Nicole McKee will be the new ACT Party Deputy Leader, replacing Brooke Van Velden who's leaving politics this year.

Nicole only stood for Parliament six years ago, coming with a background as a small-business owner, volunteer and firearms advocate.

But she's risen through the ranks, becoming a cabinet minister, minister for courts, and rewriting the Firearms Act.

Party Leader David Seymour's confident in her, noting that she's is straight-forward, principled, practical, and never forgets the voters she represents.

So what will Nicole bring to the table, to advance the party's ambitions? The new ACT Party Deputy Leader Nicole McKee joins Tim Beveridge to explain.

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ACT has announced its plans to radically downsize Government departments, and bring fairness back into our benefit-system.

Firstly: They're making medical certification for health-related benefits mandatory, and only issued by MSD-approved doctors with objective criteria rather than a leaving it to a GP's discretion.

Secondly: Those on the Jobseeker benefit for more than four months will be given an electronic payment card that's only designated for essentials like groceries and rent.

Lastly: They want to cut the 43 Government departments into 19, and drop the number of portfolio ministers from 28 to 18.

ACT Party Leader David Seymour joins the Weekend Collective to unpack the party's ambitions.

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GP fees could be frozen for 12 months from July under a proposed Health NZ shake-up of the funding system.

Under the proposals, around 60 percent of practices would receive increased funding through capitation re-weighting and annual funding increased.

Overall funding for GPs would reportedly increase by six percent, as part of a $120.6 million injection for primary health.

Health Minister Simeon Brown joined the Weekend Collective to unpack the overhaul.

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