Search studies, brands and more…⌘ KExplore research

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 migrated to New Zealand, have recently become a citizen and am eligible to vote. I work here, use English as a second language and want to understand both my options and the system. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. What do parties say about recognising overseas qualifications and fair employment opportunities?

New Zealand 2026 election: overseas qualifications and fair employment

As a new New Zealand citizen, you can use your vote to help shape how the country recognises skills gained overseas, supports people into suitable jobs, and protects workers from unfair treatment.

For the 2026 general election, two related questions are worth considering:

  • Recognition of overseas qualifications: Can people use their degrees, diplomas, trade certificates and professional experience from another country without facing unnecessary barriers?
  • Fair employment opportunities: Can people compete for jobs based on their skills, receive fair pay and treatment, and progress in their careers without discrimination or exploitation?

These issues overlap, but they are not identical. A government can strengthen employment protections without changing qualification-recognition rules, or make it easier to recruit skilled workers without addressing whether those workers can advance in their careers.

The comparison below focuses on published party positions available as of October 2026. I'll distinguish specific commitments from broader statements of principle, rather than assume that every party has a detailed policy on both subjects.

1. What the main parties are saying

Labour Party

Published immigration policy · 11 September 2026

Labour says immigration should respond to New Zealand's workforce needs and that migrants who settle here should have a genuine opportunity to build their lives and careers. Its published proposals include:

  • Allowing eligible migrant workers to move between accredited employers after three months, as part of measures to reduce exploitation.
  • Strengthening the Accredited Employer Work Visa system and access to community support.
  • Planning immigration around workforce, housing and infrastructure capacity. Release: Labour to ensure an immigration system that works for New Zealand

What this means for your questions: Labour has made specific proposals about employment mobility and migrant-worker protection. Those could matter when considering whether people can leave a poor job and seek better opportunities.

What remains unclear: The policy announcement does not set out a specific proposal to simplify overseas qualification recognition or require employers to make better use of overseas credentials. That is different from saying Labour opposes such changes.

Read: Labour's immigration policy announcement.

Green Party

2026 election manifesto

The Greens' manifesto explicitly describes migrant workers as deserving fair treatment and opportunities to settle in New Zealand. Its immigration and workforce-rights sections emphasise:

  • Fair and safe pathways for people making New Zealand their home.
  • Protection against exploitation and stronger employment conditions.
  • Decent pay, workers' collective voice and dignity at work. Manifesto 2026Manifesto 2026

What this means for your questions: The Greens' published principles speak directly to fair treatment at work, including the rights and conditions that shape a worker's ability to succeed.

What remains unclear: The manifesto's broad commitments should not be mistaken for a specific, verified promise to change NZQA assessments, remove qualification-recognition fees or force employers to recognise overseas experience.

Read: Green Party 2026 manifesto.

National Party

Current government policy and 2026 election policies

National's published approach emphasises employment, workforce needs and maintaining protections while managing migration. Recent government measures include:

What this means for your questions: National's approach combines labour-market needs and enforcement against exploitation with conditions intended to apply to some migrant workers. The expanded English-language requirements may also be relevant to people who are still learning English, although they apply to specified visa categories and are not a general test for every New Zealand citizen seeking work.

What remains unclear: The National policy material reviewed does not establish a specific 2026 election commitment to improve recognition of overseas qualifications for citizens or to require employers to give those qualifications greater weight.

Read: National's 2026 election policies.

ACT New Zealand

Immigration policy · 3 May 2026

ACT's published immigration policy focuses on matching migration to demonstrated skill shortages and enforcing immigration rules. Its proposals include:

  • Reviewing skilled-visa categories annually, with each category expiring unless there is current evidence of demand.
  • Extending basic English-language requirements across all Accredited Employer Work Visa types, with lower standards permitted for seasonal workers.
  • Requiring employers who facilitate overstaying to lose their accreditation. ACT New ZealandACT New Zealand

What this means for your questions: ACT places emphasis on whether skills are genuinely needed in the labour market and on English-language requirements for some migrant workers. Its published policy does not establish a specific commitment to faster or cheaper recognition of overseas degrees or professional experience.

Read: ACT's immigration policy announcement.

New Zealand First

Immigration proposals · 11 September 2026

New Zealand First's proposals focus on reducing non-essential immigration, limiting pressure on infrastructure and public services, and prioritising job opportunities for New Zealanders. Its announced measures include tighter conditions for international students who want to work, longer qualifying periods for permanent residence and citizenship, and restrictions on access to some benefits for non-citizens. NZ First Announces Immigration Reform Policies

What this means for your questions: The party's emphasis is on controlling migration and protecting opportunities for people already in New Zealand, rather than a published programme specifically designed to help migrants use overseas qualifications.

