News Briefing Top 10 for 7 November 2026
1. Michael Wright (Post): Is it time to change our election day ‘blackout’ laws? (paywalled)
On election day, Michael Wright writes, “you are still not allowed to publicly do or say anything that might influence someone else’s vote.” Under the Electoral Act 1993 that covers “any statement advising or intended or likely to influence any elector as to the candidate or party for whom the elector should or should not vote”, and a breach could bring a criminal conviction and a $20,000 fine. For this, he says, we can thank our Victorian forebears. Early voting has changed the picture. In 2014, 29% of voters cast their ballot early, by 2020 it was 68%, and more than 1.4 million votes had been cast by Wednesday this time. Otago University law professor Andrew Geddis sees little point in a day of silence after weeks of voting amid the campaign noise, and would apply the advance-voting rules right through to 7pm, banning campaigning only within 10 metres of a polling booth. Social media makes the rules harder still to defend. “The idea that somehow people need to stop how they use their favourite social media platform on this one day and have to stop talking about politics is just deeply inconsistent with how social media works,” Geddis says. The Electoral Commission and the Justice Committee both recommended a review after the last election. Worth reading before you head out to vote.
2. James Ball (1News): The election day rules you need to know - and how to watch the results come in
Well over 1.5 million people have already voted, and for everyone else James Ball has a clear rundown of what’s allowed before booths close at 7pm. No campaign material, no posts that might sway anyone, no photos of ballot papers and no polling people on how they voted. Rosettes and lifts to the voting place are fine, as long as you don’t try to influence anyone. Enrolment closed on 25 October, so you can’t sign up at the door.
3. Tom Hunt (Post): From fishing boats to Antarctica: Delivering the vote (paywalled)
About 22,000 paid staff are working for the Electoral Commission today, up from a core of about 150, and voting services director Martin Rodgers takes Tom Hunt through how it comes together. All 64 electorate headquarters and about 2300 voting places had to be found from scratch, and more than nine million ballot papers have been printed. There have been hiccups (ordinary voting papers ran out for about 30 minutes at a Point Chevalier booth), but votes can be cast from Scott Base, fishing boats and 64 voting places overseas.
4. Natasha Gordon (Herald): Election 2026: All you need to know on the final day of voting
Polling places are open until 7pm, and an enrolled voter who turns up without an EasyVote card can simply give their name and address. There’s no requirement to show ID. The Herald’s Natasha Gordon explains what happens if your name is missing from the printed roll (you fill in a special declaration vote form), how to swap a spoilt ballot paper for a new one, and why the party and electorate votes are separate choices. Trying to influence voters today can bring a fine of up to $20,000, and official results are due on 27 November.
5. Nikki Macdonald (Post): ‘This is like a bribe’: ACC offering rejected claimants $2000 to drop appeals (paywalled)
ACC routinely offers rejected claimants up to $2000 to drop their review, and has a special form letter for doing it. Wellingtonian Jo Dunshea was offered the money over the phone after ACC declined to cover her shoulder surgery, even though her surgeon said the tear fitted a traumatic cause. “I thought, this is like a bribe,” she tells Nikki Macdonald. Lawyer Warren Forster says claimants get too little time and information to take advice, and law professor Jo Manning would argue the payments are unenforceable. Reviews have jumped from 10,518 in 2023/24 to 18,812 in 2025/26. ACC says the payments aren’t meant to make people give up their review rights, though its letter asks them to withdraw. The most important accountability story of the day.
6. Andrew Bevin (Newsroom): Taxpayers foot millions in legal bills as govt agencies fight employees (paywalled)
$914,433 on a single employment case at the Department of Internal Affairs, and $803,735 on another at WorkSafe. Those are among $4,268,619 in external legal costs that CultureShift’s Allan Halse has uncovered through three years of OIA requests, and Andrew Bevin has seen some of the responses. Halse, whose firm works on a no-win, no-fee basis, believes agencies drag cases out to exhaust complainants, and wants a cross-government review of the spending. There’s no cap on what agencies can spend on lawyers, but settlements can need ministerial approval.
