Ageism is alive and voting in this election.
Some of it is implicit as in the Opportunity Party’s annual land tax policy that includes the family home and the Greens’ policy of a capital acquisitions tax on large gifts and inheritances. Meanwhile Labour proposes a capital gains tax on investment property and ACT would like to raise the retirement age to 67 plus limit the winter hardship payment to beneficiaries and people over 65 with Community Services Cards.
All these policies impact older New Zealanders who are the demographic most likely to own a home, have a rental property or benefit from superannuation and the winter energy payment.
But now an outfit called Every Kiwi Vote Counts is saying the quiet part out loud - Old New Zealand is holding back Young New Zealand. Deliberately.
Their website has an ad featuring an elderly woman talking to her granddaughter on the phone. She says she’ll miss her. The granddaughter thanks her grandmother for the airline ticket. The grandmother says “It’s a pleasure darling. It’s the least we could do.” The camera pans out and we see a group of older people sitting around a large polished wooden table adorned with fine china. The grandmother says “Do you think she bought it?” A white-haired old man (grandfather?) replies “Hook, line and sinker.” The group bursts into peels of laughter that echo until the end of the ad.
The implication being of course that while elderly New Zealanders are sitting pretty, at the same time they are aiding the young to leave the country to ensure they don’t vote in the next election. The last shot is of an embroidered plaque on the wall that reads:
Every Kiwi Vote Counts claim to be nothing more than a campaign to encourage overseas Kiwis to vote in the coming election in November. They say a million New Zealanders live abroad and that 200,000 have left in the last three years alone. Overseas Kiwis can vote in the next election if they are a citizen or permanent resident who has visited New Zealand in the last three years. Every Kiwi Vote Counts argue that older Kiwis outvote overseas Kiwis by 10 to one. Well, we do live here.
But as a candidate for the Womens Rights Party, I object to the portrayal of older New Zealanders as a smug squatocracy, deliberating plotting against the young to rob them of their voting rights. Pitting one generation against another is the epitome of identity politics and displays its inherent weakness - it does no one any good. The young are portrayed as naive dopes while the old are scheming demons. As a strategy, this generational clobbering is divisive, unhelpful and unfair.
For a start, not all older New Zealanders are as comfortably off as those portrayed in the advertisement. The latest research from the Selwyn Foundation released in August this year shows that one in five New Zealanders over the age of 65 live in hardship. Just under 20 per cent are renting.
Also older people contribute to society in many ways, be it child care for grandchildren, volunteering and/or working. The Office for Seniors Business of Ageing Report 2026 showed that the value of unpaid work for seniors exceeded $20b a year, while paid work contributed $9b and self-employment added $5b. In addition annual consumer spending by those aged 65+ is close to $55b. Seniors also pay more than $13b in tax annually.
In the case of the Women’s Rights Party, we are a group of predominantly older women who are actively engaged in campaigning for the sex-based rights of women and protection of children from the scourge of gender medicine. Given that people in paid employment are often unable to speak freely about the spread of gender ideology across the nation’s institutions, it is not surprising that so many of us in the party are retired. We speak out, not because we enjoy being old pains-in-the-arses, but because we can and we think it important to protect the rights of women and children. We are free to speak out without fear of censure, of losing our job and/or missing out on promotion. All we have to lose are our progressive friends.
Every Kiwi Vote Counts say they are non-partisan but it’s hard to not to come to the conclusion that they wish to oust the Coalition government since past overseas voting patterns have favoured the left.
A September report in The Guardian claimed that more than 100,000 New Zealand voters have enrolled to vote from abroad, and many are unhappy with how things look back home. In 2023, the final count increased the Green Party’s representation by one seat and Te Pāti Māori’s by two seats compared with election-night results. However, special votes include people voting outside their electorate and other categories, not just people voting from overseas. A savvy young person could accept grandma’s free trip overseas, and still vote.
Every Kiwi Vote Counts registered as a promotor with the Electoral Commission on 28 August 2026 by Tracey Lee Watkins, described on the website as a global strategist, sociologist and now London-based overseas Kiwi. Peter Martin from Hooves made the film while Kea, a global Kiwi community, promoted it.
If their campaign is any indication, these people feel no shame in singling out older New Zealanders for mockery and condemnation. Ageism may be the hardest -ism of all to vanquish.
