By Phoebe Eden-Mann, National Policy Analyst
Published 30 October 2026
Everyone has the right to vote and we encourage you to do so. However, with the overwhelming amount of information out there, it can be hard to decide which party will best represent you in Parliament. So, with the election rapidly approaching, let’s have a look at what policies the main parties are proposing.
The topics covered are (click to skip to that section):
It’s important to note that at the time of writing (29 October 2026), the policies I’m about to talk about were the only ones available, and parties may release policies over the coming days. All policy information I am talking about has been sourced directly from the parties’ websites or announced policies reported in the media. These parties are Labour, National, New Zealand First, ACT, Te Pāti Māori (TPM), The Opportunities Party (OP), and the Green Party.
The parties have been selected in no particular order.
Education policies
The last few years has seen our education system face many challenges and it has had to adapt rapidly and dramatically. Most children and young people in recent years have learnt largely via online distance learning, which has been a challenge for both students and teachers. When it comes to disability and education, things get even more tricky. Many disabled people have different learning needs that often go unmet. We also face inaccessible buildings and school grounds, are excluded from out of classroom activities like school camps. Education is incredibly important, and yet the education system continuously fails disabled people. Disabled students are half as likely to attain NCEA Level 3 compared to their non-disabled peers. They are also more than twice as likely to attain no qualification at school.
Labour
If elected, Labour intends to:
Fund an extra 1000 teacher aides to provide more individual support for students who need it. This will cost $80M over four years.
Launch a $7 million a year investment in programmes that offer grants to help children take part in sport and recreation, and in community groups running after-school sport and activities for children with the goal of reducing screentime for children.
Cut back-to-school costs for families by making school uniforms cheaper and allow for "affordable, generic" alternatives to be used as well.
Reinstate the former school lunch programme. Lunches would be $5 a meal, and $6.50 for students in years 9 to 13, and would be made in school kitchens, by iwi and hapū partners or by local caterers.
Bring back rural school buses where possible, and will work with local communities to find practical solutions where it is not.
Pause the current Government’s school curriculum overhaul and NCEA changes. Labour would create an independent body, Independent Council for Curriculum and Assessment, to lead decisions on curriculum and assessment changes.
Work towards pay parity for ECE teachers and smaller teacher-child ratios with smaller group sizes.
Cut 10% off eligible student loan balances (this does not apply to graduates who benefited from the Fees Free scheme). Balances of $2000 or less will be written off completely.
National
If elected, National intends to:
Introduce a School Start Check to be completed in ECE before a child starts school (or upon school entry for children who haven’t had one). Aims to identify each child’s strengths and where additional support is needed.
Establish clearer developmental milestones throughout ECE with progress reported to parents. Children who need additional support will be connected with Early Intervention Services.
Implement tight limits on screen use in Years 1-3, and age appropriate limits for older primary students. They will also ban screens or individual devices use in ECE (it is unclear if this includes staff who may use tablets or phones to update parent apps throughout the day).
Require students to stay at school until they are 16 or complete Year 11 (whichever is later). If a student turns 16 before finishing Year 11, they will be required to stay until they have completed the year.
Set consistent school start and finish dates.
Reduce the compulsory student loan repayment rate (from 12% down to 10% from April 2027).
The Green Party
If elected, the Greens intend to:
Improve access to both diagnosis and support services for children with disabilities or learning support needs.
Make ECE free and provide it as a public good like schooling, aiming to stop for profit ECE centres.
Expand criteria to access learning support and establish a single agency to coordinate and resource supports for students with health and disability support needs.
Implement all actions in the ‘Framework for Action: A quality education for all’.
Expand Ka Ora, Ka Ako to work towards providing warm and nutritious locally made lunch to all schoolchildren.
Support the workforce so that all educators have fair wages and staffing levels that support quality teaching. Will work with the sector to co-design a long-term workforce plan.
Provide students with a universal weekly payment of $380 (plus $1,500 relocation payment) for compulsory practical training placements for essential roles.
Abolish the training wage and introduce $2000 equipment grant to cover tools, uniforms and course materials.
ACT
If elected, ACT intends to:
Give every Year 11 student $500 to put into a ‘Sharesies-style’ account.
Set a target of 10,000 charter school enrolments by the end of 2029. Remove barriers to encourage more state and state-integrated schools to convert into charter schools.
Amend the Education and Training Act 2020 to give teachers explicit legal power to remove “seriously or persistently disruptive” students from the classroom. Teachers would be allowed to use “reasonable force” in specific circumstances. Under this policy, parents could be held liable for deliberate property damage caused by their child. If a parent failed to attend a mandatory meeting without a reasonable excuse, they could be fined $300 and then up to $3000 for subsequent failures to attend.
Limit state schools to a maximum of three compulsory branded uniform items, and require schools offer generic alternatives for high use items (eg. Shorts, pants, skirts, socks), and ensure that these generic alternatives can be purchased from standard retailers.
Create a single national card that those who work with children (in both a paid and voluntary capacity) must have to be able to work with children. The card would last three years and would be continuously monitored against new Police information- if concerns or new information arises, the card would be suspended and every linked organisation informed.
Introduce an Open Seat Rule for school transport, allowing any child along an existing school bus route use the service when a seat is available regardless of which school they attend.