As you are now a citizen, distinguish proposals aimed at temporary visa holders and non-citizens from proposals that would affect citizens' access to jobs or recognition of their professional credentials.

Read: New Zealand First's immigration reform proposals.

2. How to compare the parties fairly

Here is a summary of the positions documented in the sources above. A blank or unspecified policy area means that I did not find a sufficiently specific commitment in the material reviewed, not necessarily that the party has no position.

Party Overseas qualifications Fair employment and worker protection
Labour No specific reform identified in the announcement reviewed Proposes greater job mobility for eligible migrant workers and stronger anti-exploitation measures
Greens No specific qualification-recognition reform identified in the manifesto reviewed Emphasises employment protections, decent pay, collective voice and migrant-worker dignity
National No specific reform identified in the policy material reviewed Emphasises workforce needs, immigration enforcement and worker safeguards
ACT No specific recognition reform identified in the policy reviewed Emphasises verified skill shortages, English requirements for relevant visa holders and enforcement
New Zealand First No specific recognition reform identified in the announcement reviewed Emphasises protecting job opportunities for New Zealanders and tighter immigration controls

Sources: Labour, Greens, National, ACT and New Zealand First. Release: Labour to ensure an immigration system that works for New ZealandManifesto 20262026 Election PolicyACT New ZealandNZ First Announces Immigration Reform Policies

3. What recognising your qualifications actually involves

Party policies are only one part of the picture. New Zealand already has a formal system for assessing overseas qualifications, and it is useful to understand what it does and does not guarantee.

New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA)

NZQA can assess many overseas tertiary and vocational qualifications through an International Qualification Assessment (IQA). This establishes how a qualification compares with the New Zealand qualifications framework. You may need one for employment, further study or certain immigration purposes. Getting overseas qualifications recognised by NZQAFind out if you need an International Qualification Assessment

Read: NZQA's overseas qualification guidance.

Professional registration

In regulated professions, such as some healthcare, teaching and engineering roles, you may need approval from the relevant professional body as well as qualification assessment. An NZQA assessment does not automatically grant a licence or guarantee employment. NZQA principles and policies for qualification recognitionCheck if you need an International Qualification Assessment :: Immigration New Zealand

Fair access to jobs

New Zealand employment law protects people against unlawful discrimination, including discrimination based on race and ethnic or national origins. It also covers fair access to employment opportunities and promotion. However, this does not mean an employer must accept every overseas qualification as equivalent to a local one. DiscriminationThe hiring process

Read: Employment New Zealand's discrimination guidance.

4. Questions worth asking before you vote

If this issue matters to you, look beyond general promises about migration and jobs. Ask each party:

  • Recognition: Would you make overseas qualification assessments faster, more affordable or easier to understand?
  • Work experience: Would you help employers assess overseas experience fairly, rather than relying mainly on New Zealand experience?
  • English: Would you expand access to workplace English training and support for people using English as a second language?
  • Fair hiring: What would you do to address discrimination against applicants because of their names, accents or country of qualification?
  • Career progression: Would you fund bridging courses, supervised practice or retraining that helps qualified professionals enter their original occupation?
  • Accountability: How would you measure whether more people are working at a level that matches their skills?

These questions can help distinguish a policy that attracts skilled workers from one that actually helps people make full use of the skills they already have.

5. One final point about your vote

As a New Zealand citizen, you can assess these proposals based on your own priorities, rather than treating yourself only as a migrant or a worker. You may care about both recognising international skills and ensuring that local workers have fair opportunities, good wages and safe workplaces.

For the 2026 election, it is also worth checking each party's latest detailed policies as they are released. A manifesto statement, an existing government policy and a proposal for the next term are three different things.

A useful next step: Are you most interested in recognition of overseas degrees and professional qualifications, fair access to jobs and promotions, or workplace protections such as pay, discrimination and English-language support? I can compare the parties in more detail on whichever matters most to you.

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 migrated to New Zealand, have recently become a citizen and am eligible to vote. I work here, use English as a second language and want to understand both my options and the system. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. What do parties say about recognising overseas qualifications and fair employment opportunities?

Congratulations on becoming a New Zealand citizen and exercising your right to vote in the 2026 general election! Navigating a new political system while using English as an additional language is a big step, and your perspective as a migrant who has gone through the process is uniquely valuable.

When it comes to recognising overseas qualifications and ensuring fair employment opportunities for migrants, New Zealand's political parties approach these issues through different lenses—balancing economic demands, workforce shortages, and worker protections.

