ACT New Zealand

ACT’s objective is a justice system that puts victims first, restores consequences for offending, and delivers justice without unnecessary delay.

We have already restored Three Strikes and strengthened the response to gangs and illegal firearms. Next term, ACT will go further. Our Three Strikes for Burglary policy will impose a minimum three-year sentence without parole on offenders convicted of burglary three times. We will also crack down on rural crime with 100,000 additional rural Police patrol hours each year, stronger penalties for poaching and livestock theft, and better access to Text 111 in areas with poor coverage. We will make changes to address coercion by animal abuse and criminalise deepfake pornography.

We also want to build on Nicole McKee’s record as Courts Minister. The District Court criminal backlog fell 22 per cent in the year to December 2025, alongside improvements in the Family, Civil, Disputes and Coroners Courts.

More broadly, ACT will strengthen the rule of law, equality before the law, property rights, and Parliament’s responsibility for making clear and certain laws.

Alliance

The Alliance believes that judges must have unfettered discretion to apply judicial knowledge and skills to the sentencing process. When in Coalition Government, the Alliance was responsible for the introduction, as a sentencing principle, of the need for a sentencing court to take account of a restorative justice process.

The Alliance opposes any legislative provision that prevents unfettered judicial discretion in the sentencing process. Judges need to be able to take account of special circumstances of an offender and extend mercy and compassion when appropriate.

The existing provisions of the Sentencing Act 2002 enabling inquiries as to the most suitable method of dealing with a case (s25) must prevail over any particular sentencing principle. Similarly, consideration of any processes available to resolve issues relating to the offence must prevail over any particular sentencing principle.

This view is held because simply imprisoning offenders for repeat offending (three strikes) will fail to address the causes of offending and will not serve the need for those suffering the effects of crime to be healed of the effects of the offending.

The ultimate objective of sentencing must be healing the effects of crime leading to safer communities and reduced offending.

Animal Justice Party Aotearoa New Zealand

The Animal Justice Party Aotearoa NZ (AJP) believes the law should evolve alongside scientific understanding of sentience, public health and environmental sustainability.

Animals are currently treated as property under the law, despite being recognised as sentient beings. Legal scholarship and overseas jurisprudence are increasingly examining legal standing, personhood and independent representation for animals, reflecting the continued evolution of animal law.

Our priorities are to strengthen the Animal Welfare Act, begin moving towards abolishing the legal classification of animals as property and establishing a legal framework that consistently recognises animal sentience, establish an independent Commissioner for Animals, improve enforcement, and ensure legislation reflects contemporary science on animal sentience.

We also support the internationally recognised One Health and One Welfare frameworks, recognising that animal welfare, environmental protection and human health are interconnected. Better protection for animals strengthens biodiversity, biosecurity, public health and community wellbeing.

Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party

The key objective for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (ALCP) is to end the injustice of cannabis prohibition. Since the failed 2020 cannabis referendum convictions are back on the rise. The ALCP point to The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 – Part 2 – Civil and Political Rights:

“9. Right not to be subject to torture or cruel treatment, disproportionately severe treatment or punishment”

ALCP say – Arrests, fines, confiscations, imprisonment and convictions will destroy a person’s life and future work or travel potential. Tantamount to torture and cruel treatment.

“13. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion and belief including the right to adopt and hold opinions without interference”

The cannabis community experiences interference from the State for their opinion to choose cannabis use.

“14. Freedom of expression – freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and opinions of any kind or form”

“19. Freedom from discrimination”

The cannabis community do not have freedom of expression and are discriminated against by the State.

The Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 contravenes these rights by punishing citizens for using cannabis herb.

Free Palestine

The purpose of forming the Free Palestine Party was primarily to hold the existing parliamentary parties to account over New Zealand’s commitment to its international obligations around Palestine and the Palestinians. Our priority is in the area of international justice. High on our agenda is ensuring New Zealand adheres to the commitments it has signed up to under international law. This includes UN Resolution 194 (1948) concerning Palestinian Right of Return (the guaranteed right of refugees to return to their homes and land if they have left it due to conflict), for which New Zealand voted in favour.

Also, as New Zealand is a signatory to the Genocide Convention the New Zealand government is obligated to do everything in its power to prevent genocide and must not act in any way that supports genocide. This includes signing off on satellite launches that assist the IDF in targeting missiles in pursuit of its genocidal objectives.

We would also amend the Bill of Rights to strengthen its freedom of expression provisions. Freedom of expression has been undermined in other countries such as Germany, and especially the UK and Australia with similar legal systems to ours.

Greens

The Green Party want to see Government be tough on the drivers of crime – by ensuring everyone has adequate income to live with dignity, access to healthcare, mental healthcare and drug and addiction services, inclusive education, and secure, safe and stable housing. We want to see prisons used as a last resort, with rehabilitative, restorative, evidence-based justice processes made available to more people to drive direct accountability to victims of crime.

Labour

Labour wants our communities to be safe and equitable access to justice. Our vision is of a New Zealand that achieves real public safety rather than reactive policies that are not evidence based.

National

National is fixing the basics in law and order and building a future where all New Zealanders feel safe in their communities. A future National Government will stay strong on law and order.