New Zealand First
No education policies currently available. Will update this if policies are announced.
The Opportunities Party
If elected, the Opportunities Party intends to:
Establish a 10-year cross party plan for education, focused on stability for students, support for teachers, and modernising learning for the future.
Ensure that investments in specialist support are delivered well-including learning support coordinators, speech-language therapists, psychologists and mental health services available to every school.
Lift quality and safety standards for ECE by requiring minimum ratios, improving space per child indoors and outdoors to align with Australian standards, and setting maximum indoor group sizes.
Te Pāti Maori
Establish a Kōhanga Reo Act, create an annual $250 million fund for kōhanga reo refurbishments and build 20 kōhanga reo over the next three years.
Reinstate the $30 million of funding for Te Ahu o te reo Māori.
Establish a Maori Education Authority.
Write off the living-cost component of all student loans.
Create a universal student allowance and double the allowance rates (in line with benefit increases). They will also abolish the Parental Income Threshold for student allowance eligibility.
Fund free counselling in schools and make mental wellbeing a core part of the curriculum.
Expand the school lunches programme to all kura and public schools.
Establish a Māori-led taskforce to transform how Māori students with disabilities, neurodiversity, and learning differences are taught and supported.
Address systemic exclusion within education settings.
Health policies
Disabled people are often at high-risk of poor health and wellbeing outcomes. They can also be high-users of the health system. The statistical outcomes surrounding disabled people and health aren’t great. The 2018 New Zealand General Social Survey asked to rate their general health status, 50.2% of disabled people said their health was ‘fair or poor’, compared to 11.1% of non-disabled people.
The Green Party
If elected, the Greens intend to:
Increase health funding by $3B (total cost of $30B over the full period of the next four Budgets).
Ensure that public health care services are accessible for all with a focus on prevention and early screening, diagnosis and treatment for non-communicable diseases (eg, cancer, diabetes, kidney and respiratory diseases).
Provide easily accessible and timely income support to meet all disability-related living and medical costs, regardless of relationship status and cause of disability.
Fund mobile health care and mental health care clinics, diagnostics services and dental vans to ensure rural communities are able to access health services regularly, including during and after civil emergencies.
Fund one-stop-shops that provides pā harakeke wrap-around services for whānau throughout hapūtanga, after birth, first stages of life, and navigating parenthood.
Expand the Minor Health Conditions Service to help pharmacies treat common health issues and update the Integrated community pharmacy services agreement to encourage pharmacists to give appropriate medical advice by compensating them fairly.
Ensure all health care workers have fair wages, fund pay parity for primary care nurses and hauora providers, and set safe staffing levels to support worker wellbeing and quality of care for patients.
Work towards diagnosing and treating endometriosis faster, including by developing formal clinical guidelines for diagnosing and treating endometriosis and other pelvic pain, and by funding specialised clinics across Aotearoa.
Increase funding for data and digital infrastructure and capability in the health sector, and regulate and hold private providers of infrastructure to high standards of privacy.
The Opportunities Party
Establish a 10 year cross-party plan for health that properly funds our health workers and focuses on preventing illness. OP will increase and maintain health funding from 7.4% GDP as it is currently to 9% of GDP.
Restore the school lunch programme.
Work towards a credible pathway towards a smokefree NZ. OP are calling for a public lobbying register and cooling off periods before Ministers take industry roles, and restricting the influence of industries like the tobacco industry.
Labour
If elected, Labour intends to:
Introduce Medicard which provides three free GP visits annually.
Reinstate free prescriptions for all funded medicines (medication that is only partially subsidised by Pharmac will have a $15 fee).
Fund free referred maternity scans from July 2028 (using the Medicard). Cervical screening will also be free using the Medicard.
Free up 4.5M GP appointments a year by making simple affordable changes so that GPs can focus on patients, not paperwork. They plan to do this through a combination of clinical phone triage, reduced administration, support for long-term conditions, and expanded clinic space.
Boost the number of GP clinics by allowing Doctors to apply for loans of up to 90% of buying into a practice (capped at $500k). The loan is only available for owner-operated general practices to ensure locally run GP clinics stay connected to their communities and patients.
Guarantee a job within the public health system for every graduate nurse and increasing the current recruitment subsidy for nurses.
Reinstate the Smokefree Generation Policy
Ensure clear direction from a Labour Minister at the first meeting with the Director-General of Health: an independent report on deaths linked to long ED waits, a nationwide stocktake of closed and unopened beds, winter planning restarted, and stronger reporting.
Provide more care outside hospital: more extended-care paramedics (only 152 nationwide), a clinical telehealth service, longer emergency medicine supplies from pharmacists, and early supported discharge teams in every region.
National
If elected, National intends to:
Provide 3-day postnatal stays to all mothers if they wish to stay before being discharged.
Increase Pharmac’s budget by $604M to expand access to new cancer and other life-saving medications. They will reduce foreign aid outside of the Pacific in order to fund this.
Set a national target for clinical trials so people can access the newest treatments faster, with a particular focus on cancer and rare disorders.
Support our medical sector to develop and produce CAR-T cell therapy (a new form of cancer treatment and is available overseas).
Lower free bowel screening to those 50 and over by 2029.
Deliver free cervical screening for all women aged 25-69.
