Election 2026

I am no defender of what Michael Laws has said, and I made it pretty clear that I think what he said was quite weird and gross.

But I would also find it really weird and over the top if it turns out that New Zealand First fires him as an MP for this.

I mean, that does seem to be a possibility here, right?

It's possible that Winston is just stalling for time. He's saying there's going to be a board meeting and so on, but nothing is being done before the election. Then, once the election is out of the way and all the high drama has died down, nothing will happen.

But it's also possible that Michael Laws is gone because Winston has said it is a live issue whether he remains a potential MP. Winston is clearly, as he put it, "mad to beat the band", or words to that effect.

It is weird because this is a party that has made a virtue of being controversial. They have racked up plenty of controversial comments in the past year alone, not least from their own leader, who told Lawrence Xu-Nan of the Green Party to "go home to China".

Now, there is only one other occasion where a New Zealand First MP has been immediately punished for saying something a bit naughty and that was Stuart Nash over the maternity leave comments.

What do these two incidents have in common? What Stuart Nash said and what Michael Laws has said?

Women.

The thing they have in common is women. And this is probably why New Zealand First is reacting the way it is.

Women are a problem, as I've told you before, for the coalition. All three coalition parties have lost the women's vote in a big way to Labour and the Greens, and probably to the Opportunity Party as well.

Maybe it's because of the pay equity issue. Maybe it's because women are often the ones managing household budgets and they know just how tough things are out there.

But the coalition, frankly, cannot afford to lose more women because women make decisions.

And if women are annoyed about something Michael Laws has said, they will go home to their husbands or partners and let them know exactly what they think about it.

So I think that is why Michael Laws is, at least in a performative sense, in trouble.

Whether it actually turns into a firing, well, we'll have to wait and see.

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Michael Laws' radio boss claims he's being cyber-bullied in backlash over his denigrating remarks on air about women candidates.

The New Zealand First candidate isn't fronting for his slot on The Platform tomorrow.

Laws has been condemned for insulting Opportunity Party candidates on the show, including a reference to sex.

Platform director, Sean Plunket, says Laws was injured in a fall on Sunday, and reactions to revelations of his comments haven't helped.

Plunket's defended them to Heather du Plessis Allan - and claimed they make sense 'in context'.

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Labour leader Chris Hipkins is adamant he won't bow down to any Green demand for a wealth tax. 

The Greens want to set a 2.5 percent tax on net assets above $10 million belonging to the super-rich - excluding the family home. 

Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says if the left bloc wins the election, it's likely something will have to give during coalition negotiations. 

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There's two nights left until the election, and the major parties are campaigning hard to get votes.

National's campaign bus has been hitting the road, and Luxon's been reminding voters of the party's message in order to get a second term.

Luxon says there's no substitute for getting out and meeting people and hearing the issues that impact them directly. 

"I actually think there's no substitute, actually, for just getting out there and meeting as many people as you possibly can and hearing their stories and sort of discussing what's going on in the country." 

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Michael Laws. It should come as absolutely no surprise that he has shown his colours, he's shown them time and time again. When Winston Peters was in studio with me when we were doing the leaders discussions and you were phoning in and asking questions of the leaders, I thought I'd said it to him on air, but I must have said in a commercial break after I'd talked about the sort of calibre of the candidates and I said to Winston, "Michael Laws, what on earth are you doing with him?" Winston looked a bit surprised and said, "No, he's very intelligent. What's wrong with Michael? Very intelligent." I said, "He's awful, he's. No, I don't think he's going to be an asset to you. Oh, no, no." And the thing about Winston is he is very loyal, he and Michael Laws go way back, but I could not understand the rationale. Are there not enough candidates of sufficient calibre wanting to stand for New Zealand First? Why on earth would you bring Michael Laws back into the fold unless you were myopically loyal to somebody with whom you'd had a long-standing professional relationship?  

And what do you know? Just a few short days later, he's proving a problem for New Zealand First and a distraction, a major distraction. I know we live in a world where you can have a US president who boasts about grabbing women by the pussy, but still, that's the US. We don't have to follow suit. Winston Peters told Ryan Bridge this morning that they haven't had time as a party to decide what they're going to do about Laws, they'll deal with that after the election. 

WP: It's careless, it's not thinking the issues through and thinking out loud is a silly way to behave, especially if you're a candidate for a party in an election. And it's all of those things and worse. So we've just made it very clear to Michael how we feel about it. The party's brassed off, the women in the party are very annoyed because they've done so much work to get this party where it is. 

RB: After Stuart Nash? 

WP: Well, you know, Stuart Nash was never. When he made the comments he wasn't an approved candidate, so it was not difficult to deal with. 

RB: Right. 

WP: I'm going to make sure that the party's fully aware of all the circumstances of this and the moment this election's over, but we are flat out with two days to go in a campaign. Is it a serious difficulty or is it a handicap in what we're trying to do? Of course it is. It's all of those things and we are brassed off the beat the band, make no bones about it. 

