Kerre Woodham: Why stop at only citizens being able to vote?

Author: Kerre Woodham,
Publish Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2026, 11:00am

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Yes, it's election year. How can you tell? They're all coming up with policies now, aren't they, designed to appeal to their core constituency.

Winston Peters played a blinder by announcing to the party faithful at a campaign meeting in Warkworth over the weekend that he wants to see voting rights reserved for citizens of this country only.

If his party is returned to Parliament, he will move to reform voting rights. Current electoral law allows some non citizens to vote after 12 months continuous residence if they are lawfully in New Zealand and not required to leave by a specified date.

In his speech to attendees, Peters argued that that existing standard is far too lenient.

And when you look at other countries that have the same policy, I think it's Malawi, Ecuador and Chile. Certainly our neighbours Australia do not. If you're not a citizen, you don't vote in Australia.

I have friends who have been in Australia for years and years and years, decades, and they can't vote unless they are citizens, and one of them recently became a citizen just so he could. He did have that right, he had children that were born there and he wanted to be able to vote so he could help inform the future of the country.

Winston Peters said to general acclaim, voting in general elections should be reserved for those who have made the full legal and civic commitment to this country. Permanent residence gives people the right to live, work, study and build a life in New Zealand. Citizenship, he said, is different. It's a formal bond of allegiance, belonging, responsibility and democratic authority. New Zealand First believes that distinction should matter again.

Sort of like marriage over living together, shacking up. He wants to see a marriage between people who live in New Zealand and the government of New Zealand.

Okay, fair enough, but if we're going to make changes on how we vote, why stop there?

I have long argued, and I'm sure you've long agreed, that there should be a basic comprehension test before people can vote. Like, really. Some of the some of the comments and the questions that you will hear leading up to elections are truly terrifying.

Their vote counts the same as people who have a basic grasp of MMP and democracy and the different parties and what they stand for. Maybe a basic comprehension test? Should people be allowed to vote if they're citizens but they've lived overseas for more than 10 years? Why should they be allowed to influence the direction of the country when they don't even live here? They have no skin in the game.

If you haven't made any payments on your student loan while living overseas, you shouldn't be able to vote unless you've paid it back or you've got a system in place to pay it back. Why on earth should you be able to vote when you haven't paid back your loan to the taxpayers? If you're living overseas to avoid paying tax, I can think of a few high profile businessmen, you shouldn't be able to vote either. I mean, I've got a list as long as my arm.

If we're going to start talking about who can vote and who cannot, I'd go a whole lot further than just reserving the right to vote for citizens. Anyone who has chose to make their home outside of New Zealand, who hasn't been back, who has no intention of coming back, anybody who is overseas and still owes a lot of money to the New Zealand taxpayer and has no system in place to pay it back, they shouldn't be able to vote either.

What does your list look like?

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