Election roundup 2026: family violence and sexual violence priorities

Ahead of the 2026 election, Vine has collated election scorecards produced by Aotearoa social sector peak bodies. These assess political parties on their commitments across priorities for the family violence and sexual violence sectors.

Most scorecards assess Labour, Greens, NZ First, Opportunity, National, ACT, and Te Pāti Māori.

This story may be updated leading up to the election as further scorecards or relevant policies are released.

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Te Pai Ora o Aotearoa | Social Service Providers Aotearoa (SSPA)

Te Pai Ora SSPA’s scorecard examines cost of living, sustainable funding, pay equity, paid placements, Royal Commission recommendations, and AI regulation. Their election asks can be found here. SSPA Kaiwhakahaere Matua Belinda Himiona said in a press release:

“Te Pai Ora SSPA is asking our political leaders to transform social services for whānau and tamariki by devolving resourcing and decision-making into the hands of the community-based social sector, including iwi and Māori providers.”

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Te Ohaakii a Hine – National Network Ending Sexual Violence Together (TOAH-NNEST)

TOAH-NNEST’s sexual violence prevention scorecard provides an A to F grade across three categories: resourcing for kaupapa Māori services, sustainable funding across specialist services, and justice reform.

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Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children

The Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children have released Election26: 20 steps from violence towards freedom. The scorecard assesses parties against twenty steps including but not limited to creating a specialist Family Court for sexual and family violence, online safety regulation, and stalking prevention.

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Tick 4 Kids

The Tick 4 Kids movement’s party scorecards 2026 examine nine policy areas – protecting rights, care and protection, climate action, education, health and wellbeing, housing, inclusion, income, and youth justice.

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Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG)

The Child Poverty Action Group, who support Tick 4 Kids, have also released an election manifesto calling on all political parties to take real action to reduce child poverty in New Zealand. It sets out solutions across five priority areas: income, housing, health, disability, and education. CPAG Executive Officer Lyn Amos said in a press release:

“Child poverty persists because of failures in the labour market, housing, health and disability, education, welfare and tax settings. These are political choices. Lifting children out of poverty is also a matter of priorities. We are calling on all parties to clearly commit to taking urgent action on this.”

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New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services (NZCCSS)

The New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services poverty policy scorecards examine poverty reduction law and advice, the welfare system, Working for Families, housing, and food. They are hosting a social development political panel event on Thursday 22 October at 6pm, where you can hear directly from political leaders about their priorities for the community sector. More information here.

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Salvation Army

While not an election scorecard, you can find an election year resource ‘Pressing Issues’ from the Salvation Army’s Social Policy & Parliamentary Unit here, which summarises pressing issues affecting communities across Aotearoa and questions political parties should be addressing this election. Director of the Unit Dr Bonnie Robinson said in a press release:

“For many people, incomes remain too low to meet daily living costs. Even modest increases in essential expenses can create significant hardship for households already struggling to make ends meet. We need a welfare and tax system that supports people on lower incomes while generating the revenue needed to invest in housing, healthcare, education, infrastructure and climate resilience.”