Election 2026

Party perspectives on restoring marine life

We asked every party in Parliament three short questions about restoring marine life around Aotearoa's existing coastal infrastructure. Responses are published here side by side from Friday 30 October 2026, reproduced accurately and without editorial commentary.

Why we asked

Seawalls, marinas and wharves line more and more of Aotearoa's coast, and they hold very little life. In Tauranga, habitat modules installed on an existing seawall are already drawing marine life back. We're interested in how each party sees the opportunities for similar projects elsewhere, so that communities can see how different parties approach marine habitat restoration.

The three questions

Each party was invited to answer Yes, No or Under consideration to each question, with optional comments or clarification of up to 100 words.

Marine habitat enhancement. Would your party support initiatives that improve marine biodiversity by adding habitat features to existing coastal infrastructure, such as seawalls, marinas and wharves?
Consenting and implementation. Would your party support exploring clearer and more proportionate consenting pathways for small-scale marine habitat restoration projects on existing coastal infrastructure, while maintaining appropriate environmental safeguards?
Research and community monitoring. Would your party support efforts to establish a shared national ecological monitoring dataset, bringing together observations from researchers, schools, community groups and citizen scientists involved in marine habitat restoration projects?

The responses

We invited ACT, Green, Labour, National, NZ First and Te Pāti Māori to answer the three questions above. Responses are published here from Friday 30 October 2026. They need JavaScript to display. To ask for them, email hello@restoringsealife.nz.

How we did this

On 14 October 2026 we emailed the same questions to ACT, Green, Labour, National, NZ First and Te Pāti Māori, addressed to each party's relevant spokesperson, minister or co-leader. Responses are reproduced accurately and without editorial commentary. Parties that have not replied are not shown in the table. Restoring Sealife is an early-stage initiative. It is non-partisan and does not endorse any party.