Ahead of the 2026 General Election, scheduled for Saturday 7 November, the Science Media Centre asked political parties about their science policies.
Responses to all 12 questions on science policy and investment, climate and natural hazards, gene tech, AI, and emerging tech, are available below.
Previous election Q&As are available here.
Responses listed in order of the number of seats in the current parliament.
The National Party and Te Pāti Māori did not respond by our deadline. NZ First has noted that for a lot of areas, the party has yet to finalise its policies. ACT declined our invitation and says its policy manifesto will be published on their website prior to the election. We will update our website with any further responses received.
Science Investment
What level of public investment in research, science, technology and innovation would your party commit to over the next term, and what are the priorities?
Labour: Labour will prioritise public investment in research, science and innovation. New Zealand already invests less in R&D than most of the countries we compete with, and the past three years have made that worse with the government choosing to cut Callaghan Innovation, job losses at GNS Science, the Institute of Environmental Science and Research, and cuts to the Marsden Fund. The Government has also closed the Sustainable Food and Fibre.
NZ First: New Zealand First treats money spent on education and science as an investment in our nation’s future, not as mere expenditure. While our policies do not commit to a specific, arbitrary percentage of GDP or a fixed dollar amount, we commit to supporting the primary industry sector and helping it grow sustainably by supporting value-driven innovation and enterprise.
Our funding priorities include:
− Primary Industries and Bioeconomy: Sustainable, value-driven innovation across agriculture, forestry, horticulture, aquaculture, and fisheries to secure New Zealand’s competitive advantages. Funding research to combat biological threats (such as Kauri dieback and Myrtle Rust) and developing species-specific, humane alternatives to aerial 1080 poison.
− Value-Add Focus: focused on value-added outcomes rather than administrative duplication. An emphasis on market-led research and innovation and where possible basic science that supports key sectors in the economy. Exploring and advancing value-added opportunities such as functional foods, biopharmaceuticals, bio-actives, ingredients, nutrients and bio-material components. Our ultimate aim is for NZ to develop world leading specialisations based on our comparative advantages.
− Earth Sciences: Looking to innovate in renewable energy, mining to advance precious minerals, materials and metals that contribute to renewable energy, battery technologies, and advanced materials. Providing new innovation for resilience and climate adaptation.
− Health and Medicine: Maintaining an ongoing commitment to the funding of health research, research institutes, and professional training alongside a tighter focus on medical technology and pharmacological advances.
− Advanced Technology: focusing on AI and quantum technologies that provide support for NZs key sectors and advance productivity.
Opportunity: Opportunity considers strengthening our science system a priority, to allow us to grow the economy of the future and become competitive with international peers. We would aim for 2% of GDP spent on research and development in the short term and immediately raise the government contribution to 0.6% of GDP. Long term we’d like to be closer to 3% of GDP to match other countries that are successfully growing their economies through innovation.
In doing so, we will adjust the balance between discovery research and applied or experimental development to ensure we are investing enough in discovery and have a pipeline, as well as strengthening the mechanisms for tech transfer and uptake by end users.
How would you balance incentives for more immediate economic returns against longer term public good outcomes across this investment?
Labour: Labour values and sees the importance of long term public good research.
NZ First: New Zealand First balances immediate economic incentives with long-term public good through pragmatic, non-ideological decision-making.
To stimulate immediate economic returns, we support using the tax system to incentivize research and development and export growth. This includes providing businesses with R&D tax credits and concessions and an accelerated 100% depreciation rate for business equipment up to $20,000 to lower capital and compliance costs.
For long-term public good outcomes, we advocate for government and industry working together rather than relying on uncoordinated market forces. Public good research funding will be focused on biosecurity, environmental enhancement, soil productivity, and pest eradication.
In resource management, we believe that economic progress and environmental preservation are mutually supportive. Wise governments view environmental enhancement as sound economics and a competitive advantage. Any restrictions on resource use, such as commercial fishing methods, will be subjected to rational economic analysis to ensure sustainability without needlessly destroying businesses.
Opportunity: It’s important that we become better at creating economic growth from science in New Zealand. However, attempting to do this by cutting investigator-led research was a category error by the current government. Our funding and support systems need to acknowledge the time it takes to get from discovery to application and take-up by industry or end users – typically 20 years in engineering and physical sciences – and support promising research through that process.