7. Anna Leask (Herald): Former volunteer fire chiefs launch scathing attack on Fire and Emergency New Zealand (paywalled)
Four former volunteer chief fire officers, with more than 100 years of service between them, want an independent inquiry into Fire and Emergency New Zealand, which rejects their claims. They tell the Herald’s Anna Leask that the organisation sidelines dissenters and replaces outspoken chiefs with “yes men”. Three of the four faced complaints before they resigned or retired, and all deny wrongdoing. Ian Walker resigned last year after 45 years with the Kaikōura brigade, following complaints that included one from a volunteer who objected to breathing apparatus training on a hot day. Volunteers make up about 80% of the service, and chief executive Kerry Gregory resigned last week after then minister Brooke van Velden said she had lost confidence in him.
8. Damien Venuto (Stuff): There’s a new bank in town. But will it change your mortgage?
Revolut’s New Zealand banking registration, the first new one here since March 2018, comes with an offer of 3.5% a year on balances up to $50,000 for four months, after which the rate drops to between 2% and 3% depending on the plan. Damien Venuto finds less prospect of an immediate shake-up in mortgages. Otago economist Murat Üngör says a serious home lender needs capital, funding at scale and customers willing to shift their main banking relationship: “A licence removes one barrier.” Kōura Wealth founder Rupert Carlyon expects Revolut to do well with cards and current accounts but struggle in mortgages and business lending. Rates on everyday accounts are where customers will see competition first.
9. Eric Crampton (Post): The data centre opportunity our next government should embrace (paywalled)
Eric Crampton, the NZ Initiative’s chief economist, has been looking at last week’s US ballot measures on data centres. Voters backed restrictions in 46 of the 47 tracked by Ballotpedia, and he sees an opening for New Zealand, especially in geothermal energy. Long-term data centre contracts fund new generation, he says, so the next government should make that generation easier to build and bring forward MBIE’s geothermal regulatory work, currently planned for 2028 and 2029. Water use worries are overblown, he reckons. The Initiative discloses that its members include businesses involved in electricity generation and data centres.
10. Rachel Maher (Herald): Paddy Gower named new host of RNZ National’s Saturday Morning
Paddy Gower will join RNZ full-time to host Saturday Morning from Auckland in 2027, promising a “Paddy vibe”, Rachel Maher writes. His appointment follows RNZ’s move from two presenters, Mihingarangi Forbes and Susie Ferguson, to one, alongside plans to cut the production team from five roles to three. Media Insider understood Ferguson, who left after 16 years, had been made redundant. Kate Rodger will be the main fill-in host for the rest of this year, with Stacey Morrison covering a couple of Saturdays.
Below the paywall are 27 more summaries and then 12 further links. They cover Kāinga Ora’s $36.5m redundancy bill and its Ombudsman rebuke, a union bid to halt the solicitor-general’s Crown Law shake-up, a Wellington sports centre where staff caught roof leaks in buckets for 11 years, ratepayer-funded home security for threatened councillors, crumbling rural bridges, whether the AI bubble has burst, Sealord cashing in on Russian sanctions, the FMA putting the Big Four auditors on notice, how safe our banks are from hackers, a $5 billion “AI factory” planned for Invercargill, whether France is heading for a sovereign debt crisis, Ngāi Tahu’s “empty promises” complaint against a Central Otago gold miner, fast-track approval for West Coast mineral sands, Z Energy’s new boss on its lobbying against a climate case, 10 Chinese “liaison points” in New Zealand, Māori leaving prison with nowhere to go, the institutions New Zealanders trust least, and a cancer ward’s appeal for teaspoons. The further links include property listings at a 12-year October high and Fonterra’s call to modernise the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act. And today’s election day cartoon.