Establish the Healthy Kiwis Programme which will expand active prescriptions with a target of doubling the number of people receiving them by 2030. The policy aims to get Kiwis active, stay healthy, and avoid chronic diseases like diabetes.
New Zealand First
Have a longterm plan called “Make NZ Healthy”.
Focus on prevention with the aim of improving long-term health outcomes.
Focus on metabolic health as “the key driver of chronic illness”
Require a full independent review of dietary guidelines.
Fund NZ scientists to assess nutritional interventions for preventing and treating mental illness.
Remove Medsafe/Pharmac barriers to recognised safe nutrients.
Invest in hospital trials to assess the effectiveness of IV Vitamin C pre/post surgery for preventing and treating infections.
Fund a review of Vitamin D and determine optimal levels for maintaining health.
Support GPs by bringing in health coaches into primary care.
Reduce administrative burdens and restore professional autonomy for GPs.
Ensure that informed consent is a core part of quality healthcare, and recognise that consumer choice is what leads to healthier decisions.
ACT
If elected, the ACT party intends to:
Provide an ongoing $100M annual boost to GPs (totalling $400M over the first four years).
Support practices to offer extra hours and reward additional appointments for GPs who want to see more patients and stay longer can. ACT believes this will reduce the waiting times and increase GP availability.
Build National Cancer Centre with campuses in Auckland and Christchurch- they are calling this a “Starship for Cancer” and will be funded via public-private partnerships, donations, existing health investments, and private capital.
Allow pharmacies to treat more everyday conditions including chest and ear infections, acute pain, sore throats and tonsilitis, osteoarthritis, vaginal thrush and period pain.
Allow accredited pharmacists to monitor stable hypertension, type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol, and adjust medication within GP set limits. This would also allow pharmacists to order blood tests, while the overall clinical responsibility would remain with the GP.
Enable secure 24hr prescription lockers so that patients can collect eligible medication when it suits them.
Pilot pharmacy-based skin-lesion checks to help detect skin cancer sooner. Trained pharmacists would use dermatoscopes and an approved AI risk-assessment tool, with clear pathways for referral and monitoring.
Implement all 25 recommendations from the Ministry of Health's statutory review of the End of Life Choice Act.
Replace the six-month prognosis requirement for End of Life eligibility to that a person has an “advanced, progressive condition expected to cause death”. They would also allow a limited waiver of final consent where a person has been assessed as eligible for End of Life care and has chosen the time and date whilst competent, but loses capacity before that date.
Increase the share of the health budget spent on medicines by 1% annually aiming to reach parity with Australia by 2033.
Set Pharmac’s future funding increases in advance allowing for more secure long term planning in accessing new medications.
Te Pāti Māori
Rebuild and strengthen the Māori-led health authority and solutions.
Shift towards prevention and whānau wellbeing, not simply crisis or acute response.
Make services accessible, culturally safe, and accountable to Māori.
Transfer 25% of total health and ACC funding to Maori led systems.
Establish a Maori ACC authority.
Invest in Marae-based clinics and mobile units.
Invest in free dental and primary healthcare for all whānau.
Lower bowel screening ages to 45 for all people in Aotearoa and to 35 for Māori and Pacific Peoples.
Restore smoke free targets and reduce nicotine in tobacco. They also are proposing a total ban on alcohol marketing.
Invest $500M annually into Kaupapa Māori mental health, and provide free community based mental health services.
Invest $1B annually into workforce developments and expand Māori workforce and training.
Social development and welfare policies
With the ongoing effects of the pandemic, unemployment, and the cost of living crisis, income support and welfare has been talked about more than ever. But for the disability community, income support and welfare has long been a very pressing issue.
Having enough money to survive and thrive is crucial to ensuring a good quality life, and yet, our welfare system is insufficient, particularly for disabled people and their whānau. Disabled people are more likely to experience poverty, especially Māori and Pacific disabled people. Disabled people under 65 are almost 2.5 times more likely to report not having enough income than non-disabled people under 65. The parents of disabled children are 1.5 times more likely to report insufficient income.
Disability often comes hand in hand with additional costs, whether it be for transport, medication, treatments, or accessibility aids. None of these things are cheap, and there are barriers for many disabled people and their whānau to engage in paid work; yet income supports for disabled people are so small that people who do not have additional disability related costs would struggle to survive on them.
National
If elected, National intends to:
Introduce random drug testing for those on the jobseeker benefit to ensure they’re “ready to work”. It is unclear if this includes those on Jobseekers with a medical exemption. Continued drug test failures will result in benefit sanctions.
For jobseekers who have received Jobseeker for two of the previous three years, they will have their benefits cut by up to $81.76 p/w for a couple without children, and $24.02 p/w for those with children. This would go into effect from the 1st of April 2028.
Double the stand-down period for repeated voluntary unemployment. Those who leave jobs repeatedly without sufficient reason will face a 26 week non-entitlement period (currently it’s 13 weeks).
Invest earlier to help long-term Jobseekers into work. National will providem intensive, workfocused support for 30,000 work-ready jobseekers who have been on a benefit for more than a year, supporting them move into employment before long-term dependency becomes entrenched, with greater funding for employment programmes that support young people into work.
Extend Paid Parental Leave from 26-30 weeks, and allow parents to share parental leave at the same time or in overlapping instalments.
