Pre-election political panel follow up questions
We’ve invited health spokespeople for the parties currently in Parliament to be part of our pre-election political panel on dementia on 1 September.
As promised, we packaged up all the questions from the panel that we weren’t able to get to on the night and sent them to the panellists.
Here are the first answers we’ve received and we’ll update this page as we get more.
Here is the full list of questions we sent to all panellists. Please note some questions were asked of specific parties so aren’t on this list.
Last updated 22 September 2026
Answers
A nationally consistent younger-onset dementia pathway
Q. Will you support the development and funding of a nationally consistent pathway for people with younger-onset dementia, from first concerns and diagnosis through to post-diagnostic support, progression and end-of-life care, spanning health, disability support, employment and income, respite and home support, housing, transport, residential care and palliative care? What would you deliver next term?
A. New Zealand First supports the development and funding of a nationally consistent pathway for people living with younger-onset dementia. New Zealand First’s core principles establish that health expenditure must be treated as a critical investment in human wellbeing rather than merely a balance sheet item.
Our past policies explicitly mandate establishing and implementing a national strategy for addressing dementia and other major health conditions requiring coordinated national service delivery, alongside dedicated research funding for Alzheimer’s and dementia.
To address younger-onset conditions specifically, NZ First committed and delivered on undertaking a Parliamentary Select Committee Inquiry into aged care provision, specifically mandated to include supporting people with early-onset conditions and reviewing appropriate asset thresholds.
For policies next term, make sure to look at our manifesto for 2026 election which will be released very soon.
Government endorsement of the Dementia Action Plan
Q. Has the Government formally approved or endorsed the revised Dementia Action Plan? If not, why not, and will you commit to doing so?
A. The initial Dementia Mate Wareware Action Plan 2020–2025 (developed by Alzheimers NZ, Dementia NZ, the NZ Dementia Foundation, and Te Mate Wareware Advisory Rōpū) was formally endorsed by Cabinet in 2021 under the previous government.
That endorsement led to a $12 million allocation in Budget 2022 to fund initial pilot programs across community navigation, post-diagnostic support, and respite care.
The refreshed 2026–2031 Action Plan is currently before the Government and Health New Zealand (Te Whatu Ora) for review and formal policy consideration.
New Zealand First remains committed to working within Cabinet and alongside Health NZ to progress formal approval and endorsement of the refreshed Dementia Action Plan. NZ First’s health platform requires establishing nationwide strategies for major clinical conditions including dementia
Q. Will your party commit to a long-term, cross-party plan for dementia and aged care, with agreed milestones, public accountability and sustained investment in prevention, diagnosis, care and carer support beyond the three-year electoral cycle? What timeframe and level of investment would your party support?
A. In Government, Labour instated the Dementia Action Plan, and we fully support progress towards its goals. While our health system is under significant strain and facing cuts under the current National-led Government, it’s important that progress on positive initiatives such as this is not lost.
Our health policy is focused on prevention, including bringing back strong Smokefree Generation policies, expanding Health NZ’s alcohol buyout programme for sports clubs and establishing a dedicated quit vaping service.
Labour is committed to improving the way we plan for healthcare provision – for example, we have proposed an Independent Pricing model to set fair and transparent funding for primary care, and there is potential for the idea to be applicable elsewhere, such as in aged care.
Another priority for Labour is fair pay and conditions for those working in the aged care sector, to build a stronger and more sustainable workforce. The current National-led coalition has prevented them from making a pay equity claim. Labour is committed to reinstating pay equity legislation and paying workers what they deserve.
We acknowledge that there is a huge challenge ahead in this area and without change, we will not be able to meet the demand of those needing care in the future. The issues are larger than the three-year political cycle and are best addressed by securing bipartisan support for any changes. While that will require collaboration and compromise, it will reduce the chance of losing progress between changes in Government. It is unlikely a bipartisan approach will produce a sensible outcome during this year’s election campaign, so our preference is that a bipartisan committee is established after the election to consider the Ministerial Advisory Group’s A Place to Grow Old report on aged care and take it forward. That is what Labour will do if we lead the government.
Q. Will your party commit to increasing funding for dementia support services in rural and provincial communities so people living with dementia can remain close to home throughout their dementia journey?
A. Yes – everyone should have accessible, affordable care close to home.
Q. What practical steps will your party take to help families and whānau care safely for a person with dementia at home, including in the later stages, and to address the financial, housing, transport, respite, home-support and healthcare pressures they face?
A. Making everyday life more affordable and fixing the health system will be the key priorities of the next Labour Government. Our policies are firmly focused on access and funding for primary care, and prevention, to turn around the long-term challenges facing our health system.
