Bored by one election season after another? Why not join me–a Kiwi Living in Australia–on a journey across the Tasman, to a land where politics is anything but boring.
The Basics
New Zealand is a fellow constitutional monarchy, with the same King as Australia (yes, he made it across the ditch too). But unlike Australia, which is a federation of states with competing premiers, New Zealand is a unitary state, meaning just one parliament and one set of politicians to love or loathe.
Even better, we have only one house of parliament, so no Senate to stall things forever. And here’s where it gets fun: MPs are selected through Mixed-Member Proportional representation (MMP). In short, voters get two votes, one for a local candidate and one for a party. This makes it much easier for smaller parties to get seats, which means coalitions are the name of the game.
Welcome to the Parties:
The Who’s Who of the beehive, ie, parliament, see the photo above and guess why it is named what it is:
National
New Zealand’s main centre-right party, and the yin to Labour’s yang. Pro-business, low taxes, not afraid of a spreadsheet. Think Liberal Party with a slightly nicer accent and better geography.
Labour
Same as the Aussie equivalent but with a ‘u’? Well, more or less. New Zealand’s Labour Party is centre-left, historically tied to unions and has strong working-class roots, much like Australian Labor.
However, while Aussie Labor often battles internal factions, NZ Labour is comparatively calmer, though no less ambitious. Like any good centre-left party, they’re big on public health, housing, climate action, and social equity. During the COVID years, they ruled with an iron fist yet gained global attention for their crisis leadership with a human touch thanks to Jacinda Ardern’s ASMR voice.
NZ first
This is where the real fun starts, forget boring centre right and centre left, NZ First is all over the place. Their enigmatic leader and current deputy PM, Winston Peters, is quite the character. In his 30+ years in government, he has formed coalitions with labour, national, a labour and loose greens combo (2017-2020), and currently back to national.
Many call him a populist, but one thing is for sure: he knows how to use the system to his advantage and crawl into the top positions without ever winning more than 14% of the vote. In 2017, he became the kingmaker with only 7.2% of the vote.
Greens
Perhaps the biggest difference here is that NZ Greens actually win seats in the house, sorry, better luck next time, Adam Bandt, at least you have 1 seat. In NZ Greens have won from 6 to 11% in recent years and last year took the key Auckland Central electorate.
Popular with the young and the climate-conscious, they focus on environmental issues, social equity, and Treaty justice. They’re known for their pragmatism, hemp-based clothing, and one member’s shoplifting habits.
ACT
Short for the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers, but don’t let the name fool you, they’re not a customer service team. ACT is a libertarian-leaning party focused on smaller government, lower taxes, and personal freedom. They’ve become increasingly popular with voters who like their politics economically right-wing with a touch of free-market idealism. Their leader, David Seymour, the current deputy PM, is an ideologue pioneering the department of red tape cutting, or government efficiency, as the Americans like to call it, years before Musk.
Te Pāti Māori
A party by and for Māori, Te Pāti Māori champions indigenous rights, language revitalisation, and self-determination. They’re unapologetically pro-Treaty and often speak loudly in parliament regarding this. They are basically guaranteed the 7 seats derived from the 7 Māori electorates, although last time round Labour one 1 seat, leaving them with 6 currently.
Election Shenanigans
Why do elections in NZ seem like a chaotic rugby scrum? For starters, they happen far too often, but Aus is no different in that regard. Every 3 years? Really? I am not sure if our countries will ever align with the 4 or 5-year terms most other countries give their leaders, and it’s a sticky subject for any government to bring up without being lambasted for ‘trying to cling on to power.’
Term limits aside, the election season is chaotic in NZ precisely because of MMP. All of those fringe voices that would generally get crushed by the titans in other, first-past-the-post or straight majority counties actually stand a chance. This leads to situations like the current government, where one major party, National, is constantly negotiating with its younger partners (ACT and NZ First).
Fun For the Whole Family
So there you have it, New Zealand politics in a not-so-neat package of coalitions, Māori seats, party-hopping veterans, and shoplifters. It may not have the budget of an Aussie campaign or the drama of a U.S. primary, but what it lacks in scale it makes up for in charm, chaos, and the occasional Winston Peters plot twist. If you’re tired of the same old left-right tune, hop the ditch and tune in to a Question Time over here. You might just find democracy’s scrappy, smaller sibling far more entertaining than expected, especially when it’s delivered with a Kiwi accent.