Introduce a $1500 Baby Boost and automatic enrolment in Kiwisaver for every child.
Establish an 0800 Seniors free helpline to help seniors navigate government services and access supports they are entitled to.
Strengthen protections against elder abuse and financial exploitation by reviewing the Enduring Powers of Attorney framework and considering further measures including law changes to better protect seniors from economic harm.
ACT
Raise NZ Super age to 67 by 2035 with compassionate early access for people who have spent their carers in physically demanding jobs.
Require independent medical certification against clear criteria for health and disability benefits, with a phased reassessment of existing recipients. Certification would be done by doctors approved by MSD rather than the persons own GP or specialist. They intend to save $653M by this policy, and reassessment will begin with mental-related conditions. We have responded to this policy previously.
Introduce electronic money management for Jobseeker Support Work Ready recipients who remain on a benefit for more than four months. Their benefit will be delivered through an electronic payment card to spend on essentials, and will block spending on alcohol, gambling, tobacco, and cash withdrawals.
Labour
If elected, Labour intends to:
End annual benefit reviews for people with permanent and verifiable disabilities (this was announced by Labour’s disability spokesperson, Priyanca Radhakrishnan at the Inclusive Futures National Disability Election Forum).
Deliver at least 6000 additional social housing places over four years.
Allocate $760M to cover the additional Income-Related Rent Subsidy and operating costs for Kāinga Ora and Community Housing Providers.
Repeal DSS Bill and redrafting it with input with disabled people and that disabled people are supported to access the services they need.
Reinstate pay equity legislation within the first 100 days in office. Care and support workers will receive an immediate pay rise of $4 p/h.
Make price gouging illegal and set clear legal limits to define when high prices become unfair and excessive. Companies could be faced with penalties and repay consumers they have overcharged.
Make employer contributions to KiwiSaver compulsory, and will raise the minimum to 6% even when employees pause or reduce their own contribution.
New Zealand First
If elected, NZF intends to:
Block any other changes to Superannuation entitlements or eligibility, including raising the retirement age to 67.
Introduce a permeant boost to the Working for Families tax credit by continuing the $50 p/w boost introduced earlier this year which was introduced to help tackle high fuel prices. They will increase it by an extra $70 p/w for a total tax credit of $120 p/w.
Increase minimum wage by at least inflation level every year of the next term of government.
Establish a Kiwi Kids Grant to encourage people to have more children. It will be a non-means tested grant of $5000 p/a for the first three years, and will be for each of the first of three children.
The Green Party
If elected, the Greens intend to:
Guarantee every 16-24 year old who has been out of work for six months a pathway into education, training or a new job. They will establish the Jobs for Young People pilot programme which.
Remove AI from welfare payment decisions including decisions such as cancelling or suspending payments or imposing sanctions.
Increase the Best Start payment and extend it to every child under three as a universal child benefit.
Provide easily accessible and timely income support to meet all disability-related living and medical costs, regardless of relationship status and cause of disability (this is about the ‘love tax’ which we have discussed previously).
Launch a dedicated long-term strategy for the needs of an ageing population which encompasses the holistic wellbeing of kaumātua, elder abuse prevention, ensuring income is equitably accessed and sufficient to live comfortably, and the establishment of a state-owned, not-for-profit retirement village scheme.
Increase main benefit levels to a liveable income and ensuring that supplementary benefits are sufficient.
Establish a legal right to a minimum income and guaranteeing this income.
Pass legislation that prevents exploitative lending a debt collection.
Better resource underfunded basic services that support wellbeing, including preventative and/or early intervention services.
Address homelessness and work towards all disabled people being able to live in safe, accessible, affordable housing in the community of their choice, including by setting robust universal design standards for public and private housing.
The Opportunities Party
Introduce the Citizen’s Income policy where almost all adults will get up to $370 paid into their account weekly. The Citizen’s Income will replace most benefits (including Jobseekers and Supported Living Allowance), with top-up support available for super annuitants, parents and disabled people. This will be funded by introducing a Land Value Tax.
Introduce compulsory retirement contributions, where overtime employee and employer contribution rates will rise to 6%.
Te Pāti Māori
Immediately raise the minimum wage to the living wage ($28.95 per hour) and ensure it remains aligned with living wage increases.
Restore pay equity and ensure that Māori are paid equitably.
Eliminate starting off and youth wage rates.
Double baseline benefit levels to meet the upper range of WEAG recommendations.
Remove financial penalties, sanctions, and work-test obligations.
Individualise benefits so income support is not dependent on relationship status.
Increase abatement thresholds so people can earn more before benefits are reduced.
Remove the youth benefit and ensure young people receive full support.
Cancel income-support-related debt owed to the Crown.
Ensure grants and additional assistance do not need to be repaid.
Ensure Special Needs Grants recognise cultural costs, including tangihanga, unveilings, and extended processes.
Create a Māori-led authority with the mandate to design, oversee, and deliver disability services for Māori. Ensure Tangata Hauā and Whānau Hauā are central to governance and decision-making.
Ensure disability support is not siloed from wider health, mental wellbeing, and social services. Remove access barriers across assessment, funding, and service delivery.
Align disability support with Incomes and Employment policies to ensure Tangata Hauā are not forced into poverty.