Under Labour, every New Zealander will get three free doctor’s visits a year through the new Medicard, paid for by a simple, targeted tax on profit from the sale of investment property. Labour will introduce a simple, targeted 28% tax on the profit made after 1 July 2027 when a commercial property or residential property (excluding the family home) is sold. Every dollar raised will go directly to our health system. Labour.org.nz/medicard
Q. What role and responsibility should the Government have in formally adopting, funding and implementing the Dementia Action Plan, and what specific action would your party take next term to turn recognition of the plan into implementation?
A. In Government, Labour instated the Dementia Action Plan, and we fully support progress towards its goals. While our health system is under significant strain and facing cuts under the current National-led Government, it’s important that progress on positive initiatives such as this is not lost. When you look at health funding over decades, a pattern is clear: National cuts health; Labour invests in it.
Q. How will your party ensure that primary, hospital, community and aged-care services are equipped to provide properly integrated, dementia-informed care whenever people living with dementia use the health system?
A. Labour is the only party with a plan to fix funding for primary care by introducing an Independent Pricing Authority, and to guarantee every NZ-trained graduate nurse a job in our health system. Under National, the cost of a doctor’s visit is soaring, and only 54 full-time nurses have been added to our health system in two years. Investing in healthcare and staffing means primary care, hospitals and aged care services are in a much stronger place to address the varied needs of their communities. We are committed to improving multi-disciplinary care to ensure patients’ needs are met, no matter where in New Zealand they live.
Q. If your party is part of the Government after the election, what specific actions will it take in its first 100 days to improve access to high-quality residential aged care, including dementia-level care?
A. The Ministerial Advisory Group’s report on the future of aged care deserves serious consideration.
Labour was consulted several times, but we were not part of commissioning the report and our request for the workforce to have greater representation was ignored by the government. We acknowledge that there is a huge challenge ahead in this area, and we would like to see if we can get bipartisan support for any change. That will require collaboration and compromise. A bottom line for Labour is that critical healthcare must remain free. We also want to see an aged care system that rewards the contribution of the community and voluntary sector, not just the big corporates.
Another priority for Labour is fair pay and conditions for those working in the aged care sector. The pay bump secured by this workforce in the mid-2010s has now eroded away, and many are lowly paid. The current coalition has prevented them from making a pay equity claim. We will fix that. It is unlikely a bipartisan approach will produce a sensible outcome during the election campaign, so our preference is that whoever forms government after the election establishes a bipartisan committee to consider it and take it forward. That is what Labour will do if we lead the government.
Q. When will your party publish its dementia policy or manifesto, and what specific commitments will it contain?
A. We will publish our manifesto closer to the election.
Q. How will your party ensure that people living with dementia and their care partners and whānau are active partners in designing, implementing and evaluating dementia policy and services, rather than being treated only as recipients of care?
A. In line with the Action Plan, we are committed to improving care for people living with dementia and ensuring care is evidence-based and whānau-centred.
Q. What specific measures will your party take to reduce inequities in dementia prevention, diagnosis, care and support, particularly for Māori, Pacific peoples and people experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage? Will it support the use of ethnicity and other equity measures to track outcomes and hold the system accountable?
A. Yes, Labour is committed to continually improving the data and systems used across the health system to make sure everyone has equitable access to care.
Q. Which country or region does your party believe offers the most useful model for an integrated, dementia-focused system, and which elements of that model would it seek to introduce in Aotearoa New Zealand?
A. We are committed to keeping up with international best practice and implementing initiatives that have been shown to work in other countries, where appropriate. For example, our Independent Pricing Authority for primary care, is modelled on Australia’s Aged Care Financing Authority.
Q. What will your party do to make needs assessments and respite care more accessible, timely and consistent for people living with dementia and their care partners and whānau?
A. We would address the recommendations made by the Ministerial Advisory Group as part of our response to their report on aged care in New Zealand.
Q. Will your party commit to a funded, cross-party public-health approach to brain health and dementia risk reduction across the life course, reflecting the evidence on modifiable risk factors? If so, what would it implement next term?
A. Yes – prevention and early intervention are at the heart of Labour’s health policy. We have committed to bringing back strong Smokefree Generation policies, an improved licensing regime for nicotine retailers, expanding Health NZ’s alcohol buyout programme for sports clubs and establishing a dedicated quit vaping service.
Q. What will your party do to ensure that health and aged-care professionals have the dementia-specific skills needed to provide safe, compassionate care, particularly in the later stages? Would it support nationally consistent quality standards and minimum staffing ratios for dementia care?
A. Transparent workforce planning and development is a priority for Labour, alongside fair pay and conditions for those working in the aged care sector, to build a stronger and more sustainable workforce. Improved planning will also include improving the standard of care for those living with dementia.
Q. Will your party support reform of needs assessment so it includes a strengths-based approach, alongside identifying deficits, and helps people living with dementia maintain their abilities, independence and wellbeing?
A. We would address the recommendations made by the Ministerial Advisory Group as part of our response to their report on aged care in New Zealand.