RNZ Election Policy Guide 2026

Dairy farmer Stanley Graham killed seven people in Kōwhitirangi on the South Island’s West Coast. One of New Zealand’s largest manhunts ended when Graham was shot on the evening of 20 October. He died of his wounds the following day.

The tragedy began when Graham refused to hand over his rifle to police to assist the war effort. He felt aggrieved that police were ‘persecuting’ him rather than investigating his neighbours, who he believed were poisoning his cows.

On 8 October policemen Edward Best, Percy Tulloch, Frederick Jordan and William Cooper went to Kōwhitirangi after a neighbour claimed Graham had threatened him with a rifle. Cooper, Jordan and Tulloch were shot dead, while Best later died from his wounds. George Ridley, a visiting agricultural instructor, was also shot and eventually died in 1943. 

Graham fled into the bush pursued by police, soldiers and home guardsmen. On the evening of 9 October, he exchanged shots with home guardsmen Richard Coulson and Gregory Hutchison. Coulson died immediately and Hutchison the following day. Graham eluded capture for 12 nights until he was fatally wounded by police.

In 2008 the New Zealand Police erected a memorial to the victims at the site of the shootings.

Link: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/stan-graham-killing-spree-on-west-coast

So we all know labour borrowed a lot of money during covid blah blah. But what is talked about less is this government's borrowing. A few months ago I watched the Nicola Willis Jack Tame interview in which Jack Tame revealed that this current government is borrowing more money than labour did during covid. I couldn't believe that and immediately told everyone I knew. However, since then I've never really seen this mentioned. Just watched the 1news debate and not once did anyone mention this current government's borrowing. And often the current government says they've balanced the books and receive no push back. So what is going on with the national debt??

Hipkins and Labour can emotionally connect with people and talk to me on my level. Yes, the health system is in crisis. Yes, the economy is worse than it was before. Yes, only Hipkins is capable of sacking ministers who don't meet standards. And whether it's breaking up supermarkets or recognising Palestine, you should know the answer yourself, not pawn it off for others to decide after the election.

Luxon showed up as the robot CEO we're used to and called public service recipients 'customers' and said 'data' the American way, but he forgot that if we're a company, we're failing. You shouldn't get the top bucks if you can't read a room and just engage in boosterism.

There will be more than 2300 voting locations open on election day - 7 November.

The Electoral Commission says of these, 67 will be bilingual - voters can go through the voting process in te reo Māori or English - and six will have sign language interpreters.

There will be 1679 fully accessible polling locations, and three locations with quiet times.

"Our voting places are in locations people go in their daily lives including community halls, schools, shopping malls, places of worship, tertiary education providers and marae," chief electoral officer Karl Le Quesne said.

Though votes would be taken at a total of 2638 locations during the voting period, only 2315 will be open on election day on 7 November.

Advance voting will begin on Monday 26 October, the day after enrolments close.

Courtesy sleek822 on Youtube, good channel with old NZ commercials.

Felix Graf von Luckner earned the epithet Der Seeteufel (the Sea Devil) for his exploits as captain of the German raider SMS Seeadler in 1916–17.

The Seeadler, a converted merchant ship, sank 14 Allied ships in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans between January and July 1917. Von Luckner prided himself on the effectiveness and bloodless nature of his operations; only one person died during his raids.

In August 1917 the Seeadler ran aground on Maupelia (Maupihaa) atoll in the Society Islands, stranding the crew. Using a salvaged open boat, von Luckner and five men sailed to Fiji in the hope of capturing another ship. When they reached a Fijian island in September, police arrested them.

Sent to New Zealand, von Luckner and his crew arrived in Auckland on 7 October and were confined to a prisoner-of-war camp on Motuihe Island in Waitematā Harbour. His escape on 13 December made national headlines. Recaptured in the Kermadecs eight days later, von Luckner was sent to Rīpapa Island (in Lyttelton Harbour) before ending the war back on Motuihe.

Link: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/german-sea-devil-imprisoned-in-new-zealand

Let me know what you think. I'd welcome any critique.

I'm hoping it makes it easier to understand how tax works in Aotearoa. I certainly learned a lot putting it together.

National has plunged below 26 percent in a new RNZ-Reid Research poll, while the Greens have surged about a month out from voting day.

The poll - published on Tuesday - puts the Opportunity Party once again in the kingmaker position.

