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Evidence · NZ Election 2026 · Edition 2

Every question, every answer, every source

All 174 questions and the 793 answers produced on 12 October 2026. The 27 remaining cells produced no AI Overview.

questions
174
answers saved
793
collected
12 Oct 2026

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 unchanged question.

    id, draft, text, voterCode, issue, towns

    174rows

    Download questions (CSV)

  • Answers

    nz-election-2026-answers.csv

    One row per produced answer, with its complete original text.

    result id, prompt id, draft id, scenario id, platform, region, words, parties, literal url answer, associated source answer, temporal pair, common four platforms, response text

    793rows

    Download answers (CSV)

  • Sources by answer

    nz-election-2026-sources.csv

    One row per website associated with an answer; repeated citations count once.

    answer id, question id, assistant, region, domain, publisher

    4,137rows

    Download sources by answer (CSV)

  • Checks against official sources

    nz-election-2026-checks.csv

    One row per reviewed proposition, retaining both answers, extracts and the reviewed change.

    check, draft id, platform, claim, verdict, assessment, source url, source label, source date, checked date, old result id, new result id, old excerpt, new excerpt

    15rows

    Download checks against official sources (CSV)

  • Who to vote for: coding

    nz-election-2026-guidance.csv

    One row per manually reviewed guidance answer. Codes overlap; original answers supply the evidence.

    draft, assistant, q, voter, a, declined, matched, shortlist, asked, chose, extract

    31rows

    Download who to vote for: coding (CSV)

  • Location and national answers

    nz-election-2026-towns.csv

    One row per matched national/location pair, with both editions.

    prompt id, draft id, scenario id, issue, platform, city, edition 1 same party set, edition 1 national result, edition 1 city result, edition 2 same party set, edition 2 national result, edition 2 city result

    124rows

    Download location and national answers (CSV)

  • Changes between editions

    nz-election-2026-comparisons.csv

    One row per identical question, assistant and location across the two collections.

    prompt id, draft id, scenario id, scenario, issue, platform, region, old result id, new result id, old words, new words, same party set, old parties, new parties, added parties, removed parties, literal same domains, literal old domains, literal new domains, literal added domains, literal removed domains, associated same domains, associated old domains, associated new domains, associated added domains, associated removed domains

    793rows

    Download changes between editions (CSV)

  • No AI Overview produced

    nz-election-2026-coverage.csv

    One row per planned cell where no AI Overview was produced.

    prompt id, platform, region, draft id, block, scenario id, scenario, issue, priority, question, cause, availability

    27rows

    Download no ai overview produced (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 have a long-term health condition that limits my ability to work. I rely on income support and need regular medical appointments. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. What party policies would help people on a fixed benefit afford food, housing and power?

If you are comparing parties from the perspective of someone living on a fixed benefit and needing to cover food, housing, power, and healthcare costs, the key policy areas to examine are:

  • Benefit levels and adjustments
  • Accommodation costs and rental protections
  • Energy affordability
  • Food costs and tax changes
  • Access to healthcare and disability support
  • Extra costs faced by people with long-term health conditions

I can summarise the policy directions parties have put forward, but I can’t tell you which party to vote for. A useful way to compare is to ask: “Would this policy put more money in my pocket, reduce my unavoidable costs, or improve access to essential services?” Policy.nz

Policies that could matter most for someone on a fixed benefit

1. Increasing income support

Look for policies involving:

  • Higher main benefit rates
  • Better indexing of benefits to actual living costs
  • Increases to hardship assistance
  • Changes to benefit sanctions or obligations
  • Easier access to disability-related support

Some parties focus on raising direct income support, while others focus more on employment, tax relief, or economic growth as ways to improve household finances. Policy.nz

2. Housing affordability and renting

For a person on a fixed income, housing policy can have a large impact because rent is usually the biggest regular expense.

Relevant policies include:

  • Building more public/social housing
  • Increasing housing supply
  • Rental protections (such as limits or standards affecting rent and housing quality)
  • Support for insulation, heating, solar, or energy efficiency
  • Assistance for people struggling with housing costs

Election policy comparisons include issues such as social housing, rental rules, housing affordability, and energy-related housing measures. Policy.nz

3. Power bills and heating

For people with health conditions, power costs can be especially important because staying warm may be a health necessity.