Overview of Party Positions

  • The National Party (Centre-Right): Focuses heavily on a market-driven approach to immigration and employment. Their policy centers on streamlining bureaucratic barriers so that employers can fill skill shortages more easily. They generally support targeted pathways for skilled migrants with recognized credentials to integrate smoothly into the workforce, while maintaining strict rules around border and employer compliance.
  • The Labour Party (Centre-Left): Emphasizes a managed approach to the labor market that protects domestic wage floors while valuing migrant workers. Labour typically supports robust verification systems for overseas qualifications to ensure migrant professionals (such as doctors, engineers, and teachers) can safely and fairly transition into local roles without being underemployed. They also strongly emphasize strengthening employment standards and labor inspectorates to prevent migrant exploitation.
  • ACT New Zealand (Right / Libertarian): Takes a heavily free-market stance, advocating for fewer restrictions on businesses hiring international talent. ACT's framing focuses on removing red tape for employers who need specialized skills, arguing that if a worker has a legitimate job offer and verified skills, the administrative friction should be minimized.
  • New Zealand First (Nationalist / Centre-Right): Focuses heavily on tightening immigration settings to protect domestic workers and ensure that overseas recruitment is strictly tied to genuine, unfillable skill shortages. They advocate for replacing broad employer-sponsored work visas with a tighter "shortage-led" framework, emphasizing that New Zealanders should be trained first, but maintaining that truly critical, high-level international skills remain welcome.
  • The Green Party (Left): Focuses strongly on migrant welfare, human rights, and fair employment equity. They advocate for dismantling barriers that lead to "brain waste"—where highly qualified migrants end up in low-skilled jobs because their overseas qualifications are undervalued. They also champion strong protections against workplace exploitation and advocate for pathways that secure residence and fair treatment.

Key Themes to Watch For

  1. "Brain Waste" and Qualification Recognition:
    Many migrants face the frustration of having professional degrees that are not immediately recognized by New Zealand regulatory bodies or employers, forcing them into survival jobs. While bodies like the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) handle formal international credential assessments, parties differ on how much state intervention or funding should go into fast-tracking bridging programs, professional registration support, and educating employers on overseas credentials.
  2. Fair Employment and Migrant Exploitation:
    There is a broad cross-party consensus that migrant workers must be protected from unethical employers, though they disagree on the enforcement mechanisms. Parties on the left (Labour, Greens) emphasize expanding labor inspectorates and union rights, while parties on the right (National, ACT) focus on employer accountability paired with streamlined visa mechanics. NZ First pushes for stringent auditing of employers who rely on migrant labor.

Your Voting Options & Next Steps

  • Enrol and Vote: As a citizen, you are fully entitled to vote. Voting papers and overseas/advance voting options become available soon (with voting opening late October). You can check your details or enroll via the official Vote NZ website.
  • Language Support: The Electoral Commission provides voting information in multiple languages to assist speakers of English as an additional language.

Are there particular industries or types of employment support (such as professional registration or worker rights) that you are most interested in exploring further?

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 migrated to New Zealand, have recently become a citizen and am eligible to vote. I work here, use English as a second language and want to understand both my options and the system. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. What do parties say about recognising overseas qualifications and fair employment opportunities?

Congratulations on becoming a New Zealand citizen and stepping up to participate in your first general election! Navigating a new political system—especially with English as an additional language—is a big adjustment.

Ahead of the November 7, 2026 general election , political parties approach the issues of overseas qualification recognition and fair employment through different lenses, balancing workforce shortages against domestic training priorities and worker protections.

The Broad Landscape & Party Positions

Different political parties emphasize varying priorities regarding skilled migrants, credential recognition, and employment standards:

  • National Party: As part of its broader economic and immigration focus (such as adjustments to the Skilled Migrant Category and occupation lists), the National-led approach generally emphasizes streamlining pathways for high-skilled global talent to fill critical gaps in sectors like health, engineering, and infrastructure. Business groups like BusinessNZ have advocated to parties that New Zealand needs better alignment between training systems and a more efficient recognition of overseas qualifications and experience to support economic productivity.

  • Labour Party: Labour generally supports structured pathways for essential professions while focusing on fair employment standards, workplace protections, and collective bargaining rights. Their policies typically emphasize protecting all workers in New Zealand from exploitation, ensuring that migrant labor or overseas-qualified professionals aren't used to undercut local market rates or pay standards.

  • ACT New Zealand: ACT focuses heavily on economic liberalization, reforming and speeding up the review of skilled occupation lists, and easing constraints for businesses to hire globally when domestic shortages exist. They generally favour market-led approaches to matching skills with employer demand. [www.livinginnz.co.nz]

  • New Zealand First: NZ First emphasizes tightening immigration settings and prioritizing employment opportunities for domestic citizens and residents. Their platform centers on curbing what they view as unsustainable population and migrant pressures, arguing for stronger investment in domestic workforce training rather than reliance on overseas labor.

