Election 2026: Labour lacks law and order policy days out from voting starting
The New Zealand Labour Party is facing criticism for lacking specific law and order policies just days before the 2026 election. Despite claims of focusing on crime prevention, the party's website and recent communications lack concrete initiatives regarding policing or justice reform.
Why it matters
Law and order is a primary concern for voters, and the absence of clear policy positions can significantly impact a party's electoral viability.
The Labour Party hasn’t proposed distinct new law and order policies with only days to go until voting starts.
The party told the Herald that law and order wasn’t among the priority areas Labour was campaigning on.
Searching Labour’s “our policies” webpage for keywords like “police”, “justice”, “corrections”, or “law and order” brings up no such policies.
“No policies match your search,” the website says.
Labour’s “news and updates” page, which includes the party’s press releases and speeches, also includes a search function. When “police” is entered as a keyword, the most recent press release that comes up is from June 2025.
The Herald can find more recent press releases mentioning “police” that were emailed to journalists, but these don’t contain new policies. These references are generally in press releases criticising the Government.
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