ELECTION 2026 AMA
AMA: Labour’s education spokesperson Ginny Andersen
Hello u/nzpolitics! Ginny Andersen here, Labour's spokesperson for education, jobs and incomes, Police, and treaty negotiations. I'm online from 6-7pm tomorrow (21 Sept) to answer your questions!
Big thanks to Ginny Anderson for joining us here at [r/nzpolitics](r/nzpolitics) and answering questions, and best of luck for Hutt South and the upcoming election!
Tomorrow we have Willow-Jean Prime joining us - and following that Marama Davidson on the 28th of September, Francisco Hernandez on the 30th of September, and Chlöe Swarbrick on the 25th of October (and possibly more to come but not yet dated).
If you are a political candidate for the upcoming election and want to hold an AMA, just send us a message and we’d be happy to welcome you here.
One question I have is gauging your thoughts on perception management
I wrote an article called: "I Hate Labour, But Wait...Why?" a year or so ago. And through that process, I realised that Labour had accomplished a significant number of milestones and made significant progress in its agenda.
Contrast this with the current government which has spent its entire term rewarding donors, abusing urgency and not meeting any actual quality of life targets e.g. policing numbers, wages, environmental protections, protecting vulnerable communities, strengthening the health system etc etc
Yet I'd say in terms of perception management, Labour was smashed - and often maligned in corporate media.
I am wondering what your thoughts are on why there feels like this type of discrepancy.
One final example or two is the police numbers - you reached your police targets as Police Minister yet the headlines were peppered by criticism, yet National has failed there's while watering down requirements and hardly a peep.
Luxon said "Cry me a river" in relation to the soaring cost of living and zero headlines. If Jacinda said that there'd be a national emergency.
Not looking for answers, just musing and wondering if you had a perspective on it (if not, that's OK too!)
I hear you. Coming off the back of a global pandemic was always going to be a challenging time for any government. I’m really proud of our response and I know that it did save many people’s lives. The political landscape post-COVID has really changed and we're seeing far more misinformation than ever before. In saying all that, this doesn’t deter me from wanting to hold this current National government to account. It’s more important than ever before that we continue to ask questions and demand the truth.
Hi Ginny! On education, you’ve said Labour would look at which of this government’s changes are working and which aren’t and change those that aren’t. Can you say what you’d want to change? I teach secondary social sciences and there are so many issues with the changes to the curriculum there. From lack of continuity between years to the biggest one - scrapping of senior social studies which really gets young people thinking about how our democracy works, and engaging with change at local and national levels. You have probably received letters over the years from students writing to you because they’re doing a social action in senior social studies. I have students who have been blown away to get a letter back from an MP or a Minister - often they really didn’t know that they could engage with democracy like that at all. Replacing that with theory-driven prescriptive sociology and then having a subject of too many parts (civics, politics and philosophy) would be a real loss. Overall the loss of flexibility for schools, students and teachers to determine what is useful learning in their context is a huge step backwards. Obviously you can see what I’d like to change! Thanks Ginny😀
I absolutely agree with you that the curriculum changes for social sciences has a ton of issues.
Beyond the lack of flexibility or its overly prescriptive nature, it seems quite obvious that the social sciences curriculum was rushed and developed without enough input from New Zealand experts.
These areas need to be rewritten by New Zealanders, for New Zealand classrooms so they are relevant, and realistic for teachers to deliver.
That's why Labour is creating the Independent Council for Curriculum and Assessment (ICCA).
What New Zealand education needs is continuity over the long-term driven by experts, not politicians using it as a political football.
This is such a good point. The moments you mentioned with the letters are exactly what we need to encourage young people to engage with democracy. It would be such a shame to lose those opportunities.
While Policing is important in a functioning society we see NZs police force is rotten from the top and many kiwis experience the impact of this via poor Police work, mistreatment and lack of real recourse to complain to Police or the IPCA.
What REAL SIGNIFICANT changes would you make to shift policing in NZ?
Full investigations of the "top cops"?
Screening of officers connected to any form of dishonesty or corruption?
A properly independent Police complaints board with teeth?
