Hau Taki Haere | Tertiary Update Election Special.

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Voting has now started in the 2026 General Election!

This edition of Tertiary Update is dedicated to the 2026 General Election. You’ll find practical information on where to vote as well as expert policy and political analysis.

What's your plan to vote?

Places you can vote

There are hundreds of places to vote all around the country, including at some tertiary institutions.

The Electoral Commission has a great map you can use to find all the locations to vote and the details about when they are open. https://map.vote.nz/voting-places

Is there anyone in your friend and whānau network you can support to get to voting place?

Make a plan to vote. Decide on a day, a time and a location – check that the location you want to vote at is open at your planned time. Each voting place has different times and dates that it is operating.

Remember, you can vote anytime from now until the polls close on Saturday 7 November.

Remind your friends overseas to vote! There are heaps of people who are living overseas who can vote in the election. People overseas can vote online or in-person at an overseas voting place. They can vote from overseas if they’re a citizen who has been in New Zealand in the past 3 years, or a permanent resident who has been here in the past 12 months. Who do you know overseas who you can remind to vote?

Policy analysis

We’ve done some detailed policy assessment so that you don’t have to! This is to ensure that TEU members are informed about what political parties are promising when it comes to our tertiary education sector.

In September, we surveyed the parties currently in parliament, as well as Opportunity, to understand each party’s views on issues that matter to TEU members – tertiary funding, pay equity, workers’ rights, and academic freedom. Unfortunately, many of the political parties didn’t engage. The Greens and Te Pāti Māori completed the survey, we received only a partial response from National, and no response at all from ACT, New Zealand First, and Opportunity. Rather than answer the yes/no survey questions directly, Labour provided written responses to 6 of the 15 questions.

We think this says a lot about the extent to which each party values tertiary education, particularly as they vie for votes.

The remainder of this article provides an overview of current tertiary policy from political parties that, based on current polling, are likely to be elected to parliament at the 2026 General Election.

ACT

ACT’s tertiary platform covers relatively little ground, and, at the time of writing, the party has announced no specific 2026 policy on overall tertiary funding, staffing, polytechnics, or wānanga.

ACT’s track record on education involves securing the coalition commitment (during the 2023 coalition negotiations) which requires universities to adopt statements on freedom of expression and set up academic freedom complaints processes – these legislative changes came into effect in 2025. ACT also opposed Fees Free from the outset and supported the decision to scrap the scheme, as announced in Budget 2026.

Regarding student scholarships, grants, financial assistance, and accommodation, ACT’s Equal Treatment at Universities policy would prevent universities from offering such benefits based on race or ethnic origin. Instead, universities would need to focus on allocating support based on factors such as academic merit, academic need, geographic location, economic circumstances, or disability.

Under ACT’s Real Choice for Students policy, Student Services Fees would become voluntary. This means that the amount students pay or borrow on top of tuition fees – typically up to around $4,000 over the course of a degree – will be reduced. To achieve this, ACT would require universities to offer student services on a user pays model – fitness facilities, student union membership, and student media as a menu, meaning that students would only pay for the services they choose to use.

Regarding learning pathways, ACT aims to put vocational education on an equal footing with universities by building a national trades pathway in secondary schools. It would combine existing vocational funding streams into a single uncapped entitlement that follows each student. Schools would keep their base and equity funding when students learn off-site and would receive a top-up averaging around $2000 per student for each approved industry-led subject, up to two subjects a year. It would also create a set of Industry Awards, intended to have the same standing as University Entrance, with credits counting towards later apprenticeships, and give Industry Skills Boards an ongoing role in developing new industry-led subjects.

ACT is yet to release a research, science, and technology policy. In 2024, the party supported refocusing the Marsden Fund toward core science with economic, environmental, and health benefits.

Greens

The Greens frame tertiary education as a public good that has been eroded by years of underfunding. They want a free, inclusive, and democratic system that supports lifelong learning, responds to the needs of local communities, is grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi and mātauranga Māori, and empowers people to benefit humanity and the planet.

At the centre of their platform is a rebuilt funding model that pays for the full work of institutions: teaching, research, pastoral care, student services, full participation of disabled students, and a broad course offering.

