Policy.nz now comes with added referendum information – the simple, elucidating, bullshit-free way to get the essential information you need.

Our expectations for Policy.nz in 2020 were high, and they’ve already been exceeded. As of lunchtime yesterday the site had recorded more than 305,000 unique users and 460,000 sessions, serving up more than two and a quarter million pages as the gods of democracy beamed with pride.

If you haven’t a pootle about on Policy yet, do it now. You may be trying to choose between two or more parties. Even if you’re clear on who you want to vote for, test yourself: try blinding the party names and check that it’s not just hardwired habit or a colour scheme seducing you. There’s no mysterious algorithmic soup or personality quiz baked into Policy. Just the pledges that have been made by the parties, boiled down and made easy to compare. Plus the candidates in your electorate: what are they up to and why do they deserve your vote?

One of the reasons Policy has captured imaginations both in New Zealand and around the world is the service it provides at a time when falsehood stalks our online lives. Misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy and plain old bullshit can make for a difficult, corruptible, or just exhausting exercise working out who to vote for. And not just who; also what. The noise around the twin referendums being put to New Zealanders, whether it comes from your social network of choice or your most vociferous family member, can bring on a headache.

Policy now brings its crisp, objective and accessible approach to those referendums. On both the legalisation of cannabis and end of life choice questions, Policy lays out the essential elements of the proposed changes.

Get a clear and dispassionate explanation of the changes the referendums would bring, the arguments for and against, and the positions of the political parties on the issues.

There aren’t many days to go. Get informed.