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Evidence · NZ Election 2026

Every question, every answer, every source

Everything the study collected, as it was collected on 5 October 2026. Read any answer in full, or download the tables behind every figure in the study.

questions
174
voters the questions were written as
32
answers collected, of 820 planned
815
answers compared like for like
800
pairs of national and town answers
124
answers with sources recorded
774
answers that showed a link
304

01

Every question, with its answers

Each question was written as a voter would ask it and went to all four assistants. Some were also asked from a town. Open a question to read every answer to it in full.

Showing 20 of 174 questions

Show all 174

02

The tables behind the study

Every figure on the study page comes from these tables. They are CSV files, which open in any spreadsheet.

  • Questions

    nz-election-2026-questions.csv

    One row per question.

    Question id, report reference, question, voter, issue, towns it was also asked from, answers per assistant

    174rows

    Download questions (CSV)

  • Answers

    nz-election-2026-answers.csv

    One row per answer, with its full text.

    Answer id, question id, assistant, town, words, parties named, showed a link, websites recorded as sources, compared like for like, full text

    815rows

    Download answers (CSV)

  • Sources by answer

    nz-election-2026-sources.csv

    One row for each website recorded as a source of an answer.

    Answer id, question id, assistant, town, website, publisher type

    4,216rows

    Download sources by answer (CSV)

  • Checks against official sources

    nz-election-2026-checks.csv

    One row per statement checked.

    Check, answer id, assistant, what the answer said, verdict, what the source says, source, date

    17rows

    Download checks against official sources (CSV)

  • Who to vote for: coding

    nz-election-2026-guidance.csv

    One row per answer to the eight questions that asked who to vote for.

    Answer id, question id, assistant, what the answer did, the words that show it

    32rows

    Download who to vote for: coding (CSV)

  • Location and national answers

    nz-election-2026-towns.csv

    One row per question asked both nationally and from a location, for each assistant.

    Question, town, assistant, both answer ids, parties named nationally and from the town, same parties

    124rows

    Download location and national answers (CSV)

Use these tables to trace findings back to the original questions and answers. The full text of each answer is also on this page, under its question.

03

Read in full and checked

Some answers were read in detail or checked against official sources. Those appear on the study page, beside the findings they support.

ChatGPT · No location

I work in a small town rather than farming. My family drives long distances for services, and local jobs and healthcare are limited. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. How do parties compare on roads, broadband and local infrastructure outside major cities?

If your main concerns are getting to work, accessing healthcare and services, reliable internet, and whether small towns receive infrastructure attention, the main differences between New Zealand parties tend to come down to how much they prioritise roads versus other transport, how infrastructure is funded, and how much government should directly invest in regional services. The 2026 election campaign is underway, with infrastructure among the issues being compared by election policy trackers. New Zealand Parliament dissolved ahead of tight November vote

Below is a neutral comparison of the major parties’ stated approaches.

