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 have included citations to government or news websites where useful. You can find links to original sources by clicking on a policy. 

Policy is updated daily. You can expect a delay of no more than a day between new policy announcements and their publication on Policy.

Information about the candidates was gathered from the candidates themselves. Candidates’ responses have been left in their own words. We have edited their 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 the publicly available sources. In most cases, that is all policies included in documents published on the party’s website. 

 

Are all the parties included?

We have summarised policies from all political parties that have polled at more than 0.5 percent in at least two polls published in 2020 by Colmar Brunton, the only major poll showing results below one percent. 

All registered political parties are included in our list of party profiles except for the MANA Movement, which is not running candidates this election. Registered parties are able to contest the party vote. To register, a party needs to have more than 500 paying members who can enrol to vote. 

A party doesn’t need to register if it is standing only electorate candidates. These unregistered parties will appear as candidates’ parties on this website and on the voting papers. 

 

Are all the candidates included?

Candidate inclusion

We provide basic information about all candidates that we know about, such as their name, party affiliation and what electorate they are running in. 

We have provided all registered political parties, independent MPs presently in parliament and unregistered parties we know about with an opportunity to provide information about their candidates. 

The list of candidates running for election is not finalised by the Electoral Commission until mid September. Some candidates will not appear on the site because we don’t know about their candidacy yet. 

 

Candidates’ answers to questions

We’re asking all the 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 political parties, independent MPs presently in parliament and unregistered parties we know about with an opportunity for their candidates to respond to our questions. If you cannot 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, or have not got 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 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. That might be because they don’t care about it that much or it might be because they have one great policy that they think will solve the whole issue. Simple arithmetic – which is how Policy generates your personalised graph – won’t address these factors.

Likewise, it won’t take account of how much you care about different issues. Maybe you think climate change is far more important than housing. But if you favourite two housing policies from the National Party and one climate policy from the Green Party, the graph will show a greater proportion of National Party 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 at 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. We’re a team from Wellington that makes tools to improve access to election information. 

We published websites like this one ahead of the 2017 New Zealand general election and the 2019 New Zealand local body election. 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 was made possible by Flick Electric with support from Google News Initiative, NZIER, Jenny Sutton and Greenlight Ventures, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, and the Electoral Commission.

Our special thanks also go to Addy, Scoop and xequals.

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

 

Credits

Product | Racheal Reeves

Operations | Chris McIntyre

Editorial | Ollie Neas and Asher Emanuel

Research leads | Sam Bigwood and Michael Graham

Policy research | Sakshi Chaudhary, Georgia Collins, Max Soar and Pete McKenzie 

Supporting research and data | Stella Blake-Kelly at Cartisan, Johnny O'Hagan Brebner, Chris McDowall

Promotion | Cam Price

Illustration | Ezra Whittaker-Powley

Schools resources | Michael Moore-Jones at Aldus, Maria and Kimberley at the Aotearoa Social Studies Educators' Network (ASSEN), Mike Taylor at Taita College, Bronwyn Wood and Robin Averill at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

Publication partner | The Spinoff

Code | Xequals

Special thanks | Phantom Billstickers