A lack of tertiary resourcing is explicitly linked to staff stress and exhaustion levels. In response, the Greens promise to attract and retain staff through ensuring decent pay and conditions, requiring institutions to employ enough staff to keep workloads manageable, and invest in professional development, particularly in inclusive and culturally responsive teaching.

Polytechnics would get both funding and autonomy under a commitment to adequate funding, strong local control and protection of courses, campuses and jobs from further cuts.

For ākonga Māori, the Greens would ensure equitable outcomes, hold every institution to its Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations, fully resource Whare Wānanga, and widen access to Māori and Pasifika Trades Training.

Research funding is tied to the party’s broader economic development plan. . The Greens would reverse the Coalition Government’s science funding cuts as a step towards research and development spending of 3% of GDP. They would also create mission-linked fellowships for early- and mid-career researchers and technical specialists, boost tertiary research and innovation by $100 million per year, support the humanities and social sciences, foster blue-sky research, and restore Centres of Vocational Excellence.

For students, the Greens are pitching a universal student income extending to postgraduates, lower loan repayments, and fees-free study and a student debt write-off as long-term goals. Students in nursing, teaching, social work, and other essential health and social support fields would receive a universal $380 weekly payment, on top of any student loan or allowance they already receive. A one-off $1500 relocation grant would go to those who must move for a placement. Beyond degree-level study, the party would expand free apprenticeship programmes, abolish the training wage so apprentices are paid properly while they learn, and introduce a $2000 equipment grant to cover apprentices’ tools, uniforms, and course materials. They would also provide a $30 million annual funding uplift for Māori- and Pasifika-led training, and pay employers a $2000 completion bonus for actively supporting apprentices through their qualifications. In addition, the party’s job guarantee would offer every 16- to 24-year-old who has been out of work for six months a pathway into a job in their local community.

The Greens’ package also includes a return to default student union membership and a co-governance model for all education organisations involving staff, students, communities, unions, and Māori representatives.

Labour

Labour frames its tertiary policy around three principles: accessibility, affordability, and equity. Its stated goal is a stable, sustainable system of universities, polytechnics, and wānanga, alongside attracting more international students.

Labour has promised a review of tertiary funding to be completed by the end of 2027 but has not committed to capping fees increases.

Labour has announced no specific policy on tertiary staff, nor have they set out separate polytechnic measures beyond commitment to system stability.

On wānanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Labour would protect and expand the role of wānanga, partly as a way to reach the growing number of young people not in employment, education or training. The party also supports keeping targeted entry schemes such as the Māori and Pacific Admissions Scheme (MAPAS).

Regarding research, Labour says it values long-term public good research and would prioritise public investment in research, science, and innovation. It has criticised the Government’s cuts to the science sector but has not committed to a specific funding level.

For students, Labour will not bring back Fees Free and is focussing instead on reducing debt. It would cut eligible student loan balances by 10% for borrowers who did not benefit from Fees Free and wipe balances of $2000 or less entirely. Graduates already repaying would get the cut on 1 April 2027, and current and future students would get it after staying in New Zealand for three years after finishing their studies. Labour has costed the policy at $583.4 million over five years, and then nearly $40 million a year once fully running, from 2031.

Labour would extend Apprenticeship Boost employer subsidies of $500 a month from one to two years from July 2028. From July 2027 it would also add a $1000 toolbox grant, cover five more trades, and pilot mentoring, at an average cost of $56.5 million a year over four years. A $21 million-a-year contestable fund, starting after Budget 2027, would support marae, iwi trusts, and Māori providers to run employment-focused training with mentoring. Labour would also guarantee a job of at least 0.8 FTE to every eligible New Zealand-trained graduate nurse, about 2,400 a year, with offers made at graduation and funding for primary and community care graduate roles doubled, at a cost of $525 million.

Lastly, on tertiary governance, Labour would require every tertiary institution to provide internal student representation and advocacy.

National

National’s vision for tertiary education is set out in the Tertiary Education Strategy 2025-2030. The strategy describes its focus on economic growth as intentional and unapologetic. It sets five priorities: achievement that leads to good careers; economic impact and innovation; access and participation; collaboration with employers, iwi, and communities; and growth in international education.

