New Zealand First
Winston Peters. In government with National. Will not work with Labour. Wants a vote on Māori seats, more mining and oil, and cheaper food and power.
Right. Nationalist. They call themselves centrist. This year they sit on the right. They would scrap the Waitangi Tribunal now. They want a vote on Māori seats, and citizens-only voting and Super. They want a public vote on a hard yearly migrant cap and a company-tax cut for smaller firms. They back more mining and oil, including on conservation land except national parks. They would leave the Paris climate deal. They have ruled out Labour.
What they want
- A referendum on Māori seats. Only citizens may vote (not permanent residents).
- Scrap the Waitangi Tribunal. A short commission finishes leftover historical claims, then a ministry handles today's Treaty issues.
- From 2029, Super only for citizens. Three years to get citizenship. They will not raise the Super age.
- Hold a public vote on a yearly cap on resident visas. They say 20,000. Tie new arrivals to infrastructure that is already there or funded.
- Citizenship after ten years, not five. Permanent residence after five, not two. Only children of citizens get citizenship at birth. Ten years before a newcomer can get a benefit.
- Leave the Paris climate deal. Do not send money offshore for it.
- Abolish regional councils. Review the law that gives Zespri the kiwifruit export monopoly.
- About $1 billion to survey for oil and gas. More mining. Fast-track projects.
- Do not approve a fast-track housing project until the roads, water and wastewater exist, are funded, and can be delivered. A housing panel can say no. A listing that has not applied by the end of 2028 loses that fast place. Luxon says panels already set those conditions.
- Open conservation land, except national parks, for mines and quarries. Split the office that issues permits from the one that protects nature.
- Split the power companies to cut bills. Split Foodstuffs into New World with Four Square, and Pak'nSave, competing with Woolworths.
- Turn BNZ and Kiwibank into one state bank.
- $5,000 a year for three years for new parents (up to three children).
- Finish the Mill Road extension in South Auckland.
- Let independent dairy plants buy up to 500 million litres of Fonterra milk a year, ten times today's cap, if they make value-added product here.
- Spend $50 million to $100 million over time to cut koi carp in the Waikato, working with Tainui and the council.
- Put the Auckland harbour crossing out to open tender now. Do not commission another report.
- Charge overseas visitors a bed levy for tourism infrastructure in Auckland and Queenstown. Leave New Zealanders out. Peters, 25 August: a deal is a deal. The Auckland Regional Deal said the government would consider it in 2027.
- Keep climate fights in Parliament, not the courts. They voted for Goldsmith's lawsuit bar.
- Shift the health system from treating illness to preventing it. Teach nutrition in schools. Review the food guidelines. Make it easier to get recognised safe nutrients.
- Cut company tax from 28% to 20% for firms with yearly turnover under $30 million. They say that costs about $1 billion a year.
- Make the temporary $50 weekly in-work top-up permanent and add $70, a $120 lift they cost at $500 million to $600 million a year, taking the full credit to $217 a week. The $50 ends on 31 March 2027, or sooner if 91 petrol stays under $3 a litre for four weeks.
- Lift the adult minimum wage by at least inflation each year for the next three years.
Things to watch
- Peters called National's aid cut outside the Pacific desperate and dangerous, and called ACT's plan to go back to 2017 levels mindless. ACT says that deeper cut saves about $283 million a year, and leaves Ukraine support in place.
- Costello holds tobacco. Cabinet halved tax on heated sticks. Officials said Philip Morris would take most of the benefit.
- Jones wants conservation land, except national parks, open for mines and quarries. He also wants the permits office split from the one that protects nature.
- Methanex will idle Motonui in early 2027. They use about 40 percent of the country's gas. On 24 September Jones put $40.5 million from the $200 million gas fund toward two exploration jobs.
- Peters would not approve fast-track housing until the roads and pipes are funded. Luxon called that bizarre and said the panels already set those conditions.
- Peters would make the $50 weekly in-work top-up permanent and add $70, a $120 lift he costs at $500 million to $600 million a year. Seymour says balancing the books comes first.
What they promised, and what happened
They are in government. The smokefree, tobacco and fuel-storage files sat with them.
- The Smokefree 2025 repeal sat in their coalition agreement, not in National's 2023 manifesto.
- Costello halved tax on heated tobacco. Officials said Philip Morris, the sole importer, would take most of the benefit. The trial was extended to July 2027.
- Costello sent health officials notes that pushed a tobacco-tax freeze. She said they were not her notes. Her office would not say who wrote them.
- Jones stopped Labour's about 70 million litre diesel reserve in July 2024, then paid to bring tanks back at Marsden Point. On 14 October 2026 Willis and Jones extended the Z Energy stock deal to August 2027: 550,000 barrels, about 90 million litres, which Z Energy owns and the Crown can release.
- Peters is Minister for Rail. Cabinet cancelled iReX. $671 million spent, no new ships, replacements aimed at 2029.
- Jones paused Waikato Plan Change 1 farm rules until 2032. Tainui said that undermines the Treaty settlement.
Who pays
Raised $1.4 million in 2025. Named 2026 gifts over $20,000 add up to about $833,000. That is not a full-year total. Racing money is still a large share: Sir Peter Vela $150,000, the Lindsays $100,000. Brian Cartmell gave $120,000 on 30 August. Foresta (NZ) Limited $21,000. Jennifer Marcroft $30,000. The public table spells that return Maycroft. Robert Cookson, the Waikato candidate, about $29,000. Also oil and gas, fishing, and quarry money. The Commission also disclosed $161,000 in protected anonymous gifts in the latest quarter, in three amounts. Those donors are not named. That is not part of the named total.