Ben is a student of politics and philosophy, currently studying at Victoria University of Wellington. From a young age Ben has been interested in politics, both national and international. This encouraged him to fund his yearlong student exchange to Germany in 2007. Whilst in Germany, Ben managed to gain a lot of insight into their political institutions and how they differed to ours in New Zealand.

Ben comes from a humble working class background and was raised in the sea-side town of Picton. Having been taught a strong work ethic, he has been able to fund trips to both Asia and the Pacific, albeit on a shoestring.

His travels and experiences of other countries and cultures were a large factor in Ben joining New Zealand First. He believes that in order for this country to move forward, we must put sectional interests behind us. For this reason Ben firmly believes in New Zealand First's holistic approach to politics.

Top 5 Issues

1. We’ll have ONE LAW FOR ALL.
   
   Which means:
   
   • We all own our foreshore and seabed
   • We fly one flag
   • We have one court system
   • We follow one set of laws
   • We have one social welfare system
   • A NZ health system
   • A NZ education system
2. We will rebuild our failing economy with
   
   • Export plans to treble returns
   • Savings plans for economic freedom
   • NZ currency for NZ not Wall ST
   • Tax breaks for real wealth creators
   • Real research and development incentives
   • Rewards for the nation’s builders
3. We stand for a fair tax system, where everyone pays a fair share.
   
   So we are going to rewrite and simplify NZ’s mangle of tax laws so that they are understandable, unavoidable, and fair.
   
   Everyone will pay their fair taxes.
   
   That means:
   • Less personal tax
   • Less company tax
   • Less GST at 12.5 not 15%
   • Removing double tax on savings
   • Removing GST on rates
   • Removing secondary tax
4. Exporters create our real wealth. We have a plan to help them.
   
   New Zealand First will keep our currency pegged to that of our main trading partners.
   
   That way the exporters will be able to expand, increase exports and create new jobs, new wealth for the Family New Zealand
   
   We will stop the sale of state owned assets, and the control of our power stations and the lakes and rivers that feed them.
   Will stop the sale of our prime farmland to foreign interests.
5. We need to support our young people to stay, live and work in New Zealand. Here are just some of our policies:
   
   1) More trade training for our young people
   
   2) We will help pay the wages for apprentices using dole money and an employer top up
   
   3) We will help students pay their loans as long as they qualify and stay here
   
   4) And we’ll throw out fictitious national standards in early education opposed by 90% of the teachers

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