About

Policy.nz gathers essential information about the policies and candidates of New Zealand’s political parties together in one place, so you can make an informed vote this election. You can favourite policies and candidates to help you decide who to vote for.

Where is this information from and is it up to date?

All the policies are based on the parties’ official websites, policy documents, press releases and social media posts. Sometimes we include citations to government or news websites where useful. You can find links to original sources by clicking on a policy.

Policy.nz is updated daily. You can expect a delay of no more than 48 hours between new policy announcements and their publication on Policy.nz, although the delay may be longer during busy periods.

Information about the candidates is gathered from the candidates themselves. Candidates’ responses are left in their own words. Policy.nz edits responses only for spelling and typos.

Are all the policies included?

We publish summaries of all policies that a party is campaigning on this election, based on our assessment of publicly available sources. In most cases, that is all policies included in documents published on the party’s website. However, our assessment of what amounts to a policy may vary from the parties’ assessment.

Are all the parties included?

We summarise policies from all political parties that are either currently represented in Parliament, or who have polled at 0.5 percent or more in a nationally recognized poll during 2023.

All parties that will appear on the ballot for the party vote are included in our list of party profiles, and all candidates are included in our list of candidate profiles.

Some registered parties are not contesting the party vote, and a party doesn’t need to register if it is standing only electorate candidates. A candidate who is running for a party will have that party's name on this website and on voting papers.

Are all the candidates included?

Candidate inclusion

We provide basic information about all candidates, such as their name, party affiliation and what electorate they are running in. This includes all candidates whose nominations, either on a party list or in an electorate, are confirmed by the Electoral Commission at vote.nz.

We give all registered and unregistered political parties that we know of an opportunity to provide information about their candidates.

Candidates’ answers to questions

We ask all candidates questions about their background, motivations and priorities. This information is included only if the candidate responds to our questions.

We have provided all registered and unregistered political parties that we know of with an opportunity for their candidates to respond to our questions. If you can’t see information about a candidate's background, motivations and priorities on their profile, that’s because they have either chosen not to respond to our questions, have not gotten around to it yet, or we haven’t been able to contact them.

Candidates who want to submit a profile are invited to contact candidates@policy.nz.

Are you telling me how to vote?

Your vote is yours – use it how you like. But if you do use Policy.nz to help make your decision on whom to vote for, there are some things you should keep in mind.

Some parties have fewer policies than others on any given issue. This might be because they don’t care about the issue as much, or it might be because they have one great policy that they think will solve multiple issues. Simple arithmetic – which is how Policy.nz generates your personalised graph – won’t address these factors.

Likewise, it won’t take into account how much you care about different issues. Maybe you think climate change is more important than housing. But if you favourite two housing policies from Party A and one climate policy from Party B, the graph will show a greater proportion of Party A policies favourited.

Is my information kept private?

We collect information about users’ favourited policies and candidates in a general way, but we cannot connect it to you personally because we do not know who our users are.

Although you may enter your address on our site to find out which electorate you’re in, we do not ever see, collect or store your address. Instead, we collect and store your meshblock, which is a number identifying the smallest geographical area for which Statistics New Zealand collects information. You can’t be personally identified by your meshblock.

You can read more about this in our privacy policy.

Questions, corrections and help

Corrections should be submitted using our corrections form.

Readers should direct any questions or requests for assistance to contact@policy.nz.

Candidates should direct inquiries to candidates@policy.nz.

Who made this website?

This tool is a product of Policy.nz. We’re a team from Wellington that makes tools to improve access to election information.

We have published websites like this one ahead of New Zealand’s general and local body elections since 2017. We’re proudly non-partisan and strive to treat all parties and candidates fairly.

Our work is funded through a mix of commercial sponsorship, advertising and donations. Our sponsors, advertisers and donors have no influence on editorial decisions.

Policy wouldn’t be here without the very generous support of our sponsors, Google News Initiative, MinterEllisonRuddWatts, Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington, and Addy.

If you’re interested in working with us, please get in touch at contact@policy.nz.

Supporters

Policy.nz's coverage of the 2023 election would not be possible without all of you from across New Zealand who contributed via PledgeMe to support our work.

Our biggest thanks go to Joel Wirāmu Pauling, Anna Bayliss, Manu Erwin, and two anonymous supporters for their contributions.

We also thank James Scott, William Townsend, Anne Williams, Hilary Richards, Madeleine Chapman, Aaron Cubis, Christina Robertson, Andrea Gray, Josh Laurenson, Raj Patel, Shivarn Stewart, Duncan, Kat West, and 11 anonymous supporters.

Credits

Founders | Asher Emanuel, Chris McIntyre, Ollie Neas, and Racheal Reeves

Editorial Director | Ollie Neas

Senior Editors | Sam Bigwood and Miriam Buhler

Candidates Manager | Luka Didham

Editors | Josh Barlow, Callum Benfell, Donald McIntosh, Beth Mountford, Diana Leufkens Smith, Camryn Williams

Illustration | Ezra Whittaker-Powley

Publication Partner | The Spinoff

Development | Daylight Group

Special thanks | Phantom Billstickers, Saj Patel, Madeleine Chapman, Elisa Rivera

About

Policy.nz gathers essential information about the policies and candidates of New Zealand’s political parties together in one place, so you can make an informed vote this election. You can favourite policies and candidates to help you decide who to vote for.

