Election update: A quarter have voted, National targets Swarbrick, and Labour’s last-minute policy

More than 900,000 people have already voted; National has spent the final days attacking Chlöe Swarbrick, who says she is ‘effectively being cyber-bullied’; and Labour releases new policy targeting household bills, Henry Oliver writes in today’s excerpt from The Bulletin.

Electoral Commission data shows 913,762 people had voted as of Sunday – about 24% of those enrolled, RNZ reports. At the equivalent point in 2023 that number was 712,192, just under 19%. The daily count has exceeded 2023 every day since booths opened, though it remains well short of 2020, when 1.16m had voted by this stage.

1News’s Tom Day reports that past turnout patterns lean one way: the three elections where turnout exceeded 80% (1999, 2005 and 2020) all delivered Labour wins. In 2017, at 79.8%, Labour also won, though with a lower share. But Day cautions against reading too much into it, noting that high turnout reflects enthusiasm for change or anxiety about it. He also points out National performed better in 2023’s advance vote (40.88%) than its final result (38.06%).

National v Swarbrick

As election day draws near, National has made Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick a main target, repeatedly claiming she would be finance minister if the government loses. RNZ counted 37 of the party’s 94 Instagram posts over six days featuring the Greens or Swarbrick.

“It’s a pretty bizarre situation when I guess I’m effectively being cyber-bullied by the most powerful people in the country,” Swarbrick told Morning Report. “Very clearly, the National Party are hysterical, and they are throwing haymakers on the way down.” She said she was happy to debate the finance portfolio and had challenged Nicola Willis to a debate, but that National was “not talking about the substance of what we are proposing, they just keep trying to paint me a bogeyman.”

Luxon rejected the characterisation: “The Greens are saying a bunch of things, and we just use their own words in our promotion.” He said he was confident the attacks did not meet the threshold of the Harmful Digital Communications Act. Willis, in a social media post reported by the Herald, described herself as “a woman in politics who gets my fair share of online flak,” acknowledged “many Kiwis are over the election campaign," but said National made "no apologies for giving Kiwis the information they need to make an informed decision.”

Labour’s last-minute household bills policy

Labour has promised to stop phone, internet and insurance companies charging loyal customers more than new ones, RNZ reported yesterday. Under the policy, companies would be barred from charging longstanding customers higher prices than new customers, and from shifting customers onto “unjustifiably” expensive plans when an introductory deal ends.

The party would also ban misleading discounts and specials, requiring that any advertised discount be based on the lowest price charged for that product in the previous 30 days. Labour says customers should be able to trust they are getting a genuine saving. “Too often, people who stay with the same phone, internet or insurance company for years end up paying more than a new customer,” Chris Hipkins said. “Many find their bills go up when a deal ends, or that a sale wasn’t the bargain it looked like.” He said people should not have to spend hours comparing prices, reading the fine print or changing companies to get a fair deal.

The policy document notes power companies are already required to check customers are on their best plan – framing the new rules as extending that principle to other utilities and insurers. Commerce and consumer affairs spokesperson Arena Williams said New Zealanders “deserve fair prices, honest deals, and more money left over at the end of the week.”