ELECTION 2026 – THE HERALD LEADERS’ DEBATE
Farah Hancock (RNZ): Chris Hipkins’ leaders debate strategy: Let Luxon talk himself into trouble
Jenna Lynch (Stuff): Chris and Christopher both deserve to be polling in the twenties
Steve Braunias (Newsroom): The price of mince and the death of major parties
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Luxon, Hipkins stay stuck in rut after latest election debate
Veronica Schmidt (Spinoff): Luxon flubs minimum wage fact and other depressing takeaways from the leaders’ debate
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Debate doubts: Does anyone believe the two Chrises?
Marc Daalder, Andrew Bevin and Hanna McCallum (Newsroom): Fact-checking the leaders’ debate after Luxon and Hipkins said they never lie
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon were tied - then came the minimum wage clanger (paywalled)
Jamie Ensor, Audrey Young, Adam Pearse and Shayne Currie (Herald): Our experts pick who won the NZ Herald Leaders’ Debate (paywalled)
Grant Duncan: The Herald leaders’ debate: why Hipkins failed to make his case
Dileepa Fonseka (BusinessDesk): Election 2026 leaders’ debates: Neither Luxon nor Hipkins can land the killer blow (paywalled)
Henry Cooke (Post): Christopher Luxon gets his primetime moment to warn NZ about Labour, but is anyone listening? (paywalled)
ELECTION 2026 – OTHER DEBATES
Anna Whyte (Interest): Squabbles and sparks fly as party leaders go head to head
Jo Moir (RNZ): National’s Nicola Willis and Labour’s Barbara Edmonds debate in Queenstown
Corin Dann (RNZ): ASB finance debate gives platform for smaller parties to again show their stuff
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): ‘A constipated beast’ kickstarts rumbustious finance debate
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Constipated beasts and inflexion points - the Great Debate (paywalled)
Derek Cheng (Herald): Bed taxes, cheaper groceries and fast-track tensions on display in Queenstown finance debate
Emma Hildesley (1News): Which leaders stayed ‘on message’ at the Multi-Party Debate?
ELECTION 2026: THE OPPORTUNITY PARTY
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): The election now revolves around Opportunity
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): Opportunity’s time has come
Andrew Dickens (Newstalk ZB): Why is Qiulae Wong polling so well when her policies are so radical?
Henry Cooke (Post): Qiulae Wong says she will call party with most seats first - even if they have fewer votes (paywalled)
Anneke Smith (Post): Qiulae Wong says Opportunity isn’t ‘selling its soul’ - even if Gareth Morgan thinks it is (paywalled)
Stuff: Opportunity already eyeing second term in Parliament
ELECTION 2026 – CAMPAIGN AND STRATEGY
Bryce Edwards (Herald): The Greens dialled down middle-class woke politics and surged in the polls (paywalled)
Chris Trotter (LawNews): The real reason why New Zealand politics is stuck\
Aziz Al Sa’afin (1News): The three issues most dividing New Zealand revealed
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Luxon’s Mission Accomplished moment
Michael Swanson: Long-term Slogans, Short-term Policies
Brent Edwards (NBR): The unintended consequences of early voting (paywalled)
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Peters: Setting out to provide stability (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): The rules of engagement need to be clearer
Chris Schulz (Spinoff): Silver Scrolls: Why does Paul Goldsmith keep turning up to these things?
Ruby Shaw (ODT): A renowned climber and a tech mogul — who are the South’s biggest political donors? (paywalled)
Ruby Shaw (ODT): ‘I straight up gave $43,000 to the party’: Green MP provides own kickstart to Dunedin campaign (paywalled)
Audrey Young (Herald): Education heating up as battleground, Peters’ mystery conversation (paywalled)
David Farrar: More on the Herald so called poll of polls
Sam Smith (Stuff): David Seymour opens up about Nicola Willis, superannuation and strategic voting as ‘big pinky’ hits the road
Jamie Ensor and Adam Pearse (Herald): Labour’s Chris Hipkins rules out Greens, Te Pāti Māori from major ministerial roles in Herald debate
Andrew Lensen (The Conversation): Voters want stronger action on AI. Can NZ afford to keep taking a soft approach?
RNZ: Tauranga City Council removes provocative ‘crap in my hands’ political billboards
ELECTION 2026 – FISCAL PLANS AND POLICIES
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): ‘No new taxes’ from National, but ‘no lower taxes’ either
Richard Prebble (Herald): In National and Labour’s fiscal plans, neither has explained what would be cut – Richard Prebble (paywalled)
David Farrar: The $300m Labour fiscal hole media have ignored
Adam Pearse (Herald): Labour to pull up to $50m from Super Fund for Elevate fund
RNZ: Labour unveils economic plan, pledges up to $50m a year for venture capital fund
Derek Cheng (Herald): Greens put bed tax at centre of tourism policy
RNZ: Greens promise to give councils power to set up bed levy
Mandy Te (Interest): Greens back bed levy, National wants more car parks and Labour focuses on Elevate NZ Venture Fund
NBR: Coalition releases policies on housing, fast-track and Auckland (paywalled)
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