The Women’s Rights Party at Otara Markets yesterday. The terrible face of Old NZ who care about women and want to protect young NZ from the perils of gender ideology.
But now an outfit called Every Kiwi Vote Counts is saying the quiet part out loud - Old New Zealand is holding back Young New Zealand. Deliberately.
Their website has an ad featuring an elderly woman talking to her granddaughter on the phone. She says she’ll miss her. The granddaughter thanks her grandmother for the airline ticket. The grandmother says “It’s a pleasure darling. It’s the least we could do.” The camera pans out and we see a group of older people sitting around a large polished wooden table adorned with fine china. The grandmother says “Do you think she bought it?” A white-haired old man (grandfather?) replies “Hook, line and sinker.” The group bursts into peels of laughter that echo until the end of the ad.
The implication being of course that while elderly New Zealanders are sitting pretty, at the same time they are aiding the young to leave the country to ensure they don’t vote in the next election. The last shot is of an embroidered plaque on the wall that reads:
‘Don’t Let Old New Zealand Dictate the New Zealand Election.’
Every Kiwi Vote Counts claim to be nothing more than a campaign to encourage overseas Kiwis to vote in the coming election in November. They say a million New Zealanders live abroad and that 200,000 have left in the last three years alone. Overseas Kiwis can vote in the next election if they are a citizen or permanent resident who has visited New Zealand in the last three years. Every Kiwi Vote Counts argue that older Kiwis outvote overseas Kiwis by 10 to one. Well, we do live here.
But as a candidate for the Womens Rights Party, I object to the portrayal of older New Zealanders as a smug squatocracy, deliberating plotting against the young to rob them of their voting rights. Pitting one generation against another is the epitome of identity politics and displays its inherent weakness - it does no one any good. The young are portrayed as naive dopes while the old are scheming demons. As a strategy, this generational clobbering is divisive, unhelpful and unfair.
For a start, not all older New Zealanders are as comfortably off as those portrayed in the advertisement. The latest research from the Selwyn Foundation released in August this year shows that one in five New Zealanders over the age of 65 live in hardship. Just under 20 per cent are renting.
Also older people contribute to society in many ways, be it child care for grandchildren, volunteering and/or working. The Office for Seniors Business of Ageing Report 2026 showed that the value of unpaid work for seniors exceeded $20b a year, while paid work contributed $9b and self-employment added $5b. In addition annual consumer spending by those aged 65+ is close to $55b. Seniors also pay more than $13b in tax annually.
In the case of the Women’s Rights Party, we are a group of predominantly older women who are actively engaged in campaigning for the sex-based rights of women and protection of children from the scourge of gender medicine. Given that people in paid employment are often unable to speak freely about the spread of gender ideology across the nation’s institutions, it is not surprising that so many of us in the party are retired. We speak out, not because we enjoy being old pains-in-the-arses, but because we can and we think it important to protect the rights of women and children. We are free to speak out without fear of censure, of losing our job and/or missing out on promotion. All we have to lose are our progressive friends.
Every Kiwi Vote Counts say they are non-partisan but it’s hard to not to come to the conclusion that they wish to oust the Coalition government since past overseas voting patterns have favoured the left.
A September report in The Guardian claimed that more than 100,000 New Zealand voters have enrolled to vote from abroad, and many are unhappy with how things look back home. In 2023, the final count increased the Green Party’s representation by one seat and Te Pāti Māori’s by two seats compared with election-night results. However, special votes include people voting outside their electorate and other categories, not just people voting from overseas. A savvy young person could accept grandma’s free trip overseas, and still vote.
Every Kiwi Vote Counts registered as a promotor with the Electoral Commission on 28 August 2026 by Tracey Lee Watkins, described on the website as a global strategist, sociologist and now London-based overseas Kiwi. Peter Martin from Hooves made the film while Kea, a global Kiwi community, promoted it.
If their campaign is any indication, these people feel no shame in singling out older New Zealanders for mockery and condemnation. Ageism may be the hardest -ism of all to vanquish.
The Women’s Rights Party at Otara Markets yesterday. The terrible face of Old NZ who care about women and want to protect young NZ from the perils of gender ideology.
Yvonne Van Dongen is a journalist, travel writer, playwright and non-fiction author. This article was first published HERE
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