The last week before voting starts: Act on GPs, Labour on screens, NZ First on rail, National on the right to silence

In today’s excerpt from The Bulletin: A policy round up as we head into the last week before early voting.

This is the first day of the last week of the election campaign before early voting opens on October 26. And it’s going to be a busy week for all involved – the last major leaders’ debate (hosted by Stuff and The Post) is on Tuesday night, and there’ll be new polls from both The Post/Freshwater Strategy and 1News-Verian.

Government relations consultant and The Spinoff’s Gone By Lunchtime co-host Ben Thomas told Henry Cooke in The Post that the election is too close to call. “Right now, three weeks out, we don't know who will lead the next government and we don’t know who will crown them,” he said. He added it was hard to see any new policy shifting the dial, but “there’s still downside possibilities for parties in the campaign. I can’t imagine there is a lot of upside left.”

But that doesn’t mean the parties aren’t trying to win over voters.

Act: $400m for GPs

Act has promised to invest an additional $400m in general practice – $100m a year over four years, on top of normal capitation increases, The Post’s Harriet Laughton reports. Tāmaki candidate James Christmas said one in four adults and one in five children missed a GP visit in 2024/25 because the wait was too long.

Act wants GPs working an average of 36.4 hours, up from 33.9 – the level of a decade ago. “Restoring average hours to previous levels would be equivalent to hundreds of additional full-time doctors, without recruiting a single new GP,” Christmas said. The party also points to 35% of GPs intending to retire within five years and 18% considering moving overseas.

Christmas criticised Labour’s three free GP visits: “There's no point promising more free appointments if there aren’t enough doctors to provide them.”

Labour: Sports not screen time

Labour would spend $12m over four years on Active Me – Kia Tū, offering grants of up to $300 a year for two years towards children’s sports costs, and $16m over four years on Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa, ring-fenced for community after-school sport, the Herald’s Adam Pearse reports.

The spending isn’t in Labour’s fiscal plan but is understood to come from unallocated headroom. Labour would also update ministry of education guidance on screen use, require clear classroom device policies, and retain the government’s phone ban. “Too much of childhood is being spent on screens,” Chris Hipkins said. National’s Erica Stanford said the policy “mirrors National’s screen-use policy announced four weeks ago.”

NZ First: Canterbury commuter rail

NZ First would commit to a 12-month commuter rail trial in Canterbury and bring back the Southerner between Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill, RNZ’s Lillian Hanly reports. Winston Peters said the aim was Rolleston to central Christchurch in about 20 minutes, against up to 50 minutes driving.

“The railway lines are already here and the taxpayer owns them,” Peters said. “We are not proposing to spend years and millions of dollars studying whether Cantabrians might catch a train.” He acknowledged a permanent service “can’t be built on wishful thinking.”

National: Right to silence

National would create a Crimes Act offence carrying up to 10 years’ prison for adults who refuse to give police information when a child under 12 is killed, Stuff reports. While the right to silence is a fundamental principle in criminal law, protecting citizens from state coercion and self-incrimination, Justice spokesman Paul Goldsmith said the right to silence “should not be absolute when a child has lost their life and, for example, there are only three people in the house, but no one is talking.”