About this guide

Elections are fought over three years. The country is shaped over twenty-five.

Good tools already compare what the parties promise for the next term. This report does that too, issue by issue, then asks a second question: how ready do each party's plans leave New Zealand for 2050, and for the global risks no country can manage alone?

Two parts, two questions

This term: every party's policies in 13 groupings, from cost of living to community and culture, with statements to place yourself in each.
The long game: four pressures at home to 2050 (ageing, productivity, climate, infrastructure) and five global risks beyond them.

Why a second question

The biggest pressures build slowly, and the risks we share with every country (AI, climate breakdown, pandemics, great-power conflict, trust) rarely decide an election. They do decide what every future government can afford.

The one question to ask of every promise

Cost of living is the fever; productivity, housing supply and energy are the infection. Does a party's answer to this year's pain also treat the cause, or does it borrow from the future to ease the symptom?

The three-year problem

Our terms are unusually short. Only six of 193 UN member states give their main house a three-year term; most use four or five. [2]
Short terms reward quick wins. Long-term fixes cost now and pay later, often after the next election. [3]
Parties know it, but have not acted. A four-year term bill passed its first reading 117 to 6 in 2025, then was deferred in February 2026. [4]
The counter-view. The evidence is mostly qualitative; coalition management under MMP may matter as much as term length. [2]
Since 19 October (not yet scored): both main leaders backed a referendum on a four-year term.

Nine elections between now and 2050

Elections and milestones, 2026 to 2050

Elections every three years; milestones from Treasury, party plans and current targets.