After its presence was highlighted on social media, the proposal was removed from the site
A member’s bill pitching a streaming levy law appeared on parliament’s website briefly before being taken down, drawing criticism from the National Party.
The NZ Herald reported spotting the bill on the site this morning August 18. The proposal, listed under Labour Party MP Willie Jackson’s name, would impose a levy on streaming companies that would “create a substantial revenue stream to finance the production of local content” per a snippet published by the Herald.
“This bill provides for a levy to be imposed to ensure a small portion of the revenue gained from New Zealand subscribers is returned to New Zealand audiences to ensure a sustainable local production industry that can tell our nation’s stories using the most powerful cultural medium we have – our screens”, said a snippet of the bill published by the Herald.
Parliament’s website indicated that the bill was lodged in September 2025 and backed by Labour MPs. Nonetheless, this was not its first appearance in the ballot – since November 2024, it had been listed under Reuben Davidson’s name.
Simeon Brown, National campaign chairman, posted about the bill’s appearance on the site on social media and criticised Labour leader Chris Hipkins for telling the media he could rule out a streaming levy while his caucus was seeking to introduce one. The streaming levy proposal was removed from parliament’s website around the time Brown published his post.
Hipkins said to the media that the bill’s presence in the ballot was an “administrative oversight” – he had reportedly been advised that the bill was being taken out the previous night. On being made aware that it was still live on parliament’s site as of this morning, he said he had the proposal pulled.
“One of the things that we’ve been doing as we’re finalising the manifesto is going through the member’s ballot and making sure that everything that’s in the member’s ballot matches what we’re committing to in the election campaign”, he said in a statement published by the Herald.
Labour campaign chairman Kieran McAnulty said that following the election, the party intended to introduce only a capital gains tax (CGT). Nonetheless, per parliament’s website, all the Labour MPs had backed the pitched law.
Some MPs claimed ignorance of supporting a streaming levy bill, including Dan Rosewarne, Helen White and Priyanca Radhakrishnan. Barbara Edmonds told the Herald that she was aware of such a proposal but indicated that the party would campaign only on a CGT.
Deborah Russell said the bill had been to caucus.