National led government scrapped Fees Free in Budget 2026 and returned only part of the $1.2 billion in savings (over four years) to tertiary education. That included $234 million over two years to fund 99% of forecast enrolments, $69 million over four years for Trades Academy places, and $87 million for an additional 1000 Youth Guarantee places. Since 2025, fee increases have been set at the maximum of 6%. National recently announced increased funded training placements for dentistry – bringing the annual intake from 60 to 72 – and domestic vets, with an increase from 125 to 140.

National’s main structural change has been to polytechnics: it disestablished Te Pūkenga and restored ten polytechnics to regional governance, with a stronger role for industry.

Regarding research, National replaced the Performance-Based Research Fund with a new Tertiary Research Excellence Fund. However, Budget 2026 added no new research funding and capped funding for international PhD students in 2027. National has also reshaped the science system, including disbanding humanities and social science from the Marsden Fund, cancelling the 2026 round of the Endeavour Fund, and merged seven Crown Research Institutes into three Public Research Organisations with a greater focus on commercially focused science.

National’s main policy for students is the Back Pocket Boost for Graduates policy. From 1 April 2027 it would cut the compulsory student loan repayment rate for New Zealand-based borrowers from 12 to 10 cents in every dollar earned above $24,128, at an estimated cost of $438 million over five years. It would also get tougher on overseas borrowers, with an extra 1% interest charge, tiered penalties for sustained default, easier arrest warrants, and a requirement to clear student loans before withdrawing KiwiSaver after permanent emigration.

On governance, the Government has given effect to the coalition’s free speech commitment through legislation requiring universities to adopt statements on freedom of expression and to establish academic freedom complaints processes.

New Zealand First

At the time of writing, NZ First has released less tertiary policy than any other party. The party describes spending on education and science as an investment in the nation’s future, and it wants the tertiary sector closely linked to industry and New Zealand’s primary sector.

On funding, past policies include restoring CPI inflation adjustments to tertiary as a way to protect departments and programmes from cuts and to support regional polytechnics, and raising the proportion of tertiary tuition subsidies for specific high-demand courses, such as science and technology, to grow appropriately qualified graduates.

NZ First has announced no specific policy on tertiary staff, wānanga, or Te Tiriti o Waitangi in tertiary education. Tellingly, however, during TEU’s Election Forum 2026, NZ First spokesperson for tertiary education, Andy Foster, admitted not having knowledge of the wānanga sector.

Research is where NZ First’s thinking is most developed. They would prioritise the review of the new Public Research Organisations to ensure they are focused on areas of national importance, innovation, and commercialisation. The party would encourage alliances between industry, research organisations, and tertiary institutions to increase scholarships, build graduate capability, and facilitate technology transfer between the public and private sectors. They would also require state entities to actively work with tertiary providers on research and development. Research priorities would include primary industries, earth sciences, health, and advanced technologies such as AI and quantum computing.

Although NZ First has protected the Fees Free scheme in past parliamentary terms, they are not advocating for its re-implementation. Regarding student debt, past policy included a year of debt being wiped for every two years worked in New Zealand in critical areas such as teaching, health, and engineering – it is not clear if NZ First are campaigning on this policy in 2026. The party thinks tertiary education should be affordable and, without expanded university services, consider recent 6% fee increases as unreasonable.

Opportunity

Opportunity sees tertiary education and research as central to building an innovation-led economy. It proposes a 20-year Skills and Learning Accord to build a resilient tertiary sector, with stable and sustainable funding, coherent national strategies, pathways between vocational and academic learning, and restored Adult and Community Education.

It would restore the $80 million in polytechnic baseline funding cut by the current Government and turn polytechnics into regional innovation hubs with a mandate to lead regional productivity growth. Polytechnics and Public Research Organisations would receive up to $10,000 per business enquiry to work on real-world business problems, at an estimated $20 million per year. Regional polytechnics and wānanga would also be given long-term funding and a clear mission, so that learners outside the main centres can access high-quality vocational and academic pathways.

Opportunity would lift research and development spending to 2% of GDP within ten years, at least 0.6% of it public, with a longer-term goal of 3% by 2050. It would invest in research capability across universities, wānanga, and polytechnics, create a new early- and mid-career research support fund, and ensure future contestable research funds include the humanities and social sciences. Costed measures include $125 million a year to restore core science funding, $100 million for a new fund for early- to mid-career researchers, and $175 million to expand major contestable funds.