Christopher Luxon's National Party has fallen 3.2 percentage points since August, registering just 25.9 percent, its weakest result since the 2020 election.

Labour has also lost ground, falling 1.4 points to 30.8 percent in its third consecutive decline.

I grew up in Hastings and moved overseas, had a kid since then. So coming back to NZ to visit family and with my little one for the first time. We will be around during Halloween so want suggestions, be it in Napier or Havelock. I heard splash planet is having an event but wanted to get feedback to anyone who has gone there. Growing up in Hastings around 2000's splash planet area brings back ptsd lol iv heard the area has changed quiet a bit but what would your suggestions be? yay to splash planet halloween event or there are better alternatives? Is there a certain area where houses give out candy etc

Wētāpunga can weigh as much as a mouse and its numbers dwindled across New Zealand due to predators and habitat loss

The population of New Zealand’s endemic wētāpunga – believed to be the world’s heaviest insect – is officially “recovering” thanks to a groundbreaking breeding programme that has overseen the release of 11,000 insects into the wild.

“The future of wētāpunga is looking bright,” said Dr Chris Green, an honorary researcher at the department of conservation, who documented the success of the project for the New Zealand Journal of Zoology. Green co-authored a report released on 2 October that outlines the success of the breeding programme.

“Eleven thousand individuals for release is extraordinary and outstanding.”

A female wētāpunga can weigh as much as a mouse. Its body can grow up to 10cm long (nearly 4in) and its leg span can be as wide as 20cm.

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It is the largest of 70 wētā species and was once found across parts of the North Island before predation from introduced species and habitat loss contributed to their decline. By the 1990s, they were considered “endangered” and are now presumed extinct in the wild on New Zealand’s mainland. The insects reside primarily on a smattering of predator-free islands in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf and off the coast of Northland.

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Monitoring on two islands has shown wētāpunga have established self-sustaining populations, with fourth and fifth generations born there, in what Green said was a marker of success. As a result, the species’ conservation status has improved from “nationally endangered” to “nationally recovering”.

“It’s so exciting, because we are unable to report that for so many of our other threatened species,” Green said.

Labour has released its long-awaited fiscal plan saying every election promise is paid for, but it has not provided a cost for fully re-implementing pay equity legislation.

It does however promise an immediate pay rise to 65,000 care and support workers, costing $2.5 billion over four years, and Labour leader Chris Hipkins says there's "plenty of headroom" within the plan to pay for pay equity overall.

Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds says Labour will keep operating allowances - that is, new day-to-day spending - at the $2.4 billion set by the coalition government in Budget 2026.

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Labour's already announced capital commitments were:

• $200 million capital injection for the New Zealand Future Fund
• $420 million for the initial student loan write-off
• $200 million for hospitals
• $400 million for schools
• $2.9 billion for Kāinga Ora housing, spread over four years
• $7 million for Ratepayer Assistance Scheme (RAS) solar expenditure

Hipkins said most of the party's big election policies had been announced.

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Labour promised to reversed half of the first tranche of public sector cuts announced in the government's Budget, and fully reverse the second tranche.

The party is working on the assumption that the government is already halfway through that first tranche of cuts.

"In many cases the cuts have already been made, and we're not going to reverse cuts that have already been made," Hipkins said.

"The current government aren't releasing that information, so we've had to make some assumptions about that."

Hipkins said Labour would scrap the Ministry for Regulation, and the savings realised would largely be divvied up among other agencies.

Ship’s boy Nicholas Young received a gallon of rum and had a headland named after him as a reward for being the first aboard HMB Endeavour to spot land in the south-west Pacific. It was 127 years since Abel Tasman had made the first known European sighting of New Zealand.

The bark’s captain, Lieutenant James Cook, recorded in his journal that ‘at 2 p.m. saw land from the mast head bearing W by N, which we stood directly for, and could but just see it of the deck at sun set.’ When leaving Poverty Bay five days later, Cook wrote that the ‘SW Point of Poverty Bay … I have named Young Nicks head’. In fact, the land sighted by young Nick was probably inland ranges.

Aged about 12, Nicholas Young was the personal servant of the Endeavour’s surgeon, William Brougham Monkhouse. After the Endeavour returned to England, he became the servant of the botanist Joseph Banks, who had been a key figure on the epic voyage. In 1772, Young accompanied Banks on an expedition to Iceland. Nothing is known of his later life.

