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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

For the 2026 New Zealand general election: What do parties propose for childcare, schools, learning support and tertiary education?

For the 2026 New Zealand general election, the key areas to compare are early childhood education (ECE), school funding and curriculum, learning support for children with additional needs, and tertiary education and apprenticeships. One important distinction: a party's announced election promise is not necessarily the same as its current government policy, an existing programme, or a fully costed commitment. I'll distinguish those where possible, and focus on what the policies would mean for children, parents, teachers, students and families across New Zealand.

  1. Early childhood education and childcare: The main question: who pays, how much childcare costs, and how early children receive support.

  2. Schools: curriculum, teaching and school resources: This section explores structured teaching of reading, writing, and maths; explicit phonics; regular assessments; and a replacement for NCEA, as well as proposals for greater consistency in what children learn and how progress is reported.

  3. Learning support, disability and additional needs: This area is important for children needing teacher-aide hours, speech-language therapy, specialist help, or support when transitioning to school.

  4. Tertiary education, university, polytechnics and apprenticeships: Here the central issues are costs, student debt, financial support, course availability, and vocational training.

  5. Quick comparison by family priority: This table identifies published policies that most directly address each concern.

Final caveat: This comparison is of verified published policies from selected major parties, not a complete inventory of every party contesting the election. Some proposals are existing government measures, while others are new campaign promises. For a decision involving childcare fees or a child with additional needs, details of eligibility, delivery dates, and funding are just as important as the headline commitment.

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

Gemini · No location

For the 2026 New Zealand general election: What do parties propose for childcare, schools, learning support and tertiary education?

For the New Zealand general election, political parties have put forward distinct visions across the education spectrum—spanning early childhood education (ECE), primary and secondary schooling, learning support, and tertiary education.

1. Childcare & Early Childhood Education (ECE)

  • National: Proposes introducing a School Start Check during ECE to monitor developmental milestones, report progress to parents, and catch potential learning or developmental needs early for referral to intervention services.
  • Green Party: Focuses heavily on public provision, committing to end public funding for private, for-profit ECE centres by 2028, expand community and not-for-profit services, and restore "network management" so the Ministry of Education plans ECE placement based on community needs.
  • Te Pāti Māori: Emphasizes Māori-led governance, aiming to build independent Māori education authorities and secure long-term backing for kaupapa Māori early learning providers.

2. Schools & Curriculum

  • National: Continues its focus on foundational academics, structured literacy/maths resources, and pursuing structural options like charter schools (which were restored as a coalition commitment).
  • ACT: Champions school choice through an expansion of charter schools and proposes Student Education Accounts, which would give parents public funding (around $12,000 a year) to spend at any registered school of their choice.
  • Green Party: Promotes equity-driven measures within schools, including expanding school lunch programs, providing free public transport, and embedding free in-school mental health counselling. They also propose practical cost-relief policies, such as limiting state schools to a maximum of three compulsory branded uniform items.
  • Te Pāti Māori: Advocates for making te reo Māori a core subject up to Year 10, embedding mātauranga Māori deeply across the curriculum, and establishing a dedicated Māori education authority.

3. Learning Support

  • Policies addressing learning support and neurodiversity largely intersect with party stances on early intervention and school funding.
  • Parties like National emphasize catching developmental and learning needs early through structured ECE tracking and targeted early intervention pathways.
  • Progressive and opposition blocks (Labour, Greens, and Te Pāti Māori) generally campaign on increasing direct resourcing for teacher aides, boosting specialist staff (such as educational psychologists and speech language therapists), and expanding in-school health and counselling resources to better support neurodivergent and disadvantaged students.

4. Tertiary Education & Student Support

  • Green Party: Takes the most progressive stance, campaigning to work toward fees-free tertiary education, a complete student debt write-off, a universal student income, and lower loan repayments.
  • Labour: Proposes targeted debt relief by writing off 10% of student loan balances for New Zealand-based graduates who missed out on fees-free schemes, alongside clearing balances of $2,000 or less in full.
  • National: Backs away from broad-based free tertiary schemes (arguing they do not lift disadvantaged participation). Instead, National's approach keeps graduates repaying loans while cutting the repayment rate from 12% to 10% and raising interest rates for overseas-based borrowers.
  • ACT: Strongly opposes fees-free tertiary policies, arguing they impose heavy costs on taxpayers without creating broad public benefits, and supports maintaining user-pays principles with standard student loan structures.
  • Te Pāti Māori: Proposes writing off entire student loans for graduates who stay and work in New Zealand for five years, alongside immediately clearing the living-cost portion of all student debt and introducing a universal student allowance.

Are you looking for details on a specific party's wider manifesto or a deeper breakdown of funding models in one of these areas?

Ask Gemini

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

Google AI Mode · No location

For the 2026 New Zealand general election: What do parties propose for childcare, schools, learning support and tertiary education?

For the 2026 New Zealand general election (scheduled for 7 November 2026), political parties have outlined distinct approaches to early childhood education (ECE/childcare), schooling, learning support, and tertiary education.

1. Early Childhood Education (ECE) & Childcare

  • National Party: Emphasises maintaining and reviewing existing funding and regulatory settings, focusing on core accountability and basic foundations in early learning while supporting workforce supply.
  • Labour Party: Focuses on cost-of-living relief and strengthening public and community-backed early learning services, aligning with broader family support policies.
  • Green Party & Te Pāti Māori: Generally advocate for moving towards fully accessible or free ECE, increasing sector funding to improve teacher pay parity, and embedding culturally responsive learning environments (such as Kōhanga Reo support).

2. Schools & Curriculum

  • National Party (Incumbent): Education spokesperson Erica Stanford announced a policy requiring students to stay in school until the completion of Year 11 (changing the previous rule allowing students to leave at 16 unless granted an exemption for work or training). National is also moving to phase out NCEA starting in 2028, replacing it with clearer national qualifications and mandating a focus on "the basics"—including an hour a day each of reading, writing, and math, along with structured literacy.
  • Labour Party: Focuses on resourcing state schools adequately, supporting teacher numbers, and opposing policies they argue narrow the curriculum or undermine equity.
  • ACT New Zealand: Emphasises school choice, charter/partnership schools, and streamlining administrative burdens on school boards while focusing heavily on academic performance metrics.
  • Green Party: Focuses on equitable funding for schools, removing socio-economic barriers for families (such as school donations and uniform costs), and expanding mental health support in schools.

3. Learning Support

  • National Party: Points to ongoing phased investments in learning support resources, aiming to address behavioral and developmental needs within mainstream classrooms through targeted teacher aides and specialist access. [NZ Herald]
  • Labour & The Green Party: Both criticize current learning support staffing levels as insufficient, arguing for significantly increased funding to ensure every child with neurodiversity, disability, or high behavioral needs receives dedicated, professional wrap-around support.

4. Tertiary Education, Trades, & Student Support

  • National / ACT (Coalition Government): Focus on fiscal restraint, aligning tertiary training tightly with economic and labor market demands, and strengthening vocational and trades training (such as apprenticeships). ACT also emphasizes targeted student loan repayment compliance.
  • Labour Party: Proposes expanding programs like the Apprenticeship Boost to support young people entering trades, alongside policies protecting student support systems and affordability.
  • Green Party: Advocates for enhanced student allowances, better mental health services on campus, and removing financial barriers to accessing tertiary and vocational training.

For comprehensive, party-by-party comparison tools and direct platform statements, you can explore the non-partisan Policy.nz Education Guide or official party manifestos via the New Zealand Labour Party and National Party coverage.

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