For graduates, Opportunity would forgive student loan interest for up to three years spent overseas, both for new graduates and for those already abroad. The interest would be written off when the loan is fully repaid, provided the borrower is living in New Zealand, at an estimated cost of $95 million a year.

Te Pāti Māori

Te Pāti Māori education and training policy rests on four principles: education must uphold identity; Māori learners thrive when Māori lead; whānau are central to educational success; and knowledge systems are plural, not hierarchical.

Te Pāti Māori are seeking to build Māori-led education solutions, embed mātauranga Māori across learning, and remove the barriers that block whānau from education and training. Its centrepiece is a Māori Education Authority that would ensure long-term funding stability and improve accessibility.

For the education workforce, the party would support Māori teachers, kaiako, and support staff, address pay inequities and workload pressures, and ensure teachers’ pay rises keep pace with inflation.

Te Pāti Māori would strengthen pathways into academic and vocational training and support second-chance and adult education. Its Economic Development policy commits to protecting Māori data and knowledge through data sovereignty.

For students, Te Pāti Māori would create a universal student allowance at double the current rates and restore eligibility for postgraduate, part-time, and long-course students. It would also abolish the parental income threshold and let students earn more before their allowance is reduced. On loans, the party would write off the living-cost component of all student loans and work towards full write-offs for borrowers who live and work in New Zealand for five years. It would also extend free public transport to tertiary students.

Regarding governance, the party would strengthen Māori governance and decision-making at all levels of education, ensure Māori voice shapes policy, curriculum and assessment, and resource iwi, hapū, and Māori organisations as education partners.

CTU policy scorecards

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions has produced a range of policy scorecards assessing issues of relevance to working people – you can view them here - https://union.org.nz/election-scorecards-26/

The Right to Strike and Progressive Taxation

Brian Roper, Associate Professor, University of Otago

These are two areas of policy-making that are especially important for union members. Workers in this country are subject to tight restrictions on the right to strike. This is crucially important because strike action is the most effective way for workers to obtain better pay and conditions of employment. So where do the parties stand on this issue? The Green Party is the only party that is committed to “expanding the right to strike, including for breaches of collective agreements and political and solidarity reasons” (Manifesto, p.42). The Labour Party is not committed to expanding the right strike in its Fairer Workplaces Policies. Te Pāti Māori has no formal policy but is likely to support expanding the right to strike given its call for Māori workers to strike on budget day to protest the government's policies affecting Māori. National and ACT further restricted the right strike while in government and can be expected to introduce further restrictions if elected for a second term.

Neoliberal taxation reform has been the most important policy driver of increasing socio-economic inequality in Aotearoa. It simultaneously cut taxes for the rich while substantially increasing the amount of tax paid by those on low- and middle-incomes. Consequently, progressive tax policies are essential to reduce inequality. Labour is committed to introducing a capital gains tax. “There will be a 28 percent tax on any profit made after 1 July 2027 when a commercial or residential property (excluding the family home) is sold” (Targetted Tax Changes, p.4). The Greens are committed to “Make income tax settings fair and progressive, by introducing a tax-free threshold, reducing tax rates for low- and middle-income earners, and increasing the top rate of income tax.” Also, to “Introduce a super-rich tax of 2.5% on net wealth over $10 million so that multimillionaires pay their fair share” (Manifesto, p.24). These measures will reduce the amount of tax paid by 96% of the population. Te Pāti Māori will introduce a $30k tax-free threshold so those earning less than this don’t pay income tax, remove GST from kai, and introduce a graduated wealth tax (1.5% on $2-5 million, 2% for $5-10 million, 2.5% over $10 million). It will also increase the tax rate on company profits from 28% to 33% and promises to introduce other progressive taxes. National and ACT will continue to reduce the tax burden on the wealthy while increasing the proportion of tax paid by everyone else.