Funding for investigator-led research judged on scientific excellence must remain a protected part of our system. This is one reason why New Zealand has punched above its weight in engineering, physical, mathematical, and life sciences. Investigator- led research is essential to social sciences and matauranga Māori research, and to the development of research capability by supporting new and emerging researchers.
Nonetheless, fundamental research is necessary but not sufficient. Marsden funding is a useful mechanism for supporting young researchers but we need to do much more to build their connections with firms and other end users (e.g. via schemes such as applied doctorates and industry internships, or international research fellowships) to ensure we create the mechanisms required for uptake and impact.
What role do you see for NZ’s public research orgs, unis and independent institutes – and would your party make any further structural/financial changes to the system?
Labour: Labour values and sees the importance of long term public good research. It has been disappointing to see the changes the Government has made in this space and the loss of jobs and institutional knowledge as a result as scientists have moved overseas. New Zealand should be backing our scientists. Labour’s full policy manifesto will be released prior to the election.
NZ First: Public Research Organisations (PROs), universities, and independent research institutes are vital to New Zealand’s scientific capacity. We see their primary role as collaborative. New Zealand First encourages strategic alliances between industry, PROs and tertiary institutions to increase the number of scholarships, build graduate capability, and facilitate technology transfer between the public and private sectors.
To embed this model, we would require state entities like Landcorp to actively work with tertiary providers on research and development.
Key past policies include:
− Reviewing the CRI model to eliminate duplicate bureaucracies and focus primary industry research on value-add.
− Raising the proportion of tertiary tuition subsidies for specific high-demand courses, such as science and technology, to grow appropriately qualified graduates.
− Restoring CPI inflation adjustments to tertiary education funding to protect critical departments and programs from being cut and supporting regional Institutes of Technology
and Polytechnics.
− Adequately resourcing the Public Health and Forensic Science Institute (PHF) to handle the increased demand for DNA testing, disease monitoring and forensic support.
Opportunity: We have to acknowledge that some new approaches, such as the National Science Challenges, have been an expensive failure. Further, changing structures without first reviewing strategy is performative but counterproductive. It creates uncertainty and encourages the most mobile researchers to leave the NZ system. The changes made by the current government have damaged the already fragile system. Further, the monitoring and evaluation function has been cut entirely. How do we ensure impact without creating an evidence base to inform our decisions?
Excessive competition for research funds due to under-funding has inhibited collaboration. Changing structures whilst cutting funding only exacerbates the problem. Our solution is to increase public research funding (whilst recognising that under-capitalised New Zealand firms struggle to invest in R&D, so private-sector funding is not a magic bullet).
We therefore need to grow clusters of expertise that have the scale to be more successful in commercialisation and attract international investment, and restore the mechanisms to improve international co-funding and co-investment for NZ researchers. NZ firms also need better systems to connect them to export markets and take up new commercial opportunities.
Opportunity supports keeping the new PRO structure simply because to reverse course now would waste far too much time and resource. But better strategy and priority setting together with monitoring and evaluation (to provide the evidence base for decision-makers) are necessary to make the new structures an effective use of taxpayers’ money.
How does your party intend to support investment in research and development (R&D)?
Labour: Labour has announced the New Zealand Future Fund to invest directly in innovative New Zealand businesses and infrastructure, seeded with Crown assets protected in law and governed independently by the Guardians of the Super Fund. Too many good Kiwi companies are sold offshore or forced to leave because the domestic capital isn’t there. Labour will lift the Founder and Startup Support Programme by $4 million a year. Labour’s full policy manifesto will be released prior to the election.
NZ First: New Zealand First intends to support and accelerate R&D investment via:
− Business Tax Incentives: We will reintroduce and expand tax credits and concessions for businesses engaging in R&D that leads to innovation, value-added products, and export growth.
− Intellectual Property & Marketing: We will provide improved, lower-cost intellectual property protection for New Zealand-based innovators and assist with the marketing of innovative products.
− Capital Access: We support expanding business banking, venture capital opportunities, and “Business Angel Networks” to fund local innovations.