We’ve already scrapped taxpayer cultural reports and Labour’s prison reduction target, given police additional powers to go after gangs, and toughened up our sentencing laws. We’ve restored Three Strikes, ensured people convicted of sexual violence cannot receive permanent name suppression unless the victim agrees, and made stalking a criminal offence. We’ve just expanded citizens’ arrest powers and created new offences for coward punches and attacking first responders. We’re committed to passing move-on orders into law before the House rises.

There are now 37,000 fewer victims of crime than when we took office, and youth offending is down 25 per cent.

We will make many law and order policy announcements throughout the election period. National has already committed to modernising consent laws so that there must always be, “yes,” rather than the absence of a “no.” We’ll also abolish character assessments at sentencing for all sexual offending.

We’ll continue to focus on speeding up the processes of the court, so that people get access to more timely justice.

New Zealand First

Prioritising the victim and the community ahead of the offender under the Sentencing Act.

Toughening consequences for serious crimes through mandatory minimum sentences, cumulative sentencing, creating a “degrees of murder” regime, and removing community sentence discounts like cultural reports for violent offenders.

Cracking down on gangs by banning them, designating them as terrorist organizations, strengthening legislation to seize criminal proceeds and introducing gang-only prisons.

Addressing youth offending early through a Youth Justice Demerits system and secure training orders.

NZ Loyal

NZ Loyal’s justice policy begins with protecting life, liberty, property and fundamental rights. We support a written Constitution, while strongly valuing New Zealand’s common law tradition and judicial independence.

Parliament should legislate clear principles, not attempt to prescribe every possible human circumstance. Courts need latitude to apply those principles to the facts before them, drawing on evidence, natural justice, legal history and judicial expertise. Through reasoned judgments and precedent, the law can evolve alongside society.

We also want clearer legal definitions distinguishing natural persons, companies, trusts and other legal structures so that legal abstraction does not obscure ownership, responsibility or individual rights.

Justice should focus primarily on resolving disputes and remedying harm. Where an individual or entity causes loss, nuisance or other negative externalities, intentionally or unintentionally, those harmed should receive fair and proportionate restitution or compensation, with all relevant circumstances considered.

The justice system exists to provide peaceful resolution. When people believe lawful processes cannot deliver timely, fair remedies, confidence collapses and incentives grow to seek resolution outside the law. A functioning justice system is therefore fundamental to social order.

NZ Outdoors and Freedom Party

The NZ Outdoors and Freedom Party “FREEDOM” seeks to reform the NZ constitution to: a) prevent government overreach, b) enhance protection of fundamental rights and freedoms and c) to introduce “Direct Democracy” to give the public far more input into law reform and policies.

Opportunity

Opportunity will release its full ‘Smart on Crime’ policy soon, but our key focus is on delivering proven solutions that reduce rates of offending and reoffending. This means intervening early, addressing the drivers of offending and rehabilitating and reintegrating offenders during and after sentences. Our recently released Honouring Te Tiriti policy also describes Opportunity’s commitment to restoring and maintaining existing aspects of the Crown-Māori relationship and progressing a longer-term process to address key constitutional questions around the role of Te Tiriti.

Te Tai Tokerau Party

My mind will always turn to wahine Māori who dominate the justice system. Māori women make up 65 percent of the female prison population despite Māori women comprising only a fraction of the total female population. It disproportionately compounds at every stage of the justice system pipeline, with wahine Māori incarceration rates sitting at eleven times that of non-Māori women.

Socioeconomic disadvantage and survival driven offending has been identified as a key driver behind wahine Māori incarceration. This includes our wāhine engaging in theft-related offences to provide for their babies. That is deeply concerning.

The Government’s newly introduced Crimes Amendment Bill will only amplify this issue with new infringement regimes.

Our objective is to close the gap between political promises and legislative effect. That means backing early intervention models, including Te Pae Oranga, that keep whānau together. The inclusion of specific references to Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) throughout justice legislation is crucial for addressing systemic disparities. Māori women have not received the dedicated attention this disparity demands. A justice system that works for our wahine must focus on the drivers of crime rather than punishing survival-based offences. Our focus will start here.

Vision New Zealand

Vision NZ will restore law, order and public confidence in New Zealand’s justice system, putting the safety of people, families and communities first.

Our justice policy will put victims before offenders, strengthening their rights, protection and support throughout the justice process. Serious and repeat offenders must face meaningful consequences, with stronger action against violent and sexual crime, particularly offences against women, children and vulnerable people.

Vision NZ will strengthen bail and parole laws, making community safety a priority and ensuring release is based on demonstrated responsibility. We will take a firm stand against gangs and organised crime, targeting violence, intimidation, drugs, financial activity and the recruitment of young people.

We will make communities and businesses safer by tackling burglary, retail crime, ram raids and public disorder, while strengthening frontline Police with the resources and powers needed to prevent and solve crime.

Prisons must restore discipline, demand personal responsibility and provide effective rehabilitation. We will work to break cycles of reoffending, particularly among young people, through education, skills, intervention and accountability. This will be supported by funding and deploying grassroots organisations with proven records of success.

Above all, Vision NZ will uphold equality before the law: one law for every New Zealander.