  • Green Party & Te Pāti Māori: The Greens and Te Pāti Māori generally advocate for human-rights-based migration policies, support for migrant worker welfare and safety against exploitation, and a critical view of restrictive or punitive immigration settings. They emphasize social equity, migrant community inclusion, and fair pathways to settlement.

Understanding the New Zealand Voting System

Since you are voting for the first time, it helps to know how your two votes work under New Zealand's Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) voting system:

  1. Party Vote (Your most powerful vote): You vote for a political party. This decides the overall proportion of seats each party gets in Parliament. Parties must reach a 5% threshold (or win an electorate seat) to enter Parliament.
  2. Electorate Vote: You vote for a local candidate to represent your specific geographical area, regardless of their party.

Helpful Tools and Resources for Your Vote

To explore specific party manifestos, compare side-by-side policy stances, or find your local voting station, you can use these official and neutral resources:

  • Policy Comparison: Check out Policy.nz to read plain-language breakdowns of what every registered party stands for across migration, employment, and the economy.

  • Official Voting Information: Visit the official Elections NZ portal to check your enrolment details, locate accessible voting places near you, and read guides in multiple languages.

Ask anything

Captured 12 October 2026 · shown as Google AI Mode gave it, not a verified account

AI Overviews · No location

I migrated to New Zealand, have recently become a citizen and am eligible to vote. I work here, use English as a second language and want to understand both my options and the system. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. What do parties say about recognising overseas qualifications and fair employment opportunities?

AI Overview

Congratulations on becoming a New Zealand citizen! Exercising your right to vote is a powerful step in shaping your new home.

For the 2026 General Election , New Zealand's political parties are actively debating immigration, worker exploitation, and skill recognition. Because New Zealand has a structural reliance on temporary migrant labour, how overseas qualifications and fair employment are managed remains a core battleground.

Here is how the major parties approach these issues:

🔵 National Party (Current Lead Coalition)

  • Recognising Qualifications: National focuses on fast-tracking and simplifying paths for skilled professionals. They have introduced specific, structured pathways, such as the Trades and Technician Pathway , which allows offshore qualifications (Level 4 equivalent) to be streamlined into residency points, and automatic temporary visas for overseas-qualified nurses and midwives.

  • Employment Opportunities: National supports a business-led approach, aiming to keep settings workable for employers to fill critical skill shortages. However, they emphasize a strict "New Zealanders first" policy, requiring employers to prioritize local, unemployed citizens before looking overseas.

🔴 Labour Party (Opposition)

  • Recognising Qualifications: Labour supports managed migration that ties skill recognition directly to infrastructure and long-term workforce planning. They generally prefer clear pathways based on domestic needs, but seek a balance to ensure local upskilling isn't bypassed.

  • Employment & Fair Conditions: Labour focuses heavily on migrant exploitation and worker rights. To stop workers from feeling "trapped" in abusive jobs, Labour’s policy allows migrants on worker visas to move between accredited employers after just three months , decoupling the rigid tie between a worker and a single employer.

🟢 Green Party

  • Recognising Qualifications: The Greens advocate for humanitarian-focused, broad pathways to residency that don't just favor high-paying industries or academic degrees.

  • Employment & Fair Conditions: The Greens strongly campaign against migrant worker exploitation. They want to completely decouple work visas from individual employers and replace restrictive, lower-wage thresholds with fair, universal workplace rights to ensure migrants are treated equally to locals.

🟡 ACT New Zealand (Coalition Partner)

  • Recognising Qualifications: ACT wants a simplified, demand-based pricing and visa system rather than complex bureaucratic scoring. They support reviewing the skilled jobs list annually to tightly match qualification entry to exact economic gaps.

  • Employment Opportunities: ACT is highly business-friendly and backs immigration to fill genuine shortages. However, they support stricter conditions for social integration, such as barring new resident-class migrants from accessing welfare benefits for their first five years.

⚫ New Zealand First (Coalition Partner)

  • Recognising Qualifications: NZ First takes a highly restrictive stance. Their policy states that overseas qualifications must be heavily verified against strict New Zealand professional and safety standards before being accepted.

  • Employment Opportunities: Led by Winston Peters, the party wants to abolish the Accredited Employer Work Visa and replace it with a highly restricted, "shortage-led" visa. They advocate for a hard cap on overall numbers and strongly prioritize training local New Zealanders first.

🗳️ Next Steps for a New Voter

  1. Verify Your Enrolment: Ensure your details are updated on the Vote NZ Enrolment Portal.

  2. Compare Detailed Policies: You can review side-by-side policy comparisons closer to election day on independent, non-partisan tracking tools like Policy.nz or take an interactive alignment quiz on WhichParty NZ.

  3. Language Support: On election day, voting places provide information in multiple languages, and you are welcome to bring a friend or family member to help translate if needed.

Ask anything

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