− STEM Talent Retention: We will establish a dollar-for-dollar student loan debt write-off scheme for graduates in identified areas of workforce demand including information technology, the physical sciences, engineering, and medicine – who remain and work in NewZealand, trading a year of debt for each year of full-time work.
− Medicine and Health Partnerships: We support a $50 million partnership program to match private-sector investment in local R&D, data analytics, and high-tech pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Opportunity: Opportunity would support investment in R&D directly through raising government spending. We will also expand the RDTI to cover investment in high-tech plant and equipment, further encouraging businesses towards the frontier where they will invest more in R&D. We want to encourage the movement of people and ideas between the public and private parts of our research system. We will build on the work of successful start-up incubators and accelerators to support new R&D-intensive businesses. Finally, we will bulk-fund polytechs and other research organisations to provide fast technical support for businesses.
If elected, what is the single most important action your party would take in its first 12 months to strengthen NZ’s research and innovation system?
Labour: Labour’s plan is about making and keeping more wealth in New Zealand and the jobs that go with them. Labour will create an independently governed New Zealand Future Fund to invest in infrastructure and innovative Kiwi businesses. In the first term, the focus areas are:
– Make and keep more wealth in New Zealand – invest in productive industries, and create a tax system that rewards work and productive investment over speculation.
– Clean, affordable energy – accelerate new generation and storage and upgrade the grid, so power is cheaper and more reliable.
– Skills and tech adoption – turbo-charge apprenticeships and mid-career upskilling, and help small firms adopt proven technology.
– Faster access to quality, affordable public services – building technological capacity in health, education and local services.
– Modern, resilient infrastructure that connects regions and unlocks growth.
Green: The most important first step would be to develop a durable national funding strategy for research, science, technology, and innovation. This would treat investment as long-term essential infrastructure, provide reliable funding suited to different research contexts, and lift investment above the OECD average as a share of GDP. Alongside this, we would improve equity, diversity, and participation in research, including by addressing how stigmatisation, bias, and colonisation limit research outcomes.
NZ First: Our single most important action would be a review of the new PROs to check that they are heading towards the objectives and outcomes of the recent science system changes, i.e. that they are focusing on key areas of national importance and collaborating to focus on innovation and commercialisation. This is consistent with our broader commitment to open, accountable government with less wasteful administration and more focus on outcomes for New Zealanders.
Opportunity: Immediately increase government funding for R&D. This will mean that scientists can have stable and rewarding careers in New Zealand; that we can retain talent in New Zealand and develop our new and emerging researchers, rather than losing them. We acknowledge that science and technology does not fit electoral time-frames, so we will aim for a cross-party accord on innovation policy to bring stability to the system. Stability will permit science organisations, science leaders, and research groupings to plan over longer time horizons, and sustain the relationships with end-users necessary to create impact.
Science in decision making
What role should scientific evidence and independent science advice play in government decision-making, and how would your party support this?
Labour: Labour believes in science-based decision making in the public good. Labour’s full policy manifesto will be released prior to the election.
NZ First: New Zealand First believes that government decision-making must be grounded in data, rigorous cost-benefit analyses, and independent science, rather than political correctness or ideological extremes. To support this, we advocate for ensuring greater contestability of policy advice so that Cabinet is presented with robust, diverse scientific viewpoints. We support legislating to require that independent social impact analyses accompany economic cost-benefit analyses in government decision-making processes, ensuring the full human effects of policies are scientifically evaluated.
In natural resource sectors, policy decisions must be based on sound science, such as promoting up-to-date technologies and international experience to track water use patterns, and employing best-practice science and stock monitoring to determine Total Allowable Catch and restore fish stocks. Our commitment to an evidence-based approach is codified in our coalition principles, ensuring public programmes are regularly assessed for real-world efficacy.
Opportunity: Using the best quality evidence to inform decision making is one of the founding principles of the Opportunity Party. We think independent, evidence-based advice should play a greater role in government, and we will use our seats in Parliament to embody that. We also have a range of policies to clean up politics.
We would give greater powers to independent bodies such as the climate commission and the commerce commission, limit political donations, make greater use of citizens’ assemblies to consider wicked problems, and regulate lobbying. These steps will help New Zealand to have grown-up and respectful discussions about our big challenges, and allow evidence to gain more prominence in national discussions and decision making.
