National has made a supermarket break-up a key part of its election pitch, proposing to sever Pak'nSave from New World in a bid to drive down grocery prices.

National's plan would turn the company into supermarket chains: Pak'nSave, New World/Four Square and Woolworths.

The breakup, however, would be contingent on a six-month review by the Commerce Commission into whether the split would leave shoppers better off.

Labour has promised to ban big companies from charging excessive prices, if elected.

Leader Chris Hipkins said a handful of big businesses were guilty of price gouging - that is, charging more than necessary for essential items.

The full policy includes:

• making it illegal for big companies with substantial market power to charge excessive prices for essential goods and services, or to pay unfairly low prices to suppliers
• setting a legal test for price gouging: holding prices "well above what they would otherwise be in a competitive market, sustained over time"
• requiring companies that gouge to pay penalties and hand back every dollar of excess profit
• giving the Commerce Commission power to investigate price gouging and supporting consumer groups and suppliers to do the same.

Williams said similar rules were already in place in the United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, and Australia.

[snipped]

"I will not allow the circumstances into which I was born to determine the limits of my life. I will learn. I will work. I will lead. I will build. And I will leave something stronger for those who come after me. Koinei te rā.

"E koro, Raupatu, rest here. You have brought us this far. I will never forget you. There will be times when I reach for you again and draw strength from you. But today, let the burden fall from our shoulders."

Te Arikinui has urged Māori to look within their own whānau, and become living and breathing examples of health and wellbeing.

"Aku toa o te Rauora, now it is our turn. Maranga mai rā. Rise. Rise from poverty, from dependency, from the belief that somebody else must determine our future.

There will be successes. There will be setbacks. But we are not powerless. We are descendants of Raupatu. Now let us be champions of Rauora.

"The time has come for our pakeke to guide and strengthen a generation that is courageous, capable and ready. And the time has come to stop believing that our future sits entirely in the hands of government.

"Government has responsibilities. Those responsibilities must be honoured. But we also have responsibilities to ourselves and to those who come after us.

"We must build our own whare. Our reo, our taiao, our hauora and our pā harakeke are foundations for that future. Our Kotahitanga gives us the strength to build it together."

She acknowledged that government still had responsibilities to Māori, but said Māori also had responsibilities to themselves and those who would come after them.

I LOVE the engagement here!

The party's 'Affordable Kai' policy would also expand free school lunches and set up a publicly owned KiwiMart supermarket.

The National Party is promising to reduce the compulsory student loan repayment rate if re-elected, while cracking down on overseas-based borrowers.

It said it would reduce the repayment rate from 12 percent to 10 percent from April 2027.

The party's finance spokesperson Nicola Willis said compulsory student loan repayments were paid at 12 cents on every dollar earned above $24,128.

"It is often one of the biggest weekly expenses for a young graduate," she said.

''Reducing this to 10 cents means an accountant starting out in their career and earning $75,000 per year would keep an extra $39 a fortnight, or around $1000 a year.''

Tiaki Wai took over the running of Wellington’s water from Tiaki Wai in July

I hope that is a typo.

So two of them were top priorities for 3 waters? and the other should have been worked on at a national level 20 years ago

Who will lead out country to what it needs and deserves?

FFS Labour, that lasted a long time: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/1116849/labour-in-no-rush-to-reveal-a-position-on-under-16s-social-media-ban

Just listen to this shit:

There's a range of different things. I mean, for 90 percent of people, nothing will happen because the social media companies can tell from your digital footprint—you've had a social media account for 20 years and you're probably old—so you'll be fine.

But then there will be a cascading range of things that they can do, predominantly to catch those people who are round about 16. And what we're seeing overseas, for the most part they're using facial recognition. That's predominantly what they're using, but then there's a load of other things that are coming on stream that they're using.

Like, you can put in your credit-card details to a third-party provider to show you've got a credit card. You can use your mobile provider's data. You can also give them your email address and they can scrape public records to see where you've put your email address. And so there's a range of different things they can do to verify that you are over 16.

We want less intrusion into our lives from social media not fucking more

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2019048998/minister-stanford-on-proposed-social-media-ban

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics_election-2026/1119269/coalition-namecalling-as-labour-backs-social-media-ban

In the first minute, Guyon tries to frame her as liberal or conservative, and she eloquently describes who she is and how that framing is no longer effective.