Employment policies
Employment is always a hot button topic for most voters, so I took a look at the employment policies from the political parties. Not all New Zealanders who are disabled or have a health condition are getting the opportunities they need. Disabled people are more than twice as likely to be unemployed, and 75% of disabled people said they would like to work if they were able to find employment. The employment issues disabled people face are not simply social welfare issues, but also involves improving how the labour market operates. Our aging population and the resulting increase in the number of disabled people means the status quo will be unsustainable. Further, Article 27 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ratified by New Zealand in 2008, obligates Governments to recognise and legislate for equal work opportunities
Employers reported that they were unlikely or less likely to employ an employee with a mental illness such as schizophrenia (65%), with a moderate learning disability (60%), or had a moderate to high speech impediment (60%). These attitudes are often reflected in the types of employment that disabled people and people with health conditions are able to obtain; jobs that they are overqualified for, and do not utilise their valuable skills.
The Green Party
If elected, the Greens intend to:
Guarantee every 16-24 year old who has been out of work for six months a pathway into education, training or a new job. They will establish the Jobs for Young People pilot programme which.
Establish a legal right to a minimum income and guaranteeing this income.
Take care work seriously as foundational economic infrastructure by giving paid and unpaid care work the same focus as our infrastructure, energy, and digital networks.
Introduce standardised career progression, pay, community secondment opportunities and training across the public sector to improve staff retention and skills development, and ensure equal pay for equivalent roles.
Create 284,000 jobs over the next four years as part of the Greens economic development plan.
Reinstate pay equity and fund a $4.5B settlement for the 65,000 care and support workers who claim was stopped by the current Government’s changes to Pay Equity.
Close the gender and ethnic pay gaps by undoing the Government’s changes to the pay equity regime and resuming claims, pay transparency measures, and comprehensive pay gap reporting.
Strengthen worker bargaining power by changing employment law to default union membership. This would mean that people automatically join a union when they start a new job, but can opt out later if they wish.
Guarantee annual minimum wage increases that at least keep up with inflation. All publicly funded roles would be paid a living wage, with a long term plan towards matching minimum wage to the living wage.
Increase paid parental leave to 15 months for the primary caregiver, with additional ring-fenced leave for partners. The amount you would receive would also increase.
Elevate workforce safety by funding training and a workforce development strategy prioritising Māori, Pacific, rainbow, disabled and community provider pathways
Foster sustainable, low-carbon jobs in the information and communication technology sector by expanding access to grants and rebates for smaller sized firms.
Support local businesses, workers, and communities by reducing economic inequality and curbing excessive concentrations of economic power.
Labour
If elected, Labour intends to:
Reinstate pay equity legislation within the first 100 days of Government. Care and support workers will receive an immediate pay rise of $4p/h from the 1st of January 2027. This covers approximately 65,000 care and support workers.
Expand the Apprenticeship Boost by extending employer payments from one year to two years at $500 a month. This would be effective from 1st of July 2028.
Launch a $1000 toolbox grant to help new apprentices cover the cost of getting started. This would include funding for tools, kit, uniforms, and course materials and would be available from the 1st of July 2027. Approximately 30,000 apprentices will receive the grant.
Ensure that every eligible NZ trained graduate nurse will be offered a job within the public health system. This will be approximately 2,400 nurse graduates each year who will receive a job offer.
Invest $21M annually in Māori-led training to help more whānau Māori gain skills and move into good, well-paid work.
Establish a framework for how Government to actively shape how AI develops in NZ. It has three goals: 1. Protecting people’s rights, safety, privacy and creative work. 2. Unlock NZ’s potential by helping people and businesses build the skills to use AI productively. 3. Leading on NZ’s terms with Government leadership and control over NZ’s data and choices.
Ensure that big companies pay small businesses within 15 days for invoices under $25,000 and publish how quickly they pay. This legislation will be introduced within the first 100 days of a Labour Government.
Help small businesses invest up to $10,000 in new equipment and write off the full amount from their tax bill straight away. This would take affect from 1st of July 2027.
Lift the GST registration threshold for small businesses to $80,000 starting from the 1st of July 2028.
Have a target for 15% of government contracts to go to NZ small businesses and start-ups, with large contracts being broken into smaller more accessible jobs.
ACT
If elected, the ACT party intends to:
Remove tax on KiwiSaver investment earnings and discontinue the Government contribution.
Gradually raise the NZ Super age to 67 by 2035 with compassionate early access for people who have spent their careers in physically demanding jobs.
Create the Rural Workforce Visa: a standalone three year visa specifically for dairy, sheep, beef, and general farm work.
Keep experienced GPs working in NZ by helping practices offer competitive renumeration and retain staff.
Introduce a ‘Golden Handshake’ policy to make it easier for employers to have a discussion about a voluntary exit to an employment relationship that isn’t working. This would allow an employer to offer a specified payment to end their employment by mutual agreement (whether or not a dispute has happened). Employees would have the right to say no. The policy would stop the offer itself from becoming grounds for a personal grievance. It would require every agreement to be in writing and signed and agreed to by both sides.
Create a single national card that those who work with children (in both a paid and voluntary capacity) must have to be able to work with children. The card would last three years and would be continuously monitored against new Police information- if concerns or new information arises, the card would be suspended and every linked organisation informed. The cost of applications would be exempt or discounted for volunteers and students. Paid workers would pay approximately $108, which many employers would cover.
