Barry Soper: Senior Political Correspondent talks polls, Future Generations Commissioner and Labour's housing policy

National's brought out the big guns after a poor poll result. Former Prime Minister John Key has posted a video on social media today, urging National supporters to get out and vote. This comes after yesterday's RNZ Reid Research poll - which had support for National dipping to 24.8 percent - while Labour led on 30.6. Former National Party Chief Press Secretary Janet Wilson told Heather du Plessis-Allan they've taken the wrong approach. She says they haven't properly laid out what they're going to do for people, and have instead opted for fear-mongering, rather than aspiration and hope. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ACT Leader David Seymour said it's "very possible" he'd ask to be Finance Minister if the coalition was re-elected. Speaking to Canterbury Mornings, Seymour told John MacDonald it's possible the current holder of the Finance portfolio, Nicola Willis, may not be returned to Parliament. "First of all will she get another term? That's why we've actually got to win the election first". Seymour served as Associate Minister of Finance this term. They also discussed his party's policies, what he thinks about a Christchurch school that's won a Ministry of Education contract to cook their own free school lunches, and what ACT can offer Canterbury voters. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Possible overhangs, high voter turnout, lower enrolment, and the Opportunity Party all mean the outcome of the election is too close to call, former Labour leader Phil Goff says. “Come Election Night, by midnight we may well not know who is going to govern New Zealand and that may take a couple of weeks after that, probably up to the edge of Christmas,” Goff told Ryan Bridge. While National could get a “huge overhang” if people split their candidate and party votes, it wasn’t clear if that campaign was working, Goff said. He also believed turnout this year would be better than in 2023, based on early voting levels. However enrolment was down, Goff said, claiming up to 100,000 people had been "disenfranchised" by the enrolment cutoff changing. The fate of Opportunity was also key, with leader Qiulae Wong saying she would find it very hard to work with NZ First. "If the Opportunity Party gets in then there is...a chance that there'll be a change of government. If they don't get in, that makes it much harder for the left-of-centre coalition." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So, the winner in week... what is it, five or six? The winner in week five of the election campaign was the polls. Not the pollsters. The polls. They were far from winners. The spread, the margin of error in some, is now so absurd they're writing articles about it. Ironically, I listened to an interview on Radio NZ as they tried to explain it. Small clue: they couldn't. They couldn't explain why their polls didn't bear any real resemblance to any of the other polls. There was a debate a number of years ago that polls should be banned a few weeks out from a vote. Given the variance in methodology these days, I reckon that's probably not a bad idea. But the polls I mean are the polling booths. I have voted. I voted on day one. And, as it turns out, a lot of people did. And that is a good sign. In part, it's a sign that a lot of us knew what we were voting for and had done for a while. In essence, the campaign makes zero difference. And the irony of course, is that once you can vote, and you do, the campaign is chasing ever-diminishing returns. And that is sort of what it feels like. This is a small-policy election. With the exception of the Greens, of course. But it's a rats-and-mice election. Labour have contained themselves, so they don't look radical. ACT are the personification of contained. NZ First do a bit of Māorification stuff and talk about trains. But given the state of the books, no one in their right mind has gone out with a cheque book and gone to town, for very obvious reasons. Except the Greens, of course, who will see none of their big-ticket policies ever see the light of day. Oh, and we aren't buying the BNZ. The most controversial policy, if feedback is anything to go by, has been Labour's rent-to-buy scheme. The state gives you money in your state house, then takes taxpayers' money and puts it aside and one day calls it a deposit so you can buy it. Meanwhile, someone in the same circumstances doesn't get a house, or a deposit, or anything. Cool policy. You didn't like it. So, good week for most. No one blew it. The gang fiasco faded. And I'm still picking Opportunity not to make it. One week to go. Thank the good Lord. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The short week has come to a close, which means it's time for Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson to help Mike Hosking Wrap the Week that Was. They unpack how the election campaign has gone with just one more week until the big day and discuss the new programme the Ministry of Education is rolling out for gifted kids before Mike starts telling slanderous lies about his producer. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.