Jed Joyce: Rollickin' Gelato Founder with their 2026 Scoop Poll

Winston Peters says the 2026 election campaign is one of the worst he's ever seen. The New Zealand First Leader told Mike Hosking on the Leaders Breakfast people are sick and tired of it – the pettiness, the diversion, the misleading representation. He says if you ask people in the audience, as he did at public meeting in the Hutt Valley last night, if they're sick and tired of it, they all put their hands up. The party is also taking its campaign directly to the people, with Winston Peters arguing packed-out town halls are the best poll there is. NZ First's been drawing big crowds around the country in recent months, taking a different approach to many of its rivals. Peters told Hosking the mainstream media has dramatically changed, and claims it now takes sides politically in the worst way he's seen. He says there's only social media, or the old fashion way of meeting locals, to fight that. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ACT Leader David Seymour is cautiously confident the coalition could have speedier post-election negotiations this year, compared to 2023. National, ACT, and New Zealand First took 40-days to strike a deal after the last election. Both the Leaders of National and Labour have promised to try to finish negotiations by Christmas, but no firm promises have been made. Seymour told Mike Hosking on the Leaders Breakfast he can't speak for his colleagues in NZ First or National, but they have experience on side this time. He says himself and the other party leaders all know each other and have worked together. Seymour acknowledged compromise is necessary but says their proposal to remove tax from KiwiSaver is an important aspect of their policy platform. He also made it clear though that proposals by potential partners for compulsory KiwiSaver are a "non-starter". He didn’t express regret when asked about the level of reform the Government had been unable to progress, again pointing to the need for compromise. When asked if this morning’s RNZ Reid Research poll putting National below 25% was an outlier, Seymour didn’t provide a direct answer although noted Reid Research in 2023 had National lower than what it ended up on election night. Seymour argued ACT had “come of age as a party”, lauding the efforts of his ministers in Government. He believed ACT candidate James Christmas would win the Tamaki seat and likened National’s current candidate to Simon O’Connor, who lost the long-time National seat to Brooke van Velden in 2023. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Greens Co-Leader Chlöe Swarbrick believes any dip in the polls as a result of the party’s association with gangs would have already been seen, but argues voters are more interested on other issues. Two polls this week show the Green Party holding its 14-16% vote share of recent months. The polling period of both polls captured in its final days the saga concerning last week’s resignation of Labour candidate Kerrin Leoni for campaigning at a gang event, which came after MPs from Te Pāti Māori and the Greens did the same. Swarbrick told Mike Hosking on the Leaders Breakfast she would have expected any impact to have been seen in polls this week, and believes voters were more interested in issues such as the cost of living. Asked about Labour leader Chris Hipkins ruling out many Green Party tax reform policies and ruling out giving the party some ministerial positions, Swarbrick insisted the relationship between the two parties was good and “collaborative”, noting she and co-leader Marama Davidson had regular conversations. However, she acknowledged the declining “direction of travel” for the two major parties, which she believed made the rule-in, rule-out conventions nonsensical. Swarbrick didn’t provide a clear answer when questioned on what her party might be able to secure in coalition negotiations regarding tax reform. Labour has promised no new taxes aside from its capital gains tax, whereas the Greens have proposed extensive tax reform, headlined by a wealth tax. While she encouraged people to vote for what they wanted, Swarbrick said, “of course we’re going to compromise". Swarbrick appeared confident her party would retain the three electorate seats it won in 2023, but also felt it likely the Greens would win Te Tai Tokerau and Christchurch Central, which was a long-time Labour seat. On Opportunity, Swarbrick wasn’t sure how much of the Greens vote had been lost to Qiulae Wong, saying the party’s support seem to be “flowing in from everywhere”, reiterating how Opportunity could support the current governing parties and how it wasn’t a guaranteed vote to change the Government. She observed that voters were “exhausted” and sick of the “tit-for-tat nonsense”. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Labour has unveiled their new renters' policy - aimed at increasing protections for tenants and creating new standards for landlords. Landlords will be required to give more notice before ending a tenancy, rent rises would be limited to once a year and proper curtains and blinds would be required under Healthy Homes Standards. Labour Finance Spokesperson Barbara Edmonds says these changes will give tenants better security. "It's a package which, for us, we want to be able to have a bit more security of tenure - and a large amount of people actually rent these days." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong says the party is considering ruling out working with New Zealand First after the release of a controversial ad - and Winston Peters' defence of it. The ad was posted to social media yesterday, and it featured candidate Ron Mark blaming the HMNZ Manawanui sinking on DEI. Mark says his statements reflect what the Government was thinking when they repealed the DEI mandates earlier this year. "I just think it makes us a laughing stock with Australia and the Five Eyes people, and it's about maintaining an unassailable and unquestionable level of professionalism." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.