Climate
How will you ensure NZ has the science and research needed to respond to environmental climate challenges and natural hazards?
Labour: Labour will back Kiwi scientists and appropriately fund work to respond to climate change and natural hazards. Labours full policy manifesto will be released prior to the election.
Green: New Zealand needs a stable, long-term science funding strategy that prioritises the research required to respond to environmental pressures, climate change, and natural hazards. Given Aotearoa’s geography, existing expertise, and exposure to climate and seismic risks, environmental, climate, biodiversity, and resilience research must be central to the system.
NZ First: New Zealand First will ensure robust research capability by directing funding to applied, practical environmental science and resourcing border protection and scientific agencies. We support dedicated funding for agricultural greenhouse gas reduction R&D and the associated technology transfer. We will also ensure our border protection agencies have the advanced detection technologies, staffing, and resources to prevent biological and biosecurity incursions that threaten our
ecosystems.
Additionally, we support funding targeted conservation science, including Kauri dieback and Myrtle Rust research, and investigating the feasibility of a New Zealand Native Tree Seedbank. We will also maintain our commitment to support scientific research into safe, species-specific alternatives to aerial 1080 poison through the likes of the National Science Challenges, ensuring pest control is both ecologically sound and effective. We will support practical climate adaptation advances and innovation in renewable energy.
Opportunity: The Ministry for the Environment developed a climate adaptation plan, but it has not been properly resourced and supported. Successful adaptation requires that we do things differently. Opportunity proposes to substantially strengthen our emissions trading scheme by adding a mechanism for agricultural emissions, excluding new exotic forestry and granting the budget setting power directly to the climate change commission. These steps will give the country confidence that we’re on a path to a zero-emissions future and enable them to make investments in preparation for higher carbon prices. The revenue from higher carbon prices in auctions can be used to help people adapt (but should not be the only source of adaptation funding). We also propose to provide mechanisms for earning carbon credits from sequestration via soil, wetlands and other biodiversity-rich land uses, so that the value of those projects can be recognised and rewarded and we can do more of them.
How will you address concerns that NZ is not adapting fast enough to growing climate risks?
Labour: New Zealand is not adapting fast enough to the growing the climate risks from climate change. In government, Labour created a $6 billion national resilience fund after Cyclone Gabrielle. This fund was to ensure that communities were more prepared and more resilient – that included things like fixing up roads, bridges, flood protection infrastructure that we know needs a lot of work. The current government took that funding away which is disappointing.
Green: New Zealand is not adapting fast enough to growing climate risks. The Green Party supports a national adaptation framework that includes credible, fair funding; proactive planning before disasters occur; and genuine partnership with iwi Māori under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Adaptation costs should be shared fairly and should not fall most heavily on the people and communities already most exposed to climate impacts.
NZ First: New Zealand First believes that climate adaptation must move away from slow bureaucratic planning and focus on immediate, concrete regional infrastructure resilience under Principle 10 (pragmatic environmentalism). We address adaptation speed through several practical infrastructure and local management policies:
− Regional Infrastructure Investment: We support the $1.2 billion Regional Infrastructure Fund to invest directly in regional water storage, flood protection, managed aquifer recharge, and irrigation schemes to help rural communities adapt to weather extremes.
− Catchment-Level Planning: We support re-establishing local Catchment Boards focused on the active management of rivers, streams, and flood protection, alongside Farm Environment Plans administered by regional councils.
− Municipal Upgrades: We support establishing an Infrastructure Equalisation Fund of $100 million per annum to assist local councils in upgrading aging water supply, wastewater, and stormwater networks.
− Future Fuel Infrastructure: We will develop the infrastructure and incentives needed to expand the use of electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and plan for transitional low-carbon fuels (such as methanol and hydrogen) to secure sovereign energy resilience.
− Transition fuel supplies: We will ensure NZ has transitional fuel supplies that keep our economy running and secure fertiliser production to underpin food production.