Clown-show comes to mind

The prime minister and social development minister have offered an apology to thousands of pensioners who did not receive their Winter Energy Payment this year, after an error in a law change meant people who were supposed to get the payment missed out.

The law change, passed under urgency last year, has meant beneficiaries receiving certain payments like the Supported Living Payment, Accommodation Supplement, and Disability Allowance have had to re-confirm their circumstances at least once every 52 weeks, to confirm whether they are still eligible.

However, the Winter Energy Payment, which is supposed to be automatic for superannuitants, veterans, and people receiving a main benefit, were not excluded from the legislation, meaning some people who would have expected to receive the payment did not.

Labour said it is the consequence of rushed legislation, but Social Development Minister Louise Upston is blaming it on a policy omission.

The Post has reported the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) had started to receive complaints, with the ministry working around the clock to correct the error and ensure the correct amounts were backpaid.

The Ministry of Social Development said between 1 May and 7 August, 14,862 superannuitants and veterans had their Winter Energy Payments affected.

Campaigning for the electorate vote only is an interesting strategy, I wonder how well it will work?

My selected quotes:

The Opportunity Party is vowing to "clean up politics" by regulating lobbying and reforming political donations.

It would look to cap political donations and establish an independent anti-corruption body to centralise and coordinate action against corruption.

The underlying principle of the policy was simple, she said.

"New Zealanders should be confident that political decisions are made in their interests, not because somebody has the biggest cheque book or the best access to a minister.

In order to regulate lobbying, the party would introduce a Political Influence and Lobbying Bill that would create a one-year cooling-off period, "closing the revolving door" between ministers, senior staff and officials, and lobbying roles.

It would also create a mandatory, public and searchable lobbying register, with quarterly disclosure of who lobbied which office-holders, as well as a statutory code of conduct for lobbyists and foreign lobbying safeguards.

The party's proposal would introduce a $30,000 cap per donor per party per electoral cycle, limit donations to registered voters, lower the public disclosure threshold to $1000 and apply advertising spending limits across the full three-year electoral cycle for parties and candidates.

The party would also establish an anti-corruption body with "investigative, prevention, and education functions, integrating and co-ordinating existing anti-corruption responsibilities".

I've been taking notes since 2023. Here they are, grouped by depravity level (subjective, yes, I know) and sorted by date within each group. Please share this widely as the election draws near. The last 3 weeks of the campaign are crucial and when this information will make the most difference.

Where possible the minister responsible is noted although really they are all collectively responsible.

It's a lot. As you get into it your eyes will glaze over a bit and you'll start skimming. Try to sit with each item and really feel it.

High Depravity

• Resume oil exploration - An environmental item from 4 November 2023 attributed to Everyone; Labour & Greens banned offshore oil exploration in 2018, and this repeals that ban.
• Treaty referendum - From 8 November 2023, driven by David Seymour.
• Increase smoking addiction and death - health action from 1 December 2023; Chris Bishop used to be a lobbyist for the tobacco industry which explains a lot.
• Landlord tax cuts - action from 12 March 2024 delivering a $2.9b tax cut for landlords.
• Bad insulation - from 18 July 2024.
• Reduced pay for women - employment action from 8 May 2025, driven by Brooke van Velden.
• 100,000 homeless - A housing action, in progress since 1 June 2025, attributed to Everyone.
• More fossil fuels - action from 1 June 2025, attributed to Simon Watts.
• End emissions reporting - environmental action from 15 August 2025 by Simon Watts; three major emitters no longer have to report emissions, making the whole exercise useless.
• Gut Zero Carbon Act - action from 6 November 2025, attributed to Simon Watts.
• Abolish regional councilors - An environmental action from 25 November 2025 by Chris Bishop, sharply reducing environmental protections.
• 2026 and still building fossil fuel infra - An environmental item from 9 February 2026 by Simon Watts, concerning an LNG import terminal.
• Abolish the ministry for the environment - An environmental action, in progress since 16 February 2026, attributed to Penny Simmonds.
• Change law to prevent climate lawsuits - An environmental action begun 12 May 2026, attributed to Paul Goldsmith.
• Fast track corruption - action from 26 May 2026, attributed to Everyone.
• Highest homelessness in history - housing action from 28 May 2026, attributed to Everyone.
• MMP referendum - A society action, in progress since 6 August 2026, driven by Chris Luxon.