Party Roads & transport outside cities Broadband & digital connectivity Local infrastructure / regional development
Christopher Luxon’s New Zealand National Party Emphasises roads, freight links, state highways and reducing travel times. The party has supported directing more transport funding toward road projects, including major highway upgrades. NZ Party Policies 2026 Compared | All Six Parties Generally supports expanding digital infrastructure through investment and market-led delivery; rural broadband programmes continue through government-supported connectivity schemes. Fast broadband policy and regulation | Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment Focuses on economic growth, regional productivity, and infrastructure projects intended to support business and movement of goods. Policies for Party vote - NZ Election 2026 - Policy.nz
Chris Hipkins’s New Zealand Labour Party Frames transport as a whole network: roads, rail, public transport and active transport. Labour has argued for integrated transport planning rather than a roads-only approach. NZ Party Policies 2026 Compared | All Six Parties Supports public investment in digital access and broader infrastructure programmes; specific rural broadband commitments vary by campaign announcements. Fast broadband policy and regulation | Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment Places more emphasis on public services, community infrastructure and government involvement in regional outcomes. Policies for Party vote - NZ Election 2026 - Policy.nz
ACT New Zealand Supports a stronger road focus and has backed the current government’s shift toward highway investment; it also generally favours private-sector involvement and user-pays approaches. NZ Party Policies 2026 Compared | All Six Parties Tends to favour competition and private provision rather than large direct state ownership. Focuses on reducing regulation and encouraging private investment as drivers of regional growth.
New Zealand First Strong emphasis on regional roads, transport links and the needs of provincial communities. NZ Party Policies 2026 Compared | All Six Parties Has historically emphasised regional access and services, including connectivity issues. Strong regional-development focus; often highlights smaller towns and provincial interests. New Zealand Elections 2026
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand Places more weight on rail, public transport, walking and cycling, particularly as alternatives to car dependence; it argues transport investment should address climate and access goals. NZ Party Policies 2026 Compared | All Six Parties Supports improved digital access, though broadband is usually part of a wider public infrastructure approach rather than its central transport focus. More emphasis on community resilience, public services and reducing regional inequality.
Te Pāti Māori Focuses on access, affordability and community outcomes rather than a simple roads-versus-other-transport framing. NZ Party Policies 2026 Compared | All Six Parties Supports equitable access to services and infrastructure. Places emphasis on whānau wellbeing, local decision-making and investment that benefits communities. New Zealand Elections 2026

Issues that may matter most for a small-town worker

Given the situation you describe — working locally, travelling long distances for services, and facing limited healthcare and job options — you may want to compare parties on these specific questions:

  • Road maintenance vs new roads

    • Does the party focus on repairing existing rural roads and bridges, or mainly on major highway projects?
    • How would funding reach local councils?

  • Healthcare access

    • Does the party propose more rural health workers, mobile services, telehealth, or incentives for professionals to work outside cities?

  • Broadband reliability

  • Regional jobs

    • Does the party’s economic plan rely mainly on attracting larger industries, supporting small businesses, training, or public-sector investment?

For a voter in a provincial town, the key distinction is often less “roads versus no roads” and more whether infrastructure spending is concentrated on nationally significant corridors or spread toward everyday access: local roads, clinics, schools, reliable internet and nearby employment. Different parties place different weight on those goals. Policies for Party vote - NZ Election 2026 - Policy.nz

If you want, I can also make a Southland/provincial-town-specific comparison covering roads, rural healthcare, jobs, and council funding.

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Gemini · No location

I work in a small town rather than farming. My family drives long distances for services, and local jobs and healthcare are limited. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. How do parties compare on roads, broadband and local infrastructure outside major cities?

For people living in small towns and provincial regions who rely on long-distance travel for health, work, and services, the 2026 election debate centers heavily on how to fund and sustain basic physical and digital connections.

Political parties approach regional roads, local infrastructure, and connectivity through distinct economic and philosophical lenses.

1. Roads and Transport Resilience

For provincial and small-town residents, road maintenance, resilience against weather events, and freight links are critical.

  • National & ACT: Focus heavily on state highway maintenance, resilience upgrades, and expanding transport capacity. National emphasizes a mix of funding tools including electronic road user charges (RUC), tolling, public-private partnerships (PPPs), and private capital to accelerate roading projects. ACT champions infrastructure discipline with a strong "user-pays" philosophy and value-for-money metrics. For rural areas, this means a steady pipeline of physical road building, though debates persist over how much reliance will be placed on tolls or user charges.
  • New Zealand First: Places regional economic development and provincial infrastructure at the core of its platform. They advocate for significant long-term infrastructure funding (such as a 30-year plan supported by a Future Fund framework) to ensure regions receive a fair share of capital, keeping state highways and local transport links tied closely to export, manufacturing, and regional employment.
  • Labour & The Greens: While both parties acknowledge the necessity of regional road maintenance and safety, their broader transport investments place a heavier emphasis on lower-emission alternatives—such as regional and interregional bus services, public transport affordability caps, and rail networks. For small towns, Labour and the Greens tend to focus on ensuring public transport connectivity (like on-demand or intercity buses) exists alongside core roading safety.