I'm glad he didn't try and minimise it because the dichotomy is that you have Winston Peters as leader of the party and whatever criticisms I have of Winston, he is a chivalrous man. I do not believe for a second he would make the sort of comment that Michael Laws did or the previous candidate Stuart Nash has made about women, not even in private, he wouldn't even think those thoughts. And yet his party attracts men who seem to have extremely odd views of women. Michael Laws' sexualising of women in the Opportunity Party, which was gross, comes on top of Stuart Nash's comments about his former opponent in Napier taking parental leave and also his crude definition of a woman, let's not forget that. And Ron Mark's linking the sinking of the Manawanui, which was captained by a woman, to the appalling diversity in the New Zealand Defence Force. 

Thomas Coughlan has written an excellent piece in the Herald this morning and as he says, this shouldn't rattle what people think of New Zealand First. It has always been scandal prone and like the lost boys without Wendy, has always been a home for candidates, often male, who have a habit of saying outrageous, often offensive things. Lost boys without Wendy, excellent line. But it's true. I mean, here you've got and that's what the dichotomy is, that's what's so dichotomous. You've got Winston Peters, who is a gentleman. You can, and I have, fulminate against all sorts of things that he does, but he's never crude. I don't believe for a second he thinks women are just sex bits or lazy cows for taking parental leave or whatever, and yet this is what the party attracts.

And he is going to have to deal with Michael Laws after the election because these are the comments from the party leaders. Christopher Luxon: "He will not be a minister in my government," referring to Michael Laws. Chlöe Swarbrick: "It's just gross." Yes, it is. "He's from another era, he should go back to Noah and the Ark," Nicola Willis. Barbara Edmonds said, "Women have a place in politics, we have a place in leadership. The fact that we have three finance spokespeople who are wāhine shows that women have a place here. We should be respected as opposed to being talked down to." And Qiulae Wong, "He makes my skin crawl," which sums it up beautifully.  

But still, I have never voted for New Zealand First and I can't imagine doing so. Stranger things have happened and hopefully I've got a few elections left in me, but I've never voted New Zealand First, so what I think doesn't really matter. It's not going to affect my vote and it's certainly not going to affect my opinion of Laws because it's pretty much what I thought of him before he made the comments, he's done it before, he'll undoubtedly do it again. But it makes me wonder, is there a place in politics for this sort of party? Are there people who yearn for the days where women were just two tits and a pussy? Is there a cohort of people who think that? Maybe so. I don't know any of them, it doesn't mean they don't exist. I mean, how could you possibly have somebody like that in politics?

It is going to be a problem for New Zealand First the way I see it, but as I say, never voted for them and it's not going to change my vote. Will it change yours? If you're a New Zealand First supporter, do you scratch your head about the candidate selection? And if you are leaning towards New Zealand First, does this change your opinion whatsoever or do you still think it's basically a Winston Peters party, you love Winston, he would never say anything like that, so therefore your vote goes to Winston?

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Labour's Leader believes it was necessary for them to tighten up their campaign and promises leading into this year's election. 

Chris Hipkins told Mike Hosking people have had a guts full of politicians making big sweeping promises with soaring political rhetoric and then disappointing on the other side. 

"I'm determined not to do that." 

"I want voters to know that the promises that I'm making are promises I will keep, and that I'm not just spouting what I need to spout in order to get elected." 

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National's Finance Spokesperson is optimistic that despite the unemployment rate rising, another term in government would see things right. 

Stats NZ data released yesterday saw the rate rise from 5.6% to 5.7% in the September quarter. 

Nicola Willis told Mike Hosking our Official Cash Rate is much healthier than Australia's, who are dealing with an 18 year high. 

"Inflation is under better control and growth is returning; we're doing what we can." 

She said high oil prices and an election had created uncertainty for businesses to employ workers. 

"There's a possible increase to taxes, a lot more borrowing and higher inflation and higher interest rates…" 

"We [National] will be able to find work; we have incentives in the welfare system to nudge them along and good training programmes in place. 

"I'm also optimistic all of these fast-tracked projects will provide opportunities up and down regions not just in maim cities and the South Island." 

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The latest unexpected rise in unemployment could be a sign the economy isn't doing as well as expected.

Four hundred and 38-thousand people aren't working as much as they could be in the September quarter.

That includes 174-thousand - about 5.7 percent of the workforce - who wanted a job but didn't have one.

Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen shares his thoughts with Ryan Bridge. 

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Some traders in financial markets have expressed concerns about the impact of a potential left-wing Government as the 2026 election enters the final stretch.

The concerns are around more Government spending and more policies aimed at lifting wages without boosting productivity, which could add more pressure to inflation. 

NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny explained further.

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The 2026 election is set to wrap up this coming Saturday, and Labour's Barbara Edmonds is feeling hopeful.

The major parties have been reaching out to voters, and Labour will be feeling a boost off the back of recent polling data.

Edmonds says the mood feels different from the 2023 election.

"Chippy's had a hard three years, he's had to keep us unified - and then here he is, three days left... again, high energy."

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