Penny Marie: Make Your Vote Count - Maurice Williamson on Why 2026 Is Like No Other MMP Election

Maurice Williamson explains the complexities of New Zealand’s voting system and why 2026 is different to all previous elections

This week on People in Politics I sat down with Maurice Williamson: National MP for 30 years from 1987, holder of 18 ministerial portfolios, front-bench Cabinet minister, and later New Zealand’s Consul General in the United States. In his own words, he is still “at heart a right-wing free market Tory”, and he is “frightened as hell” about what happens if the other side forms the next government.

That is why he is urging National supporters to think hard about their party vote on 7 November. He is not telling you to abandon National. He wants you to use both your votes so they actually do something.

Penny Marie: Five Prayers a Day - And Nobody Asked Your Permission

When cultural activity becomes religious imposition, it's time for New Zealanders to start asking hard questions.

A parent in New Zealand recently discovered that their child had been reciting prayers (karakia) to Māori gods five times a day at a standard state school. Not a kura. Not a Māori immersion school. A regular taxpayer-funded school that is, by law, supposed to be secular.

When that parent tried to have their child excused, they were made to ask - repeatedly - before being granted what should have been an obvious right from the start.