2. Local Infrastructure and Funding (Three Waters / Local Councils)

Small towns often struggle with the cost of maintaining aging local infrastructure (such as water, stormwater, and local roads) across a small ratepayer base.

  • National-led approach: Focuses on returning robust local decision-making and empowering local authorities, while utilizing flexible financing and public-private partnerships to tackle local infrastructure deficits without overwhelming council balance sheets.
  • New Zealand First: Emphasizes protecting local democratic control over strategic community assets and shifting greater infrastructure spending toward the provinces to alleviate the financial burden on smaller territorial authorities.
  • Labour, Greens, and Te Pāti Māori: Generally support stronger central government partnerships and co-funding models to assist local authorities with community resilience, climate adaptation, and upgrading essential water and environmental infrastructure, arguing that small councils cannot bear these costs alone.

3. Digital Connectivity (Broadband and Mobile)

While Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) rollout has largely focused on urban centers, provincial, rural, and small-town connectivity remains a key election equity issue—particularly for telehealth, remote work, and small businesses.

  • Parties broadly support bridging the digital divide, ensuring that blackspots in provincial and rural highways or remote townships are minimized.
  • Right-of-center parties (National, ACT) generally favor leveraging private-sector competition, telecommunications deregulation, and targeted co-investment frameworks to incentivize providers to expand coverage commercially.
  • Left-of-center and regional parties (Labour, Greens, NZ First) place heavier emphasis on direct government intervention, public-service obligations, and dedicated regional funds to guarantee that remote and small-town communities are not left behind as digital infrastructure (such as 5G and rural broadband expansions) evolves.

Summary Checklist for Voters

When evaluating the parties for a small-town context, consider:

  1. Funding mechanisms: Do you prefer user-pays models (tolling, electronic RUCs favored by National and ACT) or broader public revenue investment (favoured by NZ First, Labour, and the Greens)?
  2. Local vs. Central balance: Do you want local councils empowered with private capital partnerships, or do you prefer centralized regional development funds?
Ask Gemini

Gemini is AI and can make mistakes.

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Google AI Mode · No location

I work in a small town rather than farming. My family drives long distances for services, and local jobs and healthcare are limited. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. How do parties compare on roads, broadband and local infrastructure outside major cities?

New Zealand’s political parties offer distinct approaches to regional roads, connectivity, and local services outside major urban centres, balancing major highway investments against local road maintenance, public transport, and regional economic development.

To see where your specific values align on these issues, you can take the non-partisan WhichParty NZ quiz or review regional summaries via Vote NZ. WhichParty NZ - The 2026 Election Quiz & CompassFind your electorate for the 2026 General Election - Vote NZ

Major Parties Compared on Regional Priorities

Party Roads & Transport Policy Broadband & Digital Connectivity Local Infrastructure & Services
National Party Focuses on Roads of National Significance , prioritizing heavy investment in arterial highway connections to speed up freight and long-distance travel between regions. Supports expanding rural broadband and mobile blackspot elimination via public-private partnerships and market incentives. Favors local government reform focused on core infrastructure (roading, water) while trimming non-core spending to ease rates burdens.
Labour Party Balances highway funding with regional rail and public transport initiatives , emphasizing climate resilience and maintenance funding for provincial roading networks. Prioritizes extending ultra-fast broadband (UFB) and cellular coverage to remote communities and marae through targeted state-backed funding. Emphasizes central-local partnerships for regional healthcare access, community facilities, and regional economic development funding.
ACT New Zealand Advocates for private-public financing (PPTs and tolls) to build roads faster, reducing central government debt while prioritizing major state highways over local public transit. Relies heavily on free-market telecommunication infrastructure expansion with minimal direct regulation, supporting competitive commercial rollouts. Proposes strict fiscal restraint for local councils, focusing local spending strictly on core physical infrastructure while cutting regulatory overhead.
Green Party Reallocates transport budgets away from new highway extensions toward regional public transport, active transport, and rail upgrades. Views digital connectivity as an essential public utility, supporting universal high-speed access and equitable rollout in remote areas. Focuses on community resilience, climate adaptation for local infrastructure, and regional public health and social service funding.
New Zealand First Strong emphasis on provincial roading maintenance, resilient regional transport links , and restoring regional rail connectivity for freight and passengers. Supports reliable universal telecommunications across the provinces to ensure small towns and isolated families are not left behind. Advocates for retaining and rebuilding local services, including provincial health services, policing, and emergency response infrastructure.