Where is this information from and is it up to date?

All the policies are based on the parties’ official websites, policy documents, press releases and social media posts. Sometimes we include citations to government or news websites where useful. You can find links to original sources by clicking on a policy.

Policy.nz is updated daily. You can expect a delay of no more than 48 hours between new policy announcements and their publication on Policy.nz, although the delay may be longer during busy periods.

Information about the candidates is gathered from the candidates themselves. Candidates’ responses are left in their own words. Policy.nz edits responses only for spelling and typos.

Are all the policies included?

We publish summaries of all policies that a party is campaigning on this election, based on our assessment of publicly available sources. In most cases, that is all policies included in documents published on the party’s website. However, our assessment of what amounts to a policy may vary from the parties’ assessment.

Are all the parties included?

We summarise policies from all political parties that are either currently represented in Parliament, or who have polled at 0.5 percent or more in a nationally recognized poll during 2023.

All parties that will appear on the ballot for the party vote are included in our list of party profiles, and all candidates are included in our list of candidate profiles.

Some registered parties are not contesting the party vote, and a party doesn’t need to register if it is standing only electorate candidates. A candidate who is running for a party will have that party's name on this website and on voting papers.

Are all the candidates included?

Candidate inclusion

We provide basic information about all candidates, such as their name, party affiliation and what electorate they are running in. This includes all candidates whose nominations, either on a party list or in an electorate, are confirmed by the Electoral Commission at vote.nz.

We give all registered and unregistered political parties that we know of an opportunity to provide information about their candidates.

Candidates’ answers to questions

We ask all candidates questions about their background, motivations and priorities. This information is included only if the candidate responds to our questions.

We have provided all registered and unregistered political parties that we know of with an opportunity for their candidates to respond to our questions. If you can’t see information about a candidate's background, motivations and priorities on their profile, that’s because they have either chosen not to respond to our questions, have not gotten around to it yet, or we haven’t been able to contact them.

Candidates who want to submit a profile are invited to contact candidates@policy.nz.

Are you telling me how to vote?

Your vote is yours – use it how you like. But if you do use Policy.nz to help make your decision on whom to vote for, there are some things you should keep in mind.

Some parties have fewer policies than others on any given issue. This might be because they don’t care about the issue as much, or it might be because they have one great policy that they think will solve multiple issues. Simple arithmetic – which is how Policy.nz generates your personalised graph – won’t address these factors.

Likewise, it won’t take into account how much you care about different issues. Maybe you think climate change is more important than housing. But if you favourite two housing policies from Party A and one climate policy from Party B, the graph will show a greater proportion of Party A policies favourited.

Is my information kept private?

We collect information about users’ favourited policies and candidates in a general way, but we cannot connect it to you personally because we do not know who our users are.

Although you may enter your address on our site to find out which electorate you’re in, we do not ever see, collect or store your address. Instead, we collect and store your meshblock, which is a number identifying the smallest geographical area for which Statistics New Zealand collects information. You can’t be personally identified by your meshblock.

You can read more about this in our privacy policy.

Questions, corrections and help

Corrections should be submitted using our corrections form.

Readers should direct any questions or requests for assistance to contact@policy.nz.

Candidates should direct inquiries to candidates@policy.nz.

Who made this website?

This tool is a product of Policy.nz. We’re a team from Wellington that makes tools to improve access to election information.

We have published websites like this one ahead of New Zealand’s general and local body elections since 2017. We’re proudly non-partisan and strive to treat all parties and candidates fairly.

Our work is funded through a mix of commercial sponsorship, advertising and donations. Our sponsors, advertisers and donors have no influence on editorial decisions.

Policy wouldn’t be here without the very generous support of our sponsors, Google News Initiative, MinterEllisonRuddWatts, Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington, and Addy.

If you’re interested in working with us, please get in touch at contact@policy.nz.

Supporters

Policy.nz's coverage of the 2023 election would not be possible without all of you from across New Zealand who contributed via PledgeMe to support our work.

Our biggest thanks go to Joel Wirāmu Pauling, Anna Bayliss, Manu Erwin, and two anonymous supporters for their contributions.

We also thank James Scott, William Townsend, Anne Williams, Hilary Richards, Madeleine Chapman, Aaron Cubis, Christina Robertson, Andrea Gray, Josh Laurenson, Raj Patel, Shivarn Stewart, Duncan, Kat West, and 11 anonymous supporters.

Credits

Founders | Asher Emanuel, Chris McIntyre, Ollie Neas, and Racheal Reeves

Editorial Director | Ollie Neas

Senior Editors | Sam Bigwood and Miriam Buhler

Candidates Manager | Luka Didham

Editors | Josh Barlow, Callum Benfell, Donald McIntosh, Beth Mountford, Diana Leufkens Smith, Camryn Williams

Illustration | Ezra Whittaker-Powley

Publication Partner | The Spinoff

Development | Daylight Group

Special thanks | Phantom Billstickers, Saj Patel, Madeleine Chapman, Elisa Rivera