Election 2026 Special Feature
The General Election will be held on 7 November 2026. In keeping with LawTalk tradition, we invited political parties to respond to five questions relating to their justice policies and legislative agendas.
LawTalk sent the same five questions to each of the parties registered with the Electoral Commission Te Kaitiaki Take Kōwhiri on 10 August. Each party was given a 200-word limit for each answer. Where an answer was longer, sentences over the word limit have been removed, and this is noted. Responses are reproduced as received, with any obvious spelling or minor errors corrected.
- What are your party’s key objectives in the justice portfolio?
- How would your party improve access to justice and the legal aid scheme?
- What are your party’s key policies in the courts portfolio, including for courthouse buildings and facilities?
- What policies does your party have to strengthen and uphold the rule of law, including throughout the legislative process?
- Outside of the justice and courts portfolios, what are your party’s key legislative priorities for the first year of the parliamentary term?
The following registered parties did not respond: Conservatives NZ, Te Pāti Māori and the Women’s Rights Party.
Notes
Responses from the following parties exceeded the word limit, and the final statements removed to fit within the 200-word count:
- Free Palestine, Q1
- Vision New Zealand for Q1, Q3 and Q4.
New Zealand First also supplied this disclaimer:
As a disclaimer, please note that for a lot of areas, the party has yet to finalise its policies. The questions answered draw inspiration from publicly announced policies for the upcoming elections, party principles and past party policies – which may or may not be part of NZ First Election Manifesto for 2026.