Policies to compare include:

  • Winter energy payments or similar targeted assistance
  • Home insulation and heating upgrades
  • Support for renewable energy or lower household energy costs
  • Regulation of energy markets
  • Programmes aimed at reducing energy hardship

4. Food costs

Food affordability policies may include:

  • Removing or reducing taxes on essential food items
  • Increasing incomes so households have more money for groceries
  • Competition and supermarket regulation measures
  • Community food support programmes

Some party comparisons include proposals around GST, prices, and cost-of-living relief. Policy.nz

5. Health and disability support

For someone with a long-term condition, compare:

  • Funding for GP visits and prescriptions
  • Specialist appointment access
  • Disability services
  • Support for people who cannot work due to health limitations
  • Waiting times and public health funding

A practical checklist for comparing party policies

You might find it useful to make a table like this:

Question Why it matters
Will my weekly income increase? Direct impact on food and bills
Will rent or housing costs become easier to manage? Housing is often the largest expense
Will power bills be lower or more predictable? Important for health and winter heating
Will I get better access to doctors and support? Matters for long-term conditions
Are the changes targeted at people on low incomes? Some broad tax cuts may benefit higher earners more

You can compare the 2026 party positions by issue through Policy.nz, which provides side-by-side policy comparisons for areas including housing and incomes. Policy.nz

A further thing to consider under New Zealand’s MMP system is that your party vote affects the overall balance of Parliament, while your electorate vote chooses a local representative. Reuters

If you want, I can also make a neutral comparison table of the 2026 NZ parties specifically on benefits, disability support, housing, and cost of living.

Ask anything

ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info.

Captured 12 October 2026 · shown as ChatGPT gave it, not a verified account

Gemini · No location

I have a long-term health condition that limits my ability to work. I rely on income support and need regular medical appointments. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. What party policies would help people on a fixed benefit afford food, housing and power?

Navigating life on a fixed benefit while managing a health condition involves balancing essential costs like food, housing, power, and healthcare. In the 2026 New Zealand general election, political parties offer distinct approaches to easing these pressures, spanning direct income support, market regulation, and public service provisions.

The major parties approach these challenges through contrasting philosophies:

1. Food Affordability & Cost of Living

  • Left and Centre-Left Parties (Labour, Greens, Te Pāti Māori): Focus heavily on market intervention to tackle high grocery prices. Labour's cost-of-living package includes removing financial barriers to healthcare (like free GP visits and prescriptions), which frees up disposable income for food. The Greens and NZ First have proposed structural interventions such as breaking up the supermarket duopoly (Foodstuffs and Woolworths), with the Greens explicitly proposing state-backed alternative retail options (such as "KiwiMart").
  • Centre-Right and Right Parties (National, ACT): Generally oppose state-led market interventions or price controls, arguing instead that fostering business competition, reducing regulatory burdens, and controlling broader inflation will sustainably lower food and consumer prices over time.

2. Housing and Rent Stresses

  • Left and Centre-Left Parties: Focus heavily on expanding public and social housing stock and strengthening renter protections. For instance, Labour has campaigned on building thousands of new social homes, while the Greens are pushing for a formal Renters' Rights Bill that includes a cap on annual rent increases and the removal of no-cause evictions.
  • Centre-Right and Right Parties: Focus primarily on supply-side solutions, such as relaxing planning and land-use rules to encourage private development. ACT and National strongly oppose rent controls, arguing that caps ultimately reduce the total supply of rental housing and worsen long-term shortages.

3. Power and Utilities

  • Energy Market Reform: Parties like NZ First and the Greens have emphasized restructuring the electricity sector (splitting gentailers or separating generation from retail arms) to increase market transparency and lower power bills for households.
  • Targeted Assistance: Other parties lean on broader winter energy payments or support for energy-efficiency upgrades (such as insulation schemes or solar initiatives) to help fixed-income households manage seasonal spikes in power costs.

4. Direct Benefit Levels and Healthcare Access

  • Welfare Philosophy: Left-leaning parties generally advocate for raising benefit indexation and increasing baseline support to match the rising cost of living, viewing adequate welfare as a fundamental safety net. Right-leaning parties (like ACT and National) tend to emphasize work incentives, strict welfare-to-work transitions, and expenditure restraint to manage government debt.
  • Health Costs: Given your need for regular medical appointments, policies addressing health costs are a major differentiator. For example, Labour’s policy commitments include free GP visits and prescriptions, which directly reduces out-of-pocket medical expenses for those managing chronic health conditions.