Work with the minerals industry and training providers so more kiwis can build skilled, well-paid careers in the resources sector without moving overseas.
Legislate to keep regulators focused on professional performance and public safety. Serious misconduct at work would will be punished, however lawful experience in a person’s private life would not be considered a professional offence. This would ban professional regulators from disciplining members for lawful expression outside of their professional practice.
End race-based hiring by repealing section 73 of the Public Service Act, and its equivalent in the Crown Entities Act, which imposes ethnicity-based requirements on government departments as employers. Hiring and promotion decisions should be based on merit, skills, experience, and the requirements of the job.
Separate spiritual practices from public service work by prohibiting public service employers from initiating or resourcing cultural or spiritual practices as part of the workplace. Employees will remain free to practise their own religion, culture, or traditions in their own time. Reasonable accommodation can still be made for people who wish to do so. This preserves individual freedom while maintaining clear boundaries.
The Opportunities Party
Introduce compulsory retirement contributions, where over time employee and employer contribution rates will rise to 6%.
Forgive student loan interest on up to three years spent overseas for both new graduates and those who are already overseas.
Double total Government funding for start-ups and the young enterprise programme.
Support people through technology transitions with their Citizen’s Income policy.
National
If elected, National intends to:
Make KiwiSaver compulsory for all workers from the 1st of July 2028.
Provide more intensive, work focused support for more than 30,000 work-ready jobseekers who have been on a benefit for more than a year, with greater funding for employment programmes that support young people into work.
Introduce random drug testing for those on the jobseeker benefit to ensure they’re “ready to work”. It is unclear if this includes those on Jobseekers with a medical exemption. Continued drug test failures will result in benefit sanctions.
For jobseekers who have received Jobseeker for two of the previous three years, they will have their benefits cut by up to $81.76 p/w for a couple without children, and $24.02 p/w for those with children. This would go into effect from the 1st of April 2028.
Double the stand-down period for repeated voluntary unemployment. Those who leave jobs repeatedly without sufficient reason will face a 26 week non-entitlement period (currently it’s 13 weeks).
Introduce a fast track for straightforward disputes within the Employment Relations Authority.
Make repeat seasonal hiring easier with a standard recurring seasonal agreement and shorter renewal process.
Lower student loan repayment rates for graduates living in NZ.
Extent Paid Parental Leave from 26 weeks to 30 weeks.
Prioritise and expedite work and visitor visas for partners of NZ citizens.
New Zealand First
If elected, NZF intends to:
Increase minimum wage by at least inflation levels. They will also increase the Working for Families tax credit.
Restrict Superannuation to citizens only from 2029. They do not support any other changes to entitlements or eligibility or raising the retirement age.
Automatically enrol newborn citizens into KiwiSaver with a $1000 government contribution. This policy intends to create a “KiwiSaver Generation”.
Scrap and replace the Accredited Employer Working Visa and limit access to genuine staffing shortages.
Te Pāti Māori
Raise the minimum wage to $25p/h to lift whānau out of poverty.
Align disability support with Incomes and Employment policies to ensure Tangata Hauā are not forced into poverty.
Support meaningful employment pathways where desired.
Recognise unpaid care and whānau support as valuable labour.
Guarantee Māori pay equity to close the median hourly wage gap between Māori and Pakeha.
Support introducing Māori-lead job training programmes and funds, alongside job guarantee programmes focusing on environmental and ecosystem regeneration.
Oppose legislation that weakens sector wide bargaining or reduces leave entitlements.
Eliminate starting off and youth wages.
Legislate protection for union access, multi-employer collective bargaining, and collective bargaining for contractors.
Work towards full student loan write-offs for those who live and work in Aotearoa for five years.
Increase abatement thresholds so people can earn more before benefit levels are reduced.
Allocate 25% of all government procurement to Maori organisations and businesses.
Housing policies
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which New Zealand has ratified, says disabled people have the right to adequate housing. A house is more than four walls and a roof, it is also a place of rest, comfort, and belonging. New Zealand also has a housing crisis, with many people living in houses that are frankly detrimental to their health, and housing prices and rent soaring sky high. Disabled people are more likely to be renters, and to live in homes that do not meet their needs and are of subpar quality. Disabled people aged 18 to 64 are 2.8 times more likely to report a major problem with dampness or mould. This is likely to be due to disabled people on average having a lower income, which in turn limits the housing options available to them.
Labour
If elected, Labour intends to:
Ban no-cause evictions. Landlords will be required to give a reason to end a tenancy. Landlords will also have to give tenants more notice for ending a tenancy for reasons such as family moving in (63 days notice) or the property is being sold or renovated (90 days).
Rent increases will be limited to once every 12 months and the rule will be better enforced.
Landlords have a duty of care to keep rental properties safe to live in and fix serious hazards. They will also be required to provide proper curtains or blinds as per the Healthy Homes Standards.
Require landlords, including Kāinga Ora, to act on serious anti-social behaviour so that neighbours aren’t facing ongoing harassment and/or disruption.
Expand the First Home Loan eligibility. The cap will be lifted to $300,000 with the deposit kept at 5%. More banks will also be offering the scheme.
