{"id":75399,"date":"2026-01-21T14:30:52","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T01:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?p=75399"},"modified":"2026-01-21T14:30:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T01:30:56","slug":"general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/","title":{"rendered":"General election a stark choice for New Zealanders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cA turning point for New Zealanders\u201d.<\/strong> That\u2019s what Greenpeace has labelled this year\u2019s general election, following Luxon\u2019s announcement today of the 2026 election date.<\/p>\n\n

“The 2026 election will be a fork in the road for New Zealanders. Do they want a government that protects people and the planet? Or a government run for and by big corporate polluters?\u201d says Greenpeace spokesperson Will Appelbe.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe Luxon-led coalition is more concerned with spending billions of dollars on tax cuts for landlords and subsidies for fossil fuel companies, rather than standing up for hard-working and hard-pressed New Zealanders.  <\/p>\n\n

Appelbe adds: \u201cMany rural communities can\u2019t drink their tap water because of nitrate contamination from intensive dairying, but the government continues to enable more dairy expansion and subsidise big corporate polluters.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe Luxon Government is completely out of touch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThis government is anti-nature, anti-democracy, and anti-Te Tiriti. The election is a chance to kick them out and elect one that works for people and the planet, and not just big corporations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cA turning point for New Zealanders\u201d is what Greenpeace has labelled this year\u2019s election, following the announcement of the 2026 election date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":64081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[19,51],"p4-page-type":[7],"class_list":["post-75399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-greenpeace","tag-food-and-farming","tag-politics","p4-page-type-press-release"],"yoast_head":"\nGeneral election a stark choice for New Zealanders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"General election a stark choice for New Zealanders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cA turning point for New Zealanders\u201d is what Greenpeace has labelled this year\u2019s election, following the announcement of the 2026 election date.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Greenpeace Aotearoa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/greenpeace.nz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-21T01:30:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-21T01:30:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2024\/06\/da8a6393-luxonwreckingball_.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"935\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Will Appelbe\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GreenpeaceNZ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GreenpeaceNZ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Will Appelbe\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Will Appelbe\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/95ead5e7f952e4f08753f9b0cbf7cbc9\"},\"headline\":\"General election a stark choice for New Zealanders\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-21T01:30:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-21T01:30:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/\"},\"wordCount\":178,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2024\/06\/da8a6393-luxonwreckingball_.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Food&Farming\",\"Politics\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Greenpeace\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/\",\"name\":\"General election a stark choice for New Zealanders\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2024\/06\/da8a6393-luxonwreckingball_.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-21T01:30:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-21T01:30:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/95ead5e7f952e4f08753f9b0cbf7cbc9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2024\/06\/da8a6393-luxonwreckingball_.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2024\/06\/da8a6393-luxonwreckingball_.jpg\",\"width\":1400,\"height\":935},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"General election a stark choice for New Zealanders\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/\",\"name\":\"Greenpeace Aotearoa\",\"description\":\"Our mission is to ensure Earth\u2019s ability to nurture life in all its diversity.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/95ead5e7f952e4f08753f9b0cbf7cbc9\",\"name\":\"Will Appelbe\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/a\/ACg8ocLHxKQvs_crrSHtxMBwZWDFDb4yNCk9y80v-k--9lVapRbZJM-b=s96-c\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/a\/ACg8ocLHxKQvs_crrSHtxMBwZWDFDb4yNCk9y80v-k--9lVapRbZJM-b=s96-c\",\"caption\":\"Will Appelbe\"},\"description\":\"Will is a Freshwater Campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa. Will grew up in Timaru and is now based in \u014ctautahi Christchurch. He previously worked as a broadcaster before moving into communications and campaigning. He spent six years working on animal welfare campaigns, including live export and greyhound racing, and worked to improve animal welfare enforcement in the dairy industry. Will has seen first-hand the explosion of the dairy herd in Canterbury over the course of his life, as well as the subsequent pollution of lakes and rivers as a result, which motivated him to join Greenpeace Aotearoa where he now leads the freshwater campaign. \\\"Follow Will on Twitter\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/author\/wappelbe\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"General election a stark choice for New Zealanders","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"General election a stark choice for New Zealanders","og_description":"\u201cA turning point for New Zealanders\u201d is what Greenpeace has labelled this year\u2019s election, following the announcement of the 2026 election date.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/","og_site_name":"Greenpeace Aotearoa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/greenpeace.nz","article_published_time":"2026-01-21T01:30:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-21T01:30:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1400,"height":935,"url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2024\/06\/da8a6393-luxonwreckingball_.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Will Appelbe","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GreenpeaceNZ","twitter_site":"@GreenpeaceNZ","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Will Appelbe","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/"},"author":{"name":"Will Appelbe","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/95ead5e7f952e4f08753f9b0cbf7cbc9"},"headline":"General election a stark choice for New Zealanders","datePublished":"2026-01-21T01:30:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-21T01:30:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/"},"wordCount":178,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2024\/06\/da8a6393-luxonwreckingball_.jpg","keywords":["Food&Farming","Politics"],"articleSection":["Greenpeace"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/","name":"General election a stark choice for New Zealanders","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2024\/06\/da8a6393-luxonwreckingball_.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-21T01:30:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-21T01:30:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/95ead5e7f952e4f08753f9b0cbf7cbc9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2024\/06\/da8a6393-luxonwreckingball_.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2024\/06\/da8a6393-luxonwreckingball_.jpg","width":1400,"height":935},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/general-election-a-stark-choice-for-new-zealanders\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"General election a stark choice for New Zealanders"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/","name":"Greenpeace Aotearoa","description":"Our mission is to ensure Earth\u2019s ability to nurture life in all its diversity.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/95ead5e7f952e4f08753f9b0cbf7cbc9","name":"Will Appelbe","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/a\/ACg8ocLHxKQvs_crrSHtxMBwZWDFDb4yNCk9y80v-k--9lVapRbZJM-b=s96-c","contentUrl":"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/a\/ACg8ocLHxKQvs_crrSHtxMBwZWDFDb4yNCk9y80v-k--9lVapRbZJM-b=s96-c","caption":"Will Appelbe"},"description":"Will is a Freshwater Campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa. Will grew up in Timaru and is now based in \u014ctautahi Christchurch. He previously worked as a broadcaster before moving into communications and campaigning. He spent six years working on animal welfare campaigns, including live export and greyhound racing, and worked to improve animal welfare enforcement in the dairy industry. Will has seen first-hand the explosion of the dairy herd in Canterbury over the course of his life, as well as the subsequent pollution of lakes and rivers as a result, which motivated him to join Greenpeace Aotearoa where he now leads the freshwater campaign. \"Follow Will on Twitter","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/author\/wappelbe\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75399"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75400,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75399\/revisions\/75400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75399"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=75399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}