Are there specific areas—such as public transport, disability support, or tenancy rules—that weigh most heavily in your voting decision?

Ask Gemini

Gemini is AI and can make mistakes.

Captured 12 October 2026 · shown as Gemini gave it, not a verified account

Google AI Mode · No location

I have a long-term health condition that limits my ability to work. I rely on income support and need regular medical appointments. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. What party policies would help people on a fixed benefit afford food, housing and power?

Navigating life with a long-term health condition while relying on fixed income support involves balancing essential costs like food, power, and housing alongside regular medical access. In the lead-up to the general election, New Zealand's political parties propose distinct approaches to addressing these cost-of-living and welfare challenges.

Below is an overview of how different party platforms approach support for fixed-income beneficiaries regarding food, housing, power, and medical access:

Green Party

The Greens focus heavily on lifting baseline incomes and implementing sweeping tax and welfare reforms funded by high-wealth taxes.

  • Income & Beneficiary Support: Proposes a guaranteed liveable income, overhauling the welfare system to ensure benefits cover basic needs without sanctions or adequacy gaps. Their tax plan includes a tax-free first threshold on income ($10,000) alongside wealth taxes on top-tier assets to fund public services and income support.
  • Housing, Food & Power: Advocates for large-scale building of warm, public, and affordable homes, alongside targeted measures to address energy hardship and lower food and electricity costs through systemic market interventions.

Labour Party

Labour centers its platform on easing specific cost pressures, protecting essentials, and lowering healthcare hurdles.

  • Health & Medical Access: Introduces a "Medicard" policy providing 3 free GP visits annually, free prescriptions, free maternity scans, and specific screenings, which directly reduces out-of-pocket medical expenses for those with ongoing health needs. [NZ Labour Party]
  • Cost of Living & Food: Proposes a ban on price gouging on essentials, grocery market reforms to target high food prices, and a $20 weekly public transport fare cap. [NZ Labour Party]

Te Pāti Māori

Te Pāti Māori focuses on systemic equity, poverty reduction, and direct food security. [Public Health Communication Centre]

  • Food & Income: Features proposals such as the Income Tax Kai Credit (targeted at lower-income earners and families to offset food costs) and structural increases to benefit adequacy to match inflation and the actual cost of living. [RNZ]
  • Housing: Emphasises whānau-led housing solutions, ramping up state and papakāinga housing to tackle homelessness and severe housing deprivation.

New Zealand First

NZ First emphasizes protecting household purchasing power and adjusting financial support against inflation.

  • Incomes & Cost of Living: Focuses on inflation-proofing financial supports and wages. While their recent major announcements lean heavily into bolstering Working for Families and minimum wage adjustments, they position their economic policy around easing broader inflation pressures on household power, fuel, and food bills.

National and ACT Parties

The National and ACT parties generally focus on economic management through broad tax relief, curbing government spending, and incentivising employment, rather than direct increases to benefit levels.

  • Approach: Their frameworks prioritize broad-based income tax adjustments for workers and economic growth to lower overall inflation. While they support targeted disability and health support services via Work and Income, their macro-policy centers on controlling public debt and spending rather than expanding baseline benefit payments.

To review complete manifestos or detailed policy costings directly, you can check theGreen Party Manifesto or Labour's Policy Page.

Ask anything

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AI Overviews · No location

I have a long-term health condition that limits my ability to work. I rely on income support and need regular medical appointments. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. What party policies would help people on a fixed benefit afford food, housing and power?

AI Overview

For the 2026 New Zealand general election , political parties have introduced distinct approaches to managing welfare benefits and the cost of living. As someone on a fixed income support payment due to a long-term health condition, the policies proposed by Labour, the Greens, National, ACT, and NZ First offer very different frameworks for managing your direct household expenses (food, housing, power) and healthcare accessibility.

New Zealand Labour Party

Labour's campaign focuses heavily on reducing direct out-of-pocket costs and targeted household subsidies.

  • Healthcare: Providing three free doctor’s visits each year for every New Zealander and making prescriptions entirely free from July 2027.

