r/nzpolitics

The ACT Party wants to build New Zealand's first dedicated national cancer centre, turning a musing from new candidate Paul Henry into a campaign promise.

ACT would establish a philanthropic foundation to attract some of the funding, and get rid of a cap on donation tax credits - the same cap that put one National MP at odds with his party.

When he announced his candidacy in July, Henry said he wanted a world-class cancer hospital in New Zealand, but admitted it would cost "multiple billions" of dollars.

"I think you could easily get a group of wealthy New Zealanders to stump up with about 10 billion, easily. The rest of it we would borrow, but that would be an investment in New Zealand's future," he said at the time.

Now, the party has confirmed it is pressing ahead with the idea, unveiling a plan to build a "Starship for Cancer" with campuses in Auckland and Christchurch.

"Starship showed what New Zealand can achieve when we concentrate talent, technology, generosity and national ambition around a single mission. ACT wants to do the same for cancer," Henry said.

First off, I'd like to thank Mountain Tui and the Mods for allowing this post. Thank you not only for this post but for all that you do team.

I started building this because of a simple question I couldn't answer: do our politicians actually vote the way they promised they would?

Turns out that's surprisingly hard to check. Most votes in our Parliament are party votes — no individual MP records, just bloc totals buried in Hansard. So I built a site that digs out every vote, turns every bill into a plain-English question, and asks you: how would YOU vote?

You swipe support or oppose, then see how the House actually voted — party by party, every figure traced to the official record. No spin, no party line, and you don't need an account.

But somewhere along the way the project turned into something more meaningful. Two things did that.

First: not every bill gets public consultation. The select committee stage — where experts and ordinary people like you and me can make submissions — can be skipped entirely when bills are passed under urgency, and this term has set records for it. For those bills there's no official moment where you get a say. You find out when it's already law.

Second: while building it, I kept hearing the same thing from people in the public service — *"*I'd never put my name on a submission. It could end my career." So I built this so you don't have to. No name, ever. Vote without an account if you like, and even with an account we never ask who you are. Results only ever appear in aggregate.

So that's what it's really for now: not just checking what they did, but telling them what we want while a bill is still being considered — while they can still hear us.

The dream is that one day a journalist looks across the desk at a minister and asks: "Why are you pushing this bill when two million New Zealanders have said they oppose it?"

That question only becomes possible if the count exists. Right now it's tiny. That's why I'm posting.

If you've got 30 seconds: vote on one bill in an area you care about → https://fivemillionvoices.nz — no account, no signup, no name.

If you've got 45 seconds: share a bill with a friend. Every voice makes the count harder to ignore — and once there are enough of us, they're accountable to us on every bill.

If you've got 2 minutes: make an account so your vote lands in the verified one-person-one-vote count — that's the number that can't be waved away. Still no name.

If you want to stay in the loop: sign up for the weekly email on the topics that matter to you. Teacher? Follow education. Conservationist? Follow the environment. Nurse or doctor? Follow health. One email a week when bills in your world move — before they pass, not after. We'll even tell you when a bill has gathered enough voices to unlock its results.

If you've got opinions: I built this solo and I want it pulled apart. Every number links to its source in the official record — check me, and tell me what's wrong or missing (here in the comments, or feedback@fivemillionvoices.nz).

His comms team must be chuffed, he only had to apologise once...

So the chud is against the limit, but I feel the most interesting thing about this article is the breaking ranks. If they were confident of entering government again (at all) they wouldn't be undermining their own political career by ignoring the expected messaging.

What ever happened to the strong caucus discipline they used to be known for?

https://preview.redd.it/655advjn6ekh1.png?width=1240&format=png&auto=webp&s=93d4793b8571781542a62ee131b1967a930667ae

https://preview.redd.it/ujait7sq6ekh1.png?width=1240&format=png&auto=webp&s=6951f6c23809d8f10d92523bd2e907393ba3bc9f

Well done Jack Tame.

"Overseas enrolments across the Māori electorates has surged 67 percent since the 2023 election, with advocates in Australia saying political upheaval at home is drawing previously disengaged Māori into the political process.

Queensland-based enrolment advocates Rachael Marie Johnstone and Nicole Orzecki say they have seen a noticeable surge in Māori interest, particularly among younger voters.

"I've always voted and have always encouraged my kids to do the same. Three of them are old enough to vote and they're enrolled. It doesn't matter where we are in the world, we know where home is."

"I get so many people messaging to say, 'I didn't know I was allowed to vote,' and some will get stuck and message me, and I just guide them through or show them where to go next. It's basic and simple, but it works."

Tania Waikato, Green Party candidate for Waiariki, is doing an online enrolment workshop with lawwithrii on Sunday 30 August at 7pm. If anyone want the details lmk or feel free to look it up on her social media.

There are also multiple enrolment campaigns going on rn, online and in-person, with multiple different orgs too. I'll post some and feel free to share any too.

The Green Party wants to bring back the school lunch programme to what it was, and then expand it to more schools.

The party says if it is part of the next government, it will also permanently fund the Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme (which was renamed Healthy School Lunches in October).

The current government made changes to the model, in order to cut down on costs.

The programme had some early teething issues, including poor meal quality and a provider going into liquidation.

But Associate Education Minister David Seymour said in May that on-time delivery has been at almost 100 percent every day, and complaints had fallen by more than 92 percent.

The average cost per meal has now dropped to $3.58 across all suppliers, but the Greens want to restore the funding to $6.50 per lunch.

"Across more than 50 years of polling for the news bulletin at TVNZ – polling conducted by Heylen, then Colmar Brunton and its successors, Verian and Kantar – Labour and National have each hit some high highs and low lows. But never before have both, at the same time, returned a result of 30% or lower."

At a campaign event, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon responds to a deaf former dominatrix, telling her that her business's failure was due to a "demand issue". The dominatrix attributes her business's failure to public sector cuts in New Zealand's capital.