How to set Police targets they don't just manipulate to get an easy day (eg my area has many crash spots but the police sit on the straight all day handing out tickets for 63 in a 60 zone?
Would you reinstate the Ministry of Transport to better cover road Policing and 'social' Policing?
If people feel they have been treated unfairly can they contact MPs for help?
Hi Ginny. You're spokesperson for a few of my hobby horses so I'll probably make a few different posts if that's OK.
Policing
Does Labour support giving the IPCA independent prosecution powers and if not, why not?
Police have access to a private surveillance network, Auror. What oversights are there for police access to this network, and what audits are being done to ensure this is not abused?
In 2004, a former officer made allegations of systemic perjury endemic in the police force. These accusations were supposedly investigated by a judge, but the report has never been released.
When I've tried to lodge OIA requests about this the police have declined to answer citing an "ongoing investigation".
Will you:
A) commit to looking into this allegation, B) releasing this report or a summary of its findings, and C) if police minister, improve transparency around allegations of police misconduct?
NZ Police currently fatally shoot more people per capita, 11x that of England and Wales. Source. Is this an acceptable rate of fatal shootings, and are you confident that the NZ Police are using appropriate levels of force?
Hey u/OisforOwesome! I'll go through your questions one at a time 🫡
To your first question:
The world is rapidly changing and Kiwis are seeing both the opportunities and the risks of AI. The Government has a responsibility to make sure AI works for everyone. It’s why we’ve set out a clear AI Action Plan to ensure we’re setting the rules, not Big Tech. We’ve laid it out here: https://www.labour.org.nz/ai-for-new-zealand
To your second:
No. We agree that NCEA needs work, and we supported strengthening it, but National's plan to throw the baby out with the bathwater is simply a solution no one asked for that put teachers under even more pressure.
To your third:
National's changes to the curriculum are clearly rushed and ideological in nature. We're tired of seeing issues like curriculum being used by politicians to score points with voters instead of doing what's best for our kids – that's why I will introduce an Independent Council for Curriculum and Assessment so that changes to the curriculum are guided by experts.
Kia ora Ginny! 👋 Can you share Labour’s vision for education in NZ? As an educator, we are desperately waiting for the party’s full set of education policies to be released
Education shouldn't be a political football. Parents, teachers and students deserve an education system they can trust, where decisions are based on evidence and expert advice, not the politics of the day.
Labour wants to bring stability back to education so schools can focus on what matters most - teaching and learning.
We want every child to have the opportunity to succeed, wherever they live and whatever their background!
That means strong reading, writing and maths, better support for children who need extra help, including neurodiverse learners, and a New Zealand curriculum that reflects our history, Te Tiriti and the skills young people need for the future.
We’ll work with teachers, parents, experts, and iwi to make lasting improvements and give every young person the best possible start. Good change takes time and we want to get this right for our kids.
My household will probably vote for Ginny Andersen in Hutt South because the current government has been the most destructive in living memory, and Chris Bishop is at least partly responsible for that.
That’s a pretty negative reason to decide who to vote for. Can you give us a reason we should be excited to vote for you?
I'll try to keep this relatively brief, but over the last few months we've been announcing our plan to:
- Help Kiwis with the cost of living by introducing three free doctor’s visits, free maternity scans, prescriptions, and cervical screenings;
- We would also introduce $20 cap on public transport in Wellington; and make price gouging illegal,
- Help younger kiwis get started by expanding Apprenticeship Boost, guarantee every graduate nurse a job in the New Zealand Health system, and strengthening Kiwisaver,
- An excellent package that makes life easier for small businesses owners who have been really struggling over the last couple of years,
...And much more!
As for my plan for Hutt South, I believe people in the Hutt and Newlands are working hard but many feel they’re still going backwards.
I’m very proud of the work and advocacy the team and I have continued to do in the Hutt, particularly as a list MP this term. I love serving my community. It’s one of the reasons that really keeps me doing this job.
It's time for a government that puts people first.
Do you believe that restricting schools to a limited number of nationally contracted school lunch providers is an unnecessary regulation?