Opportunity: The Ministry for the Environment developed a climate adaptation plan, but it has not been properly resourced and supported. Successful adaptation requires that we do things differently. Opportunity proposes to substantially strengthen our emissions trading scheme by adding a mechanism for agricultural emissions, excluding new exotic forestry and granting the budget setting power directly to the climate change commission.
These steps will give the country confidence that we’re on a path to a zero-emissions future and enable them to make investments in preparation for higher carbon prices. The revenue from higher carbon prices in auctions can be used to help people adapt (but should not be the only source of adaptation funding). We also propose to provide mechanisms for earning carbon credits from sequestration via soil, wetlands and other biodiversity-rich land uses, so that the value of those projects can be recognised and rewarded and we can do more of them.
What evidence would guide the party’s approach to manage carbon emissions?
Labour: Labour strongly values the independent advice from the Climate Change Commission as a guide for this work.
Green: While James Shaw was Minister for Climate Change we oversaw the establishment of the independent Climate Change Commission, which provides the sound evidence base for government decisions on climate issues. The Green Party would be guided by the best available science, independent advice from the Climate Change Commission, Mātauranga Māori, emissions budgets, and evidence about what delivers real domestic emissions reductions. We also believe the ETS, as currently designed, is not sufficient on its own, and should be strengthened into a genuine cap-and-trade scheme with tighter limits, reduced reliance on offsets, and a phase-out of free industrial allocation.
NZ First: New Zealand First’s approach to managing carbon emissions is guided by scientific rigor, economic cost-benefit analysis, and global comparability, rejecting unscientific and punitive
market mechanisms:
− Farm-Level Reporting: We support adopting standardized farm-level reporting of emissions and incentivizing proven, science-backed mitigations (such as low-methane genetics and low-methane feed) by repurposing ETS revenues rather than buying foreign carbon credits.
− Review the ETS: We will re-examine the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme, which has been underperforming and look to provide a narrow focus that encourages the right tree in the right place and encourages native tree planting. We advocate for government and industry to negotiate performance standards and a carbon tax to incentivize technological shifts.
− Right Tree, Right Place: We support research into permanently sequestering carbon through native tree planting and recognizing other sequestration forms, such as blue carbon (kelp growing). Conversely, we oppose planting exotic pine forests on productive agricultural land (LUC classes 1-5) for carbon sequestration.
− Global Realism: We will not support emissions pricing on our producers unless our major trading partners have implemented equivalent measures, ensuring New Zealand’s food and economic security is not undermined. We will pull out of the Paris Agreement and Net Zero arrangements in favour of research and innovation in cheaper renewable energy sources.
Opportunity: Peer-reviewed evidence published in reputable international journals and conferences.
Emerging Technology
Which sectors does the party see as priorities for NZ’s economic growth?
Labour: Labour’s plan is about making and keeping more wealth in New Zealand and the jobs that go with them. Labour will create an independently governed New Zealand Future Fund to invest in infrastructure and innovative Kiwi businesses.
Green: The Green Party sees priority in sectors that help build a fair, low-emissions, nature-positive economy, including clean energy, climate-resilient infrastructure, sustainable food and fibre, circular and repair industries, and the creative sector. A Future Workforce Agency would work with communities, iwi, workers, and businesses to develop regional industry and jobs plans based on local strengths and national goals. We would also support public co-investment where needed, including expanding and reforming industrial decarbonisation support so it contributes to economy-wide emissions reductions.
NZ First: New Zealand First prioritizes sectors that build on New Zealand’s natural competitive advantages and focus on adding value to our resources before exporting:
− Primary Industries and Bioeconomy: Rebuilding and sustainably growing our agriculture, forestry, horticulture, aquaculture, and fisheries. We will de-risk offshore marine farming through a capital fund and renew our inshore fishing fleets.
− High-Value Manufacturing: Promoting and retaining local manufacturing, supported by a 20% business tax rate for exporters and accelerated depreciation on plant and equipment to stimulate private investment.
− IT and Digital Systems: Investing in information technology, AI, data sovereignty and capacity and high-speed connectivity to lift business productivity and high-value employment.
− Sovereign Energy & Resources: Restarting offshore oil and gas exploration, facilitating geological hydrogen, and developing strategic minerals (including vanadium) to ensure energy security and national wealth.