Introduce a ‘rent-to-buy’ pathway for eligible Kāinga Ora and community housing tenants who are working and ready to move towards homeownership. For every public home sold through the rent-to-by pathway, Kāinga Ora will build three more.
Restart Kāinga Ora’s building programme and deliver at least 1500 community housing places a year.
Ensure that at least 25% of new Kāinga Ora builds are built to accessible design standards.
New Zealand First
If elected, NZF intends to:
Ensure that social housing will be made available to citizens first and foremost.
Ensure that any future fast-tracked housing developments are supported by the necessary infrastructure before approval is granted. Fast-track housing developments must work within their communities first and foremost. There must be the necessary roads, pipes, water, wastewater and other essential services approvals first before the fast-tracked development can begin.
Aim to ensure senior citizens account for a portion of the social housing pool, and expands the Warmer Kiwi Homes programme (including double glazing, solar, and electrification supported by low-interest ratepayer loans).
The Opportunities Party
Create 10 simple, nationally consistent planning zones, cutting red tape while still protecting farmland, heritage buildings, and nature reserves.
Create a national pre-approval system for proven prefabricated and modular building methods.
Update housing laws to make it easier to build a wider mix of homes, from co-housing and papakāinga to multi-generational homes.
Expand the Warmer Kiwi Homes to cover eligible rentals and extend it to double glazing, solar, and electrification with low interest loans available through the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme.
Raise the minimum standards for rental properties under the Healthy Homes Standards, including a right to charge Electric Vehicles.
Direct Kāinga Ora to build a mix of housing each region actually needs, which would help smaller towns clear their housing waitlists.
Give councils, Community Housing Providers, iwi and trusted developers direct access to low-cost government finance when they deliver affordable or social housing.
Te Pāti Māori
Build 2000 homes Māori ancestral land as a direct investment in whānau stability and whenua reconnection. These homes will support papakāinga development and marae-centred communities disrupted by historic land loss and urbanisation. Māori construction workers, apprentices and trainees will lead these builds, growing Māori capability across the housing and trades sector.
Build more social housing and stopping the discount sale of existing state homes to private investors.
Ensure that half of all new social housing is allocated to whānau Māori.
Ensure all new government builds are accessible and are designed to accommodate all whānau because housing should not discriminate.
End all sales of freehold land to offshore foreign interests. Freehold ownership will be replaced with leasehold arrangements only.
Introduce a Vacant House Tax. 2% annual tax will apply to the capital value of residential homes left vacant for more than three months in any year.
Repeal interest deductibility to de-commodify housing and redistribute $3B to help fund social housing policies.
Enact universal rent control. Rents will only be allowed to increase by the rate of inflation each year unless the owner makes significant improvements to the property.
Repeal no-cause evictions.
Increase funding for Sustaining Tenancies which is a services for tenants who are at risk of losing their home. They help to advocate, budget, and offer life skills coaching.
Establish a new agency Rangatahi Ora to prevent youth homelessness and create a legal duty to assist. This would mean that government agencies would be required to do everything in their power to end a young persons homelessness or to stabilise their housing.
The Green Party
If elected, the Greens intend to:
Address homelessness and work towards all disabled people being able to live in safe, accessible, affordable housing in the community of their choice, including by setting robust universal design standards for public and private housing.
Build thousands of new public homes, significantly increase accessible public housing stock and fund more papakāinga to be built on whenua Māori.
Strengthen the Healthy Homes Standards and enforce them with an independently certified Rental Warrant of Fitness.
Expand immediate wraparound support such a housing first, transitional and supported housing services, and guarantee same-day accommodation placements for people experiencing homelessness.
Require councils to collaborate with communities, including mana whenua, to provide sustainable, walkable, mixed-use urban areas and enable enough new affordable homes within existing urban areas to meet the needs of the next generation.
Reverse generous tax benefits for landlords and property speculators that encourage housing to be treated as an investment, rather than a basic right.
Expand housing options by building more papakāinga, prioritising kaumātua on social housing waitlists, and ensuring housing designs are suitable for their needs; single-level and warm, with mobility features and room for intergenerational living.
National
If elected, National intends to:
Boost seniors housing by ring-fencing at least 20 per cent of all Housing Flexible Fund places going forward for seniors’ housing, whether that be affordable rentals (like Abbeyfield), social homes, or other innovative solutions.
Expand the granny flat rules so more can be built, faster and cheaper. It will also be easier to build tiny homes under the expanded granny flat rules.
Widen access to the 5% deposit home loans by extending the First Home Loan income cap to $300,000. The new income cap would be applied to all applicants.
Free up councils to focus on housing. Complex projects will no longer need to depend on local council happening to have specialist staff available. This will also allow councils to focus more on standard and residential consents to support more Kiwis to build or renovate their home.
ACT
If elected, ACT intends to:
End loss ring-fencing for future rental losses. Allow residential rental losses incurred from the day the policy takes effect to be offset against other taxable income. This policy will cover existing homes and new builds and improve the viability of rental investment, including investment in new homes. It will also retain the current treatment of earlier losses. Losses already ring-fenced will remain subject to the existing rules.