Key Trade-offs for Small Town and Regional Voters

  • Long-Distance Driving vs. Local Roads: Center-right parties (National, ACT) lean heavily into major highway construction to cut travel times between hubs. In contrast, Labour, the Greens, and NZ First place a heavier emphasis on fixing existing potholes, local road maintenance, and resilient transport corridors that suffer from weather disruptions.

  • Broadband and Digital Equity: While basic broadband is largely established, rural and provincial voters face ongoing mobile blackspots. The debate centers on whether to use direct government funding (Labour, Greens, NZ First) or private market incentives and public-private partnerships (National, ACT) to close remaining coverage gaps.

  • Jobs, Health, and Local Infrastructure: Parties diverge on how to support shrinking or constrained provincial job markets and healthcare access. Left-of-centre parties propose direct public investment in regional health centers and public works, whereas right-of-centre parties emphasize economic growth through regulatory reform, reducing council red tape, and lowering costs for local businesses.

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AI Overviews · No location

I work in a small town rather than farming. My family drives long distances for services, and local jobs and healthcare are limited. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. How do parties compare on roads, broadband and local infrastructure outside major cities?

AI Overview

For the 2026 General Election , New Zealand's political parties offer distinct approaches to regional infrastructure, with National and ACT prioritizing roading and private funding, Labour and the Greens focusing on state-funded public services and network resilience, and New Zealand First acting as a bridge with a heavy emphasis on direct regional funding and sovereign wealth concessions. All major parties have taken a rare bipartisan step by broadly backing the 30-year National Infrastructure Plan managed by Te Waihanga / New Zealand Infrastructure Commission.

Party Policy Comparison for Non-Urban Communities

Party Stance on Roads Broadband & Connectivity Local Infrastructure & Services
National Focuses the National Land Transport Fund strictly on road infrastructure. Prioritizes 17 Roads of National Significance and has allocated $400 million for state highway resilience. Backs the recent radio spectrum allocation reform aimed at giving telcos long-term certainty to upgrade regional and rural networks. Focuses on regional growth through Budget 2026 allocations for regional schools, hospital upgrades, and replacing the RMA to speed up development.
Labour Focuses on funding road maintenance through a proposed three-year freeze on fuel taxes. Promotes the long-term National Rail Network to shift freight off regional roads. Emphasizes digital equity, supporting interventions to close the digital divide highlighted by TUANZ where 1 in 10 homes lack access. Promotes a $4 billion jobs and infrastructure plan and advocates for regional public services to prevent small-town isolation.
New Zealand First Pushes for major regional transport priorities and secure public infrastructure connections like the Cook Strait ferry link. Advocates for infrastructure tax breaks to attract sovereign funds to fast-track regional digital infrastructure. Championing the Regional Infrastructure Fund to inject direct Crown funding into projects outside the major metropolitan cities.
ACT Promotes a "user-pays" system , utilizing electronic road-user charges, tolling, and private capital. Moves to block transport funding from being used for public art to protect maintenance budgets. Supports standardizing digital access via private providers and market competition rather than direct state-owned network rollouts. Advocates for local councils to retain a portion of locally collected GST on construction to fund town infrastructure independently.
Greens Opposes building new highways, preferring to reallocate funding to regional public transport fare caps and safety upgrades. Strongly campaigns on universal, affordable digital access as an essential public utility for remote health and education. Prioritizes climate-resilient local infrastructure, community hubs, and large-scale regional public housing builds.

If you want to look deeper into a specific area, let me know:

  • Which particular region or highway network matters most to your travel?

  • If you are more interested in healthcare access models versus physical infrastructure?

  • Whether you want to see the details of the National Infrastructure Plan?

I can provide the targeted details to help you weigh your options.

Ask anything

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