Medium Depravity

• Houses unaffordable - A to-do housing item; more sprawl means higher rates and more driving (no start date recorded).
• Pollute rivers and groundwater - An environment/health action currently in progress starting from 2023.
• Encourage sales of gas guzzlers - An environmental item from 31 December 2023 attributed to Everyone; repealing the Clean Car Discount that taxed large utes and subsidised EVs and hybrids.
• More roads, more cars - An environmental item from 31 December 2023; the more roads you build, the more people drive, the more emissions there are.
• Remove first home buyer subsidy - action begun 5 June 2024; during the election they had promised to keep this subsidy.
• Block Otago water rules - environmental action from 18 October 2024; Otago wanted to limit water takes from rivers but the government stopped them.
• Seabed mining instead of windmills - action from 18 October 2024.
• Fucked up ferries - action from 12 December 2024.
• Regulatory standards bill - An action in progress since 1 February 2025, driven by David Seymour.
• Boot Camp - action from 7 November 2025.
• Reject Climate Change Commission recommendations - action begun 4 December 2025, attributed to Simon Watts.
• Constitutional vandalism - human rights action from 12 April 2026, attributed to Everyone.

Low Depravity

• Cancelled Lake Onslow battery - environment/energy action from 4 December 2023 by Simeon Brown, made before the feasibility study could be completed.
• Remove the Auckland Regional Fuel Tax - environment/transport item from 31 December 2023.
• Increase road deaths - A to-do transport item from 31 December 2023; raising speed limits means more people will die on the roads.
• Richard Prebble appointed to Waitangi Tribunal - action from 18 October 2024.
• Importing Russian oil - An action in progress that started 11 November 2025.
• Criminalise Rough Sleeping - housing action from 23 February 2026, driven by Paul Goldsmith.
• Rejection of WHO pandemic rules - action from 7 April 2026, attributed to Simeon Brown.

So there you have it. The last 3 years have been a trainwreck that was especially hard to watch - taking notes during it was my way of coping. I hope it makes a difference.

Once again, please share this with anyone capable of changing their minds. And/or bookmark this, you'll need it later.

There will be SO much that I missed out. Education and health is a true mess at the moment but that's not where my attention goes a lot of the time. Please add what you have in the comments, with a news link if possible.

This is probably not the kind of reform our Prime Minister has in mind, but I’d like to tinker slightly with our system and allow a ranked choice of electorate candidates (keeping the party vote system as is). That way, voting for minor parties will not be such a risk of wasting your vote in electorate seats.

For me, this is an issue that seems to fly under the radar but is vitally important. How many people have you heard complain about the duopoly of the two major parties? This would go some way towards making those parties campaign on their merits rather than on tradition, and I hope it forms part of any coalition agreements we see emerging from this election. (Will it? Probably not, since it’s not a big deal for most people right now.)

It works for council elections, it can work for general elections too.

Kiapara ki Maurangi; is now up for grabs. With Chris Penk not seeking re-election after the leadership debacle.

He held the seat for 9 years; and won in 2023 with an almost 20k majority.

I doubt that it will switch away from National with such a clear lead. We don't know who National will put up though.

There are two other high profile contenders:

• Opportunity deputy leader Daniel Eb.
• NZF's Jenny Marcroft, who has a seat from list position.

May you live in interesting times...

My mate just pointed me at this site which is amazing because you can remove the Tax Payers Union/Curia poll. They give good reason to in there sources

"... As Curia refuses to agree to industry regulation membership, users have the option to turn off Curia data within the aggregate..."

Opportunity up t0 6.1%

TPU has typically been unfriendly to Opportunity. This is a big change; almost doubling since last TPU poll a month ago.

Interesting to hear their policies. I actually used the investment boost for my small side hustle business, which was nice come tax return time. I don’t think Labour’s policies quoted here will benefit me as my own circumstances are just too small potatoes (think thousands rather than millions).

I’m not necessarily opposed to changes to the system, as my own circumstances don’t necessarily matter a great deal, but I’d also be interested to knowing what might give the greatest overall benefit to business-people.