Accessibility and transportation policies
Accessibility is not a guaranteed right in Aotearoa, but instead something that requires ongoing advocacy at both an individual and systemic level. Under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 9, accessibility is to “enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life” and that “States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access on an equal basis with others”. We do not have legislation in Aotearoa that specifically enshrines access as a fundamental right, and we believe that we are failing to meet our obligations under the UNCRPD (2007).
National
If elected, National intends to:
Establish 0800 Seniors, a single free helpline to help seniors navigate government services and access the support they are entitled to.
Strengthen protections against elder abuse and financial exploitation by reviewing the Enduring Powers of Attorney framework and considering further measures including law changes to better protect seniors from economic harm.
Establish a dedicated Auckland Transport Police Team to improve safety across Auckland’s public transport network. They will focus on preventing anti-social behaviour, protecting passengers and transport staff, responding to incidents, and bolstering confidence in safety on public transport.
Fund construction of Mill Road Stage One between Manukau and Alfriston and progress route protection on Stages Two and Three, helping support growth, improve safety, and reduce congestion across the Auckland region.
The Green Party
Introduce a disability rights law based on Te Tiriti with enforceable accessibility standards.
Reinstating the Total Mobility Scheme government subsidy to 75%, and increasing the number of mobility vehicles to meet demand.
Draw on the Enabling Good Lives approach to guide how government agencies work with disabled people.
Remove barriers to accessing essentials like health care, transport, inclusive education and disability support for all who need it.
Ensure that national and local emergency response plans address the needs of disabled people.
Uphold legal capacity for everyone, moving from legal capacity assessments to a rights-based system of supported decision-making.
Legislate so that the child’s voice is central in all decisions that matter to them by using the Child Impact Assessment Tool consistently and fully incorporating the Rights of the Child into legislation.
Immediately fund free bus and train trips for children, students, apprentices, Community Service Card holders, Total Mobility Users, and people aged 25 and under. They will also immediately lower the fare price for bus and train trips per journey to $2 for adults.
Fund the removal of level crossings along Auckland’s Western line to prioritise safety for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles. Along with improving safety, they say that it will also reduce congestion and allow the trains to run at their full capacity of 48 trains an hour.
ACT
Keep reliable vehicles affordable by opposing arbitrary age bans and scrapping unrealistic vehicle-emissions settings.
Keep roads ahead of growth with clear traffic thresholds for protecting routes, planning extra capacity and starting construction.
Abolish Demographic Ministries by removing separate demographic ministries and placing responsibility for effective services with the agencies that deliver them. They believe that policy should respond to people’s needs, while avoiding duplicated advice and administration organised around identity. This will save around $187 million a year.
Require independent medical certification against clear criteria for health and disability benefits, with a phased reassessment of existing recipients. Certification would be done by doctors approved by MSD rather than the persons own GP or specialist. They intend to save $653M by this policy, and reassessment will begin with mental-related conditions.
New Zealand First
If elected, NZF intends to:
Implement their ten-point rail policy which includes maintaining and improving the national network, strengthening connections between regions, removing bottlenecks, and enhancing the existing rail network and assets.
Abolish the Climate Tax from fuel which would rapidly reduce prices by 12-14c per litre.
The Opportunities Party
Make public transport free for all.
Implement a "Tell Us Once" system. If you have long-term support needs, you should not have to repeat your story or do unnecessary tests over and over. This policy will protect your privacy and let you decide how your information is shared.
Ensure that information is accessible and that everyone is able to have access to information, communication and services in formats that work for them.
Support disabled people to have the right to decide and make decisions about their own lives and ensure they are supported to do so.
Support disabled children and young people to have the right to take part in decisions that affect their lives.
Work to make sure that public spaces, buildings, and services are designed with disabled people in mind to ensure that they are accessible to all.
Work with the disability and Deaf community to design and implement policies to ensure they meet the needs of disabled and Deaf people. They will partner with DPOs and other disability groups to do this.
Te Parti Māori
Create a Māori-led authority with the mandate to design, oversee, and deliver disability services for Māori.
Ensure Tangata Hauā and Whānau Hauā are central to governance and decision-making.
Shift power away from fragmented Crown agencies into a coordinated Māori framework.
Remove access barriers across assessment, funding, and service delivery.
Te Pāti Māori will ensure that all new government builds are designed to accommodate all whānau, because housing should not discriminate.
Support meaningful employment pathways where desired.
Ensure disability policy gives effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Uphold obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Centre Māori interpretations of rights, dignity, and wellbeing.
Labour
If elected, Labour intends to:
Require government agencies to produce Enabling Good Lives impact assessments, targets, and actions.
Amend the Human Rights Act to define reasonable accommodation and recognise that denying it is discrimination.
Progress incorporating the UNRPD into law.
Repeal the Disability Support Services Act and work with disabled people, carers and disabled people's organisations on a rights-based Disability Support Services framework that includes a focus on safeguarding.
Work towards systemic change so disabled people can transition into open employment.
End annual benefit renewals for people with verified permanent disabilities.
Require at least 25% of new Kāinga Ora builds to be accessible.
Work with disability communities to build disabled leadership capacity.
Freeze fuel excise tax for three years.
Ban fuel price gouging. Fuel companies keeping prices unfairly high can be investigated and made to repay drivers.
Cap weekly public transport fares at $20 in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and $10 everywhere else in NZ. This would start on 1st of July 2027.