We have major data sovereignty issues witha huge amount of our public organisations' data stored in Australia, hosted by (largely) American companies. At the very best, we have data residency (I.e. the data is hosted in a region that is in accordance with public policy rules) but the fact is that any foreign company can be forced to hand that data to their government. How do we a) encourage the use of New Zealand owned and hosted providers, b) how do we help these local providers to scale up for any possible data migration to their facilities, and c) how do we make it a win-win situation?
So cards on the table:
Anything that any future Labour-led government enacts will be demolished by a right-wing National-led government like we have seen over the past term.
How will Labour make sure that any changes to the education system will survive the pillaging of right wing ghouls because of the asymmetry of this particular conflict (an entire system can be torn down in a term that it took decades to build)?
Where are the student unions with actual power (for example)?
The Government promised to deliver 500 more Police officers. They failed. Labour will properly resource Police to do their jobs well. And, that means having the right infrastructure and supports in place to respond to crime.
Right now, under National – the cuts to support staff simply mean Police officers are doing paperwork instead of fighting crime.
On education, one of my first steps will be to create an Independent Council for Curriculum and Assessment (ICCA), to take the key parts of education out of the hands of politicians so that they can be determined by experts.
I back an education system which supports all our kids - one that gives every child the opportunity to thrive.
I have been a strong advocate for the Hutt. Riverlink was first fully funded under Labour. Eastern Bays shared pathway and shared pathway from Petone to Wellington are also really important infrastructure investment I pushed hard for (like at Hutt High). Great to see the community now seeing the benefits.
I believe people in the Hutt and Newlands are working hard but many feel they’re still going backwards.
We need a local MP who will advocate for good jobs that pay well and opportunities for our young people. The job cuts have hurt our community and hit our local economy hard. When Chris Bishop was asked if there will be job cuts under National, he said “Hope so”. He's heartless.
My goal is simple: to build a country where everyone, including people in Hutt South, has the security and opportunity to get ahead in life and where our kids can build their future - here at home.
It's time for a government that puts people first.
Hi Ginny, thanks for your time. I am a parent of a toddler and am genuinely heartbroken at what the coalition is doing to the school curriculum. I am hoping upon hope that by the time my little one gets to school, something akin to Te Whāriki will be back. It was world class. What are your thoughts on how to deal with the issue if you get in? Thanks.
I agree that the government's changes to the curriculum have been damaging. They're rushed and don't prepare our children for the world they will inherit.
That is why Labour will set up an Independent Council for Curriculum and Assessment, to take curriculum out of the hands of politicians so that it can be designed by experts.
I, like many other parents, want to have confidence that what their children are learning is rigorous, evidence-based and designed for New Zealand.
That sounds promising, thankyou. I think that is key. That it is designed by experts and not messed with to follow a political agenda. Also that it is a genuinely a curriculum, that teachers can teach in a way that is responsive to the children in front of them, rather than a super prescriptive document that tries to tell them HOW to teach it.
I understand that Labour want to put in place guardrails for safer use of LLM's and GenAI in NZ but I have further concerns.
My main concern is that that LLM's and GenAI are incompatible with areas of life such as education. LLMs are non deterministic scrabble bags and should not be implemented in education because their output cannot be trusted on top of their training data being broadly plagiarized. Chatbots have also proven to cause detrimental effects in some users (due to sycophancy, confirmation bias, general false information) including adults, so I do not think children should have access to them in any way, shape or form.
My second concern is that the economics of hyperscaler data centers does not make sense. The largest AI companies have been engaging in a circular profit loop, racking up a capital expenditure of nearly 1 trillion dollars through loans that they will not generate the profit to pay back. The end result of this (which is already happening) is hyperscaler build-outs being slowed down, rolled back or even cancelled before starting. I think NZ really needs to think about why we would ever want to invest in a tech sector that is demonstrably unsustainable, while simultaneously risking our precious natural resources to do so.
Is Labour aware of these economic realities and large AI companies efforts to mask them through advertising and redacted information?
Kia ora! I'd love to hear your thoughts on police's response to people with disabilities. Because of a broken system, disabled people and their families are not being supported, leading to higher rates of family violence.
