Richard Shaw: Three parties, two deals, one government

It might have taken six weeks to decide the shape of New Zealand’s next government (or three if you count from the final results), but in the end that is the nature of proportional representation. Compromise, trade-offs and haggling are the price of an MMP electoral system designed to avoid single-party rule.

So, after some intermittently passive-agressive political posturing and much striding through airports, the deals were done and signed off in Wellington today. Both the ACT and NZ First parties have agreed, with exemptions, to National Party’s fiscal plan, tax plan and 100-day plan.

Richard Shaw: Winston Peters back in the driver’s seat for coalition negotiations

Here go again. The final results of this year’s election have delivered two more seats to te Pati Māori, thereby increasing the size of New Zealand’s 54th Parliament to 123 seats (once the Port Waikato by-election has taken place).

The double effect of this “overhang” is to erase the narrow election night majority held by National (who have lost seats via special votes for the seventh election on the trot) and ACT, and to hand the balance of power to NZ First.

The irony that te Pati Māori’s performance forces three parties who are, at best, lukewarm on the idea of Māori seats into formal negotiations won’t be lost on anyone. The larger point, however, is that the results fundamentally change the dynamics of the process required to form the next government.

Adrian Beaumont: Special votes mean National and ACT will likely lose their majority

This Friday at 2pm (12pm AEDT), New Zealanders will find out the final results of the October 14 election. This tally will include the estimated 567,000 special votes not reported in the preliminary results on election night.

Special votes tend to take a long time to count because they include votes cast outside a voter’s home electorate. These votes need to be posted back to the home electorate and checked against the electoral roll before they can be counted.

Annie Te One: Who are the ‘kōhanga reo generation’ and how could they change Māori and mainstream politics?

The 2023 election saw a changing of the guard in Māori political representation.

Several parliamentary stalwarts lost their seats to members of the “kōhanga reo generation” – Māori under the age of 45 whose school years coincided with the revitalisation of the te reo Māori through full immersion education.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Winston's going to be part of the new Government, isn't he?

I feel like we need to deal with the elephant in the room- Winston’s going to be part of this Government, isn’t he?

Nobody’s saying it out loud, but I think we can all see that it’s absolutely going to happen.

Take the cue from the fact that he was offered the Speaker’s job.

And as far as I can see, they’re going to need him because at the moment - assuming that they win the Port Waikato by-election – ACT and National look like they will have 62 seats out of 122 seats in Parliament.

Kate Hawkesby: It really got to the point of crazy

Well what a weekend.  

From the nail biter of a fantastic AB’s game, which, for the record, I was never in any doubt of. For those of you who were still listening to our election night coverage at midnight Saturday night you would have heard me say I picked the AB’s to win – so you know, never in any doubt from me, just saying. Just so happy for Fozzie to be honest. I feel like he deserved that. 

Adrian Beaumont: NZ Election 2023

Final polls suggest NZ First likely kingmaker as the left makes late gains

After political polls between March and August showed a clear trend towards the right, polls since late August have shown the reverse. Remove a resurgent NZ First from the mix, and the left and right blocs are now polling closely.

The emergence of NZ First as potential kingmaker has seen warnings, particularly from the National Party, of an indecisive result and even the possible need for a second election if coalition negotiations broke down.

Suze Wilson: What makes a good political leader – and how can we tell before voting?

For many people, voting is not just a right, it’s an act of civic duty. Even more than that, some voters base their decisions on what they believe best serves society as a whole, not what might personally advantage them.

The trick, of course, is how to exercise that vote in a responsible, informed and considered manner. Understanding the policies of different parties is obviously a key part of that, in which case resources such as Policy.nz and Vote Compass can be helpful.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: What has happened to David Seymour?

With a week and a day to go voting, you would have to say the biggest disappointment of this campaign is Act.

We have got a couple of polls out today:

The Taxpayers Union Curia poll and the Talbot Mills research poll both have Act in the single digits for the first time in their polling since April.

ACT has been sliding this entire campaign and a lot of it will be because of David Seymour’s performance.

Alexander Gillespie: Foreign policy has been missing from NZ’s election campaign

Tax cuts, crime, the cost of living, potholes and co-governance … these and various other issues are now familiar to most voters. But there has been one major election area missing the serious debate it needs: foreign policy.

Whichever parties form the next government, and whoever becomes prime minister, they will also be charged with negotiating New Zealand’s place in a dynamic and changing world.

Adrian Beaumont: Foreign policy has been missing from NZ’s election campaign

Tax cuts, crime, the cost of living, potholes and co-governance … these and various other issues are now familiar to most voters. But there has been one major election area missing the serious debate it needs: foreign policy.

Whichever parties form the next government, and whoever becomes prime minister, they will also be charged with negotiating New Zealand’s place in a dynamic and changing world.

Hanna Wilberg: Forcing people to repay welfare ‘loans’ traps them in a poverty cycle

The National Party’s pledge to apply sanctions to unemployed people receiving a welfare payment, if they are “persistently” failing to meet the criteria for receiving the benefit, has attracted plenty of comment and criticism.

Less talked about has been the party’s promise to index benefits to inflation to keep pace with the cost of living. This might at least provide some relief to those struggling to make ends meet on welfare, though is not clear how much difference it would make to the current system of indexing benefits to wages.

Kate Hawkesby: If this election is going to be about middle swing voters, the left’s tactics will lose them

So the Nat’s tax plan – is good – and we know it’s good for two reasons, one, because of all the positive feedback it’s had, and two, because of how ropeable the Government are about it. 

 They are dark on it because they know they’ve been badly exposed here, by a sensible party doing sensible things, which reeks of common sense.  

It reminds us just what common sense feels like - a distant memory for most of us politically these days let’s be honest.  

Stephen Agnew: Financial education needs to start in the home

Even as an economics student at university, I remember heading into town on a Friday night knowing what I needed to pay the bills before I could spend on socialising. But despite having the financial literacy to know better, Monday could still sometimes begin with a trip to the bank to ask for an overdraft extension.

So it was encouraging to hear that financial education has become a political talking point ahead of this year’s election. Both Labour and National are promising to deliver compulsory financial literacy classes as part of the school curriculum.

Eunice Gaerlan: Why a ban on cellphones in schools might be more of a distraction than the problem it’s trying to fix

The National Party’s promised ban on cellphones in schools has been touted by leader Christopher Luxon as a “common sense” and “practical” way to address New Zealand’s poor academic achievement.

And his claim that “phones are a massive disturbance and distraction” seems credible on the face of it. A recent UNESCO report found the intensive use of devices had negative impacts on student performance and increased disruption in the classroom.