  • Food: Introducing legislation to ban retail price gouging to artificially lower grocery costs.

  • Housing & Power: Funding $4 billion to deliver 6,000 additional social housing places and establishing the "SolarSaver" scheme to provide solar energy installations without upfront costs to renters, communities, and homeowners to reduce electricity bills.

  • Transport: Implementing a $20 weekly public transport fare cap to assist with travel to medical appointments. Election policy tracker: what the parties are promisingOur Policies - New Zealand Labour Party 2026David Seymour wants tougher welfare rule as Labour targets hiddenOur PoliciesLabour will back Kiwis to get ahead. | New Zealand Labour Party

Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

The Greens are running on an income-maximisation strategy, arguing that fixed benefits must be fundamentally increased.

  • Income & Food: Pledging to establish a guaranteed liveable income framework to permanently elevate base benefit rates so individuals on support can comfortably afford food and necessities.

  • Housing: Proposing a Rental Warrant of Fitness to legally mandate that rental properties are warm and dry, alongside introducing construction support to keep social and community housing accessible.

  • Power: Promoting a broad transition to community renewable energy with government-backed loans for home batteries and solar panels to lower consumer power bills over the long term.

National Party

National’s 2026 platform relies on tighter targeted spending management rather than broad wealth redistribution, asserting that controlling inflation is the most stable mechanism to lower everyday costs.

  • Healthcare: Injecting additional frontline funding into health services to stabilize wait times and expand medicine access (Pharmac), while operating under the newly passed Disability Support Services Bill , which clarifies state contributions to disability funding.

  • Welfare & Income: Introducing a stricter five-point welfare structure focused primarily on Jobseeker compliance. They advocate keeping core tax brackets low and indexation balanced to stabilize household spending rather than introducing new universal benefits.

  • Power: Accelerating regional renewable energy projects through commercial energy providers to boost total grid security and drive power bills downward over time.

ACT New Zealand

ACT's 2026 Fiscal Plan prioritizes debt reduction and strict welfare parameters.

  • Welfare Reform: Seeking to reduce overall disability benefit spending by $653 million over four years. ACT intends to establish an independent pool of MSD-approved doctors to strictly enforce objective criteria for health and disability benefits. (Long-term arrangements would remain protected for individuals diagnosed with an enduring, permanent condition).

  • Cost of Living: ACT opposes government subsidies or price interventions, claiming that cutting public debt and shrinking state ministries is the fastest path to lowering national inflation and reducing individual energy and food prices.

New Zealand First

NZ First anchors its campaign on a combination of specific cost-of-living cash injections and targeted family support.

  • Income & Cost of Living: Promising a $120 weekly increase to Working for Families payments alongside regular inflation-proof adjustments to the minimum wage to support household security.

  • Power & Economy: Opposing structural housing taxes while backing targeted relief and supply-side infrastructure improvements to steady energy bills and utility costs.

Policy Comparison Summary

Party Welfare & Income Position Healthcare Cost Focus Primary Housing/Power Policy
Labour Focuses on lowering hidden or fixed household costs. 3 free GP visits per year ; free prescriptions. 6,000 new social homes ; upfront-free solar setups.
Greens Promotes a guaranteed liveable income framework. Universal access funded by taxing high-value wealth/assets. Rental Warrant of Fitness ; solar/battery state loans.
National Maintains existing indexation; tighter Jobseeker rules. Frontline funding boosts; expanding Pharmac medicine scope. Commercial grid expansion to organically lower energy bills.
ACT $653m cut to disability spending ; MSD-doctor verification. Relies on private market dynamics to optimize clinical care cost. Shrinking government spending to lower macro-inflation.
NZ First $120/week boost for eligible Working for Families. Supports targeted financial cushions over universal rebates. Prioritizes baseline infrastructure over direct market interventions.

Next Steps to Help You Decide

  1. Verify Your Condition Status: If your medical condition is deemed long-term and enduring, check how ACT’s proposed MSD-doctor panel rules or National's Disability Support Services framework might categorise your specific condition.

  2. Review Local Electorate Candidates: Local candidates can significantly influence regional social housing and transport amenities near you. You can review candidates and track up-to-the-minute policy changes on platforms like Policy.nz or the RNZ Election Policy Guide 2026 as election day approaches.

Ask anything

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