Opportunity: Picking priority sectors of the economy is a risky business that government should be wary of involving itself in. However, we do need to acknowledge that we are a small economy and cannot specialise in everything. Focusing in on certain areas of science and achieving greater depths of skills and knowledge is one of the motivations of the current sector reforms. Government does not have the information needed to make this decision on its own, so we would recommend participative democratic processes such as citizens’ assemblies involving industry and the research community. This would give social licence to whatever decision is reached.
What is your party’s approach to the adoption and regulation of artificial intelligence, including the data and digital infrastructure needed for it?
Labour: Labour has announced a Small Business Action Plan which includes expanding AI and startup support for small businesses. This includes launching a $2 million a year AI small business fund to help small businesses get ahead and boosting AI adoption and extending the AI Advisory pilot to $3 million a year. Labour’s full policy manifesto will be released prior to the election. Labour believes artificial intelligence and the infrastructure needed for it should work in the best interests of New Zealanders and needs a strategy to ensure risks are managed.
Green: The Green Party has called for a one-year pause on new AI data centres so proper rules can be developed with public and community input. Regulation should address energy and water use, emissions, infrastructure costs, privacy, labour impacts, competition, and the public interest. For government use of AI, we support transparency, a public register of AI use, meaningful human oversight for significant decisions, strong privacy protections, and Māori data sovereignty.
NZ First: Our approach is defined by promoting the safe, secure, and balanced adoption of existing and new technologies. We advocate for a regulatory approach that protects consumers without stifling innovation. This is supported by our broader commitment to digital privacy and data sovereignty balancing the immense research capability advances with consumer protection:
− Local Storage Mandate: We support a strict policy requiring that New Zealand citizens’ personal information used by public sector agencies must be stored on servers located within New Zealand.
− Privacy & Security: We will review controls around the sale of private information by businesses and the sharing of information between government departments to ensure strict compliance with the Privacy Act, and we support adding the right to privacy to the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.
− Infrastructure: We support building data centres in NZ that would protect our sovereignty and address privacy concerns at a national level, alongside increasing our data storage and computing capability and international connectivity. In terms of AI capable data centres we will ensure there are no adverse environmental outcomes and no domestic and industrial energy displacement from hyper-scale datacentres.
Opportunity: Artificial intelligence requires robust regulations covering privacy, data sovereignty, data and copyright protection, cybersecurity etc. Opportunity supports developing a robust flexible regulatory framework that can adapt quickly to developments in AI. This is critical if we are to protect the rights and interests of New Zealanders while taking advantage of the productivity gains that AI can offer.
What is your party’s position on gene editing technologies and their use in conservation, medical, primary sector and other potential applications in NZ?
Labour: Labour believes any gene technology framework should safeguard New Zealand’s primary industries and protect our international reputation. There are strong benefits of gene technologies in the medical field.
Green: The Green Party takes a precautionary approach to gene editing and genetic modification. These technologies may have significant ecological, ethical, economic, health, primary sector, conservation, and Te Tiriti o Waitangi implications. Any consideration of their use should be evidence-based, transparent, independently assessed, and guided by public interest, tikanga, Mātauranga Māori, and the rights and interests of iwi and hapū.
NZ First: New Zealand First is open to a careful, evidence-based reconsideration of gene editing, with strict safeguards. Our RMA policy already seeks to “clarify the status of local government in relation to Genetic Engineering issues and central government regulations of GE,” recognising the need for clear, science-based rules.
We see potential benefits in conservation (e.g. pest control and biodiversity protection), medicine (targeted therapies and disease prevention) and primary sector (disease resistance, lower emissions, improved productivity).
Any changes must follow robust risk assessment, transparent public consultation, and independent regulation. We oppose both ideological bans and rushed deregulation; our focus is safe, practical applications that protect human health, biodiversity, and New Zealand’s trading reputation.
Opportunity: We are not satisfied that the current gene tech bill provides sufficient safeguards, and would propose changes. The new legislation would need to have a robust risk-assessment framework, liability that reflects responsibility, with mandatory monitoring and reporting, better communication to build public trust, and meeting obligations under te Tiriti. For more detail see our policy: https://www.opportunity.org.nz/gene_technology_policy