As things stand

Richard Shaw, Professor of Politics, Massey University / Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa

As things presently stand – five aspects of the 2026 election campaign stick out for me. The first is the decline in support for what we continue to call the two major parties. For decades now, the combined electoral vote for Labour and National has been heading south. Until the adoption of MMP in 1996 that erosion was masked by the ways in which FPP discouraged voting for minor parties: since then, however, and with the exception of the election in 2020, the general direction of travel has been growth in the vote for parties other than Labour and National. That trend is continuing this year.

And it leads to the second issue, which is that – barring a sudden and unlikely late surge in support for one or other of them – whoever leads the next government will likely not exercise the degree of influence we are accustomed to seeing from Labour- or National-led governments.

If the incumbent prime minister returns for a second term (more on which shortly), he will lead an administration in which National is a diminished force. Given the current polls it is entirely possible that when he next sits at the cabinet table, Christopher Luxon will not see Nicola Willis, Paul Goldsmith or Chris Bishop. What he may very well see are New Zealand First (NZF) and ACT ministers with little or no ministerial (let alone parliamentary) experience. He may also see one or other, or both, of his deputies from the 54th Parliament patiently waiting their turn in the top seat, having negotiated a spell as PM as part of the price for a second term in office.

Similarly, a re-installed Prime Minister Hipkins would also lead a government light on ministerial experience. His Cabinet would certainly include a healthy smattering of Green Party ministers, as well as, perhaps, one or two from Te Pāti Māori (TPM) (although that relies on all sorts of assumptions about the contests in the Māori seats, and on TPM’s appetite for full Cabinet status). If the Opportunity Party exercises the balance of power and leans left, Qiulae Wong’s people are likely to offer support to a Labour-led administration on confidence and supply from the crossbenches.

Either way, it looks like forming the next government will again involve stitching together an executive arrangement including three (or perhaps four) parties. If so, and the three party executive coalition formed in 2023 becomes the new normal, it will have everything to do with the decline in support for the two major parties.

The fact that there is even a conversation about who leads the next government speaks to the third matter, which is the distinct possibility that the current coalition will be a one term government. One term administrations are rare beasts: the last time we had one was in 1975.

Moreover, if National, NZF and ACT are turfed out of office, it would mark the third consecutive election in which an MMP ‘first’ has been registered. In 2020 Prime Minister Ardern led the first single party majority government under MMP, and in 2023 the first formal three party executive coalition was formed. The hat trick may not be far off.

Whether or not it comes to pass may depend on the fourth striking feature of the campaign, which is the clamour around strategic voting. Most people vote with a straight ticket: in other words, they give their party vote and electorate vote to the same party. But New Zealanders have been splitting their votes ever since the adoption of MMP. It’s just that this year the debate about strategic voting has ramped up several notches.

The noise started after TPM announced it would be pursuing a ‘1 tick’ strategy, advising their supporters to give their electorate vote to TPM and to party vote either the Greens or Labour. Voices on the political right (much to the chagrin of past and present National Party prime ministers) proceeded to mount their own campaign in support of split voting, suggesting to National-leaning voters that they party vote ACT or NZF and cast their electorate vote to their party's candidate.

Strategic voting does not always create parliamentary overhangs. One of the (in)famous examples was the cup of tea John Key and John Banks shared in 2011, at which the former let it be known that he wouldn't be unhappy if National’s supporters in Epsom gave their electorate vote to the ACT party’s leader. As it happened, that year there was a one seat overhang, but it wasn't a result of the cup of tea; it was because of the Māori Party’s strong showing in the Māori electorates.

Sometimes, however, strategic voting does produce parliamentary overhangs. In fact, overhangs are not uncommon; they’ve happened after five of the 10 MMP elections. What feels different this year is that (a) the calls to split votes have been explicit, such that (b) there is a possibility that the overhang will be pronounced and therefore consequential for the formation of the next government. If the latter comes to pass – whether from the left or right – it could well test public support for the electoral system, and for the legitimacy of the institutions chosen through those rules.

Finally, this year's campaign raises questions about language. For the reasons mentioned above, the language of ‘major’ and ‘minor’ parties is starting to feel a little anachronistic. In strictly numerical terms it still makes sense (for now) to refer to Labour and National as major parties. But as the influence of what we still (for now) call minor parties in both the formation and day-to-day operation of governments grows, it may be that we need to change the words we use. My pick is that in 2029 we will no longer be putting adjectives in front of the noun ‘party’.