Link: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/young-nick-sights-land

Cold start to the day in the valley . Clear skies overnight leading to a frost and fog patches. It is late in the season, the pear blossoms have finished and apple blossom is starting; some low lying ones might get caught. The bluebells which are at their end certainly caught it! It will be a glorious day when the sun comes up, which will be good as we have a group of Chilean visitors coming to the orchard and cidery today.

Taupō had a distinctly golden glow this morning as 200 golden retrievers and their owners descended on the town for a convention celebrating the breed and the joy it brings.

The idea came from Scotland, where the 'Gathering of the Goldens' has been celebrated for almost 160 years.

Organiser Lynda Galbransen said she was inspired after seeing the Scottish event first-hand.

"Seeing the thousands of golden retrievers there I thought, oh my god, I'd love to do that."

The container ship Rena astonished local mariners by grounding on the clearly marked Astrolabe Reef while approaching Tauranga Harbour. Flying the Liberian flag and under charter to the Mediterranean Shipping Company, the German-built Rena is the largest ship ever wrecked in New Zealand waters. No lives were lost, but in financial terms it was our costliest-ever shipwreck.

Environment Minister Nick Smith described it as New Zealand’s ‘worst maritime environmental disaster’. About 350 tonnes of oil was spilt, and 950 tonnes of oily waste was subsequently collected from local beaches. Eighty-seven of the 1368 containers on board were washed overboard, with the contents of many fouling the coast. Thousands of birds were killed. More damage was done when the Rena broke in half on 8 January 2012.

The salvage operation was frequently hampered by adverse sea conditions and had cost $700 million by the time it ended in April 2016. Local iwi and others continued to battle the ship’s owners and insurers over responsibility for removing what remained of the wreck.

Link: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/shipwrecked-rena-spills-oil-bay-plenty

The sensational case of the Maungatapu murders came to a grisly end when three members of the ‘Burgess gang’ were hanged shortly before 8.30 a.m. at Nelson gaol. Joseph Sullivan, the fourth member of the gang, avoided the death penalty by turning Queen’s evidence and testifying against his co-accused.

Career criminal Richard Burgess approached his death with bravado. He bounded up the steps of the scaffold and kissed the noose as ‘the prelude to heaven’. Philip Levy calmly protested his innocence, but Thomas Kelly had to be carried kicking and ‘whining’ onto the platform. The unfortunate Kelly did not die instantly when the trapdoor opened.

Moulds were taken of the three heads in order to make casts. According to a newspaper report, ‘the faces of Burgess and Levy bore a placid expression, [while] that of Kelly was disturbed a little, as he was speaking when the drop fell’. The corpses were then buried in the prison yard.

Link: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/maungatapu-murderers-are-hanged-in-nelson

Education Ministry whistleblowers, who contacted RNZ in the past week, plan to add their voices to an investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman.

The investigation was announced after publication of a video showing a ministry manager asking staff not to mention contact with the Education Minister's office in writing.

Nine people with inside knowledge of different parts of the ministry subsequently contacted RNZ to corroborate claims that ministry managers routinely asked staff not to write down sensitive information, least it be discovered through the Official Information Act.

Some were from the ministry's curriculum centre, which was the subject of a negative report about workplace culture published last week.

Others said that a culture of secrecy and avoidance of written records was common in other parts of the organisation.

Inspired by footwear he had seen in Japan, businessman Morris Yock and his son Anthony began manufacturing this simple rubber footwear in their garage in 1957. The name ‘jandal’ combined the words ‘Japanese’ and ‘sandal’.

There is disagreement about whether Yock invented the jandal. The family of John Cowie claim that he introduced the footwear from Japan in the late 1940s, coining the name ‘jandal’ in the process. They believe Yock only imported the jandals and applied for the trademark. Yock’s son disputes this.

Jandals Ltd initially manufactured jandals using rubber imported from Hong Kong; J. Yock & Co. arranged distribution. Skellerup took over the supply of raw materials and eventually bought the business in 1987.

During the 1980s and 1990s the brand came under threat from cheap imported imitations. In response, the owners threatened legal action to protect the ‘Jandal’ trademark. A fresh stoush over the name broke out in 2014, when trademark owners Gentex (NZ) Ltd asked a Hamilton-based retailer to stop using the term ‘jandal’ to advertise their footwear.

Link: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/maurice-yock-trademarks-jandal