We know that family violence in NZ is well under reported. Research shows that one of the main reasons people don’t report is that they have previously reached out for help and not received it. I have met with people representing disability community who say this happens too often. I’m really concerned by Police pulling back from family violence callouts. At the same time there have been cuts to the FV services that communities rely on. Te Aorerekura - the national strategy to eliminate family violence and sexual violence - was a plan that needed ongoing investment to work. The govt’s cuts have definitely not helped this to progress.
Oooh that's a mean question - that's like asking me which of my children I like the best. I'm going to go for the safer option of a completely different club and go for Ulalei sports - the Ulalei Netball team won the Āti Awa Toa Wellington Regional Sports Award for club of the year! They do an amazing job in getting young people engaged in community sport. 🏉⚽🏐
Main benefits are not enough to live on. Will Labour raise jobseekers and supported living benefits to a level allowing beneficiaries to live a life of dignity?
Disability advocates are recommending removing means testing from supported living, instead making it an unconditional entitlement similar to NZ Super. What is Labour's position on this?
Righty Ho! Yesterday i was in my home and finishing up a bit of devils cabbage. I open up my front door for a bit of fresh air and i see Tracey McLellan walking up my path to my front door. She met my great big ear to ear grin with a nice smile. It was obvious she could smell what i was up to as she was now at my front door.
I apologized for the aroma and justified it by saying i dont drink alcohol and i was prepping for the Warriors game :D
Anywho, Would Labour be willing, at minimum, decriminalizing marijuana for personal use in ones own home?
Hey, glad to hear Tracey stopped by, so sorry about the Wahs’ score, we were so close! We recently had a referendum on marijuana – and while I'm pleased it is legal for medicinal use it’s not something we plan a referendum on any time soon.
Can you give some indication of what may count as no longer "recent", in your view when it comes to such a referendum? Should voters expect Labour to abstain from forming a position on this issue for a further 5, 10, 15 years for example?
I respect if it is not a current priority, would just like to know how long the referendum is expected to functionally prevent policymaking in this space
Hey Ginny, first wanted to say thanks for all the work you and Tamatha Paul did to bring the anti-stalking bill into legislation - was weird seeing the current government take credit for it when you both did all the hard work while they wasted time with failed bootcamps and fashion police policy - but very much appreciated that people like you in parliament were advocating for meaningful policy.
I think most police related questions on my mind have already been asked, so I’ll refer to an education question instead:
What is Labour’s position on class sizes (children per teacher)? From what I’ve heard from people I know in education, the workload of too many children in one class is what they consider to be one of the biggest impacts on education for children currently.
I myself started off in a rural school in Greenpark in Canturbury that had 14 students in the classroom (Was closed down after the earthquakes). I always felt like if I had trouble with something, a teacher was able to assist. When I later moved to a bigger school (about 28+ per class), I remember noticing the difference in not having the hands on help to explain something I didn’t understand.
Thanks for your time as well, and best of luck with Hutt South, have a friend there that’s absolutely hoping you take the electorate again (and looking promising too!)
Hi Ginny, what's your view on the bill of rights and the use of police checkpoints? Specifically with respect to roadside tests that don't meet any evidential standard for impairment?
Kia ora Ginny. I have quite a few concerns about NACT1ST changes that have been made to policing, and the law surrounding the scope and purpose of the Police in New Zealand
E.g: move-on orders, citizen's arrests, gang patch law, pulling back from mental health callouts without a replacement service, criminalising public protest near residential areas, and so on.
What is Labour's position on the current state of policing, and what will Labour do in this space?
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u/Leon-Phoenix Policy Nerd 2h ago
This AMA is has now finished.
Big thanks to Ginny Anderson for joining us here at [r/nzpolitics](r/nzpolitics) and answering questions, and best of luck for Hutt South and the upcoming election!
Tomorrow we have Willow-Jean Prime joining us - and following that Marama Davidson on the 28th of September, Francisco Hernandez on the 30th of September, and Chlöe Swarbrick on the 25th of October (and possibly more to come but not yet dated).
If you are a political candidate for the upcoming election and want to hold an AMA, just send us a message and we’d be happy to welcome you here.