go to the polls on Saturday.
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Kiwis → canvass → Saturday
She fields complaints, compliments and queries with total equanimity.
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She → field → equanimity
She listens intently, but concedes little.
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She → listen → little
She's armed with a gracious smile and quiet confidence.
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She → arm → smile
She is constantly on message, never flustered and appears totally sincere.
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She → appear → message
It's been a meteoric rise for the former KPMG consultant, who won the TOP leadership just one year ago after a career in ethical fashion and business sustainability.
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who → win → fashion
She has been dismissed by some as a polished lightweight — "the darling of the lanyard class!" one New Zealand political observer harrumphs to the ABC.
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observer → dismiss → ABC
But she's been praised by others as a breakthrough political talent who has managed to drum up raw enthusiasm in an otherwise grim and grey electoral environment.
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who → praise → environment
One thing is certain though: everyone is talking about her.
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everyone → talk → her
The Financial Times called her New Zealand's potential new "kingmaker," while The Economist has labelled her the "millennial centrist shaking up New Zealand's election".
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Economist → call → election
That's because if the polls are right, the Fiji-born, Auckland-raised political entrepreneur is on the brink of securing an unprecedented parliamentary berth for the Opportunity Party, which could mean she's in a key position to decide who will lead New Zealand's next parliament.
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who → bear → parliament
She readily admits that, at this point, she is "largely running on adrenaline" but she's feeling a groundswell of momentum building behind her.
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groundswell → admit → her
"It's unlike anything I have done before," she told the ABC.
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she → do → ABC
Wong is trying to blaze a new trail through New Zealand politics, much like the so-called Teal Independents in Australia who stole heartland metropolitan seats from the Coalition in 2022.
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who → try → 2022
But those independents are all insurgents who launched campaigns from their local communities as a stepping stone to political power.
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who → launch → power
And for Opportunity, there is only one number that really counts: five.
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that → be → Opportunity
Under New Zealand's Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system, there are two ways of entering parliament: by winning an electorate or by gobbling up some of the "list" seats awarded to parties that win 5 per cent or more of the party vote.
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that → be → vote
No party headed by a political newcomer from outside parliament has ever breached that magical barrier since 1996, when New Zealand embraced MMP in 1996.
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Zealand → head → 1996
So it's no exaggeration to say that Wong is trying to make political history.
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Wong → say → history
'We have every reason to be hopeful'
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We → have → reason
Will they get there?
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they → get → ?
The latest Roy Morgan poll suggests Opportunity could reach as high as 8 per cent on Saturday, although a recent 1News-Verian survey has estimated its vote may be closer to 6 per cent — uncomfortably close to the magic floor.
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vote → suggest → floor
Wong exudes confidence when she's asked if she can get over the line.
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she → exude → line
"We've been polling consistently above 5 per cent since July," she says.
"
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she → poll → July
We have every reason to be hopeful.
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We → have → reason
I've had so many conversations with people across the political spectrum who are backing Opportunity because they want something different.
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they → have → something
They want some fresh people and some fresh thinking."
Opportunity has pitched itself as a decidedly pragmatic and non-ideological political force, and Wong says her supporters are interested primarily in what works, rather than what stokes emotion on increasingly toxic social media feeds.
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what → want → feeds
She is vowing to "not shy away" from tackling big issues, saying the party wants to tackle the hardest questions.
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party → vow → questions
"How do we make an economy work that addresses the big challenges of climate change, AI and global volatility?" she asks.
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she → make → change
Wong has championed an overhaul of New Zealand's tax system, with a new annual 1.75 per cent charge on the value of land in urban and commercial areas, along with 0.5 per cent on rural land.
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Wong → champion → land
Opportunity says this will help young people into housing and bolster supply, instead of encouraging investors and speculators to simply sit on unused land.
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this → say → land
That money would then be ploughed into a new universal "Citizen's Income" of $NZ370 ($297) per week, nearly $NZ20,000 ($16,072) a year, paid to almost all adults — and replacing most existing welfare schemes.
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money → plough → schemes
Not all economists are convinced, and the Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, has savaged the proposal, saying it would be ruinous for the country.
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it → convince → country
But Opportunity is unfazed, insisting that bold new ideas are needed in the face of intersecting economic and climate crises.
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ideas → unfaze → crises
Promise to lower temperature on political debate
The party also wants New Zealand to cut emissions more sharply and step up its transition to a low carbon economy.
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Zealand → lower → economy
Most polls suggest most Kiwis are more preoccupied with the cost of living than climate change right now, but Wong insists the climate imperative cannot be dismissed.
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imperative → suggest → change
"When the cost of living and everyday pressures are front of mind to people it's easier not to pay attention to [climate change]," she says.
"But when I talk to young people climate change and the environment are almost always number one on their list — they understand deeply the challenges ahead of them and they want a political party to take that seriously.
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party → pay → that
Wong is also vowing to lower the temperature of debate in an increasingly fractured and polarised political landscape.
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Wong → vow → landscape
"We have a lot of political leaders who are spending more time on sowing division or short-term political point scoring," she says.
"
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she → have → division
I think that's what is growing this discontent in people."
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what → think → people
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
