'No policies match your search': Labour lacks law and order ideas days out from voting

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. 

If “justice” is searched for on Labour’s website, an August press release comes up with the title: “National shuts the door on climate justice” which relates to the Government’s climate change tort law amendment. 

The Opposition party has made a pledge to repeal the Government’s bootcamps “and focus on evidence-based interventions”. However, its press release on the issue doesn’t expand on what those interventions are or could be. 

It also wants to create a new offence of corporate homicide, although this was announced as a workplace relations and safety policy. 

Labour's policy webpage didn't bring up any proposals mentioning police. Photo / Labour website 

Labour doesn’t appear to yet be proposing any new policing, sentencing, or corrections, initiatives, with overseas voting beginning on Wednesday and advance voting starting next week. 

After the TVNZ leaders’ debate earlier this month, in which Labour’s Chris Hipkins admitted his Government had been too slow to address rising youth crime, the Herald asked him what law and order policies Labour was proposing. 

“We’ve set out a real focus on crime prevention,” Hipkins responded. 

Asked what specific policies he had to do that, Hipkins said: “Well, there are more policies to come during the campaign. There’s still four-and-a-half weeks of the campaign to go”. 

Two weeks on, Labour still is yet to release a specific law and order package. 

The party told the Herald in a statement: “We’re campaigning on policies focused on the cost-of-living, jobs health and homes as a priority.” 

“Our law and order and justice policies will be in the manifesto, and everything will be online for everyone to read. We’re currently working on updating the website with our full suite of policies.” 

Labour responded to a Law Society survey – published last week – about key objectives in the justice portfolio. Its comment didn’t include any specific policies. 

“Labour wants our communities to be safe and equitable access to justice. Our vision is of a New Zealand that achieves real public safety rather than reactive policies that are not evidence based.” 

National’s justice spokesman Paul Goldsmith told the Herald there hadn’t been a “whisper” about law and order from Labour. 

He believed the party should be upfront about its plans. 

“I just think it reflects the fact that they don’t want to remind New Zealanders of where they’re at on justice, which is out of touch with what people on the streets want, which is a continuation of a firm line,” Goldsmith said. 

National has four law and order policies listed on its website, such as modernising sexual consent laws so there must always be a “yes”, rather than just the absence of a “no”. 

This is something Labour wanted to do this term, noting there was a cross-party bill ready. However, there hasn’t been a specific policy on this released by Labour during the campaign. 

Other policies National is proposing include abolishing good character as a mitigating factor at sentencing of sexual offending, removing the right to silence when a child is murdered and establishing a dedicated police team for the Auckland Transport network. 

National's justice spokesman Paul Goldsmith (right) says Labour is quiet about law and order. Photo / Mark Mitchell 

The lesser focus on law and order at this election may reflect it is no longer seen as important an issue to New Zealanders as at previous elections. 

For example, before the 2023 election, crime/law and order peaked as a key concern of 40% of New Zealanders in the Ipsos Issues Monitor, one of the top issues of the time. 

Since 2023, it has trended downwards as a concern. In the most recent Ipsos Issues Monitor, for September this year, it was the eighth-biggest issue, with 15% of respondents mentioning it. 

Goldsmith believed it being a lesser issue was a “mark of progress” since three years ago when it was a “pretty consistent number two, three [issue]”. 

“People were very worried about community safety, law and order, and now it’s well down the ranks. But my message to New Zealanders, we can’t take that for granted for a moment. 

Parties’ positions on law and order have been in the spotlight over the past week after members of the Green Party and Te Pāti Māori were photographed posing with members of the Mongrel Mob, 

Labour has said the Greens won’t hold key law and order portfolios if they help form a future Government. Leader Hipkins has said “gangs peddle misery” and committed to not funding any gang-led drug addiction programmes. 

Jamie Ensor is the NZ Herald’s chief political reporter, based in the press gallery at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist in 2025 for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.