National and Labour both want independent election cost-checker — but can't agree on how
National and Labour both want independent election cost-checker — but can't agree on how
National and Labour both say they support the idea of an independent unit to check the cost of election policies. The catch: they can't agree on how to set it up or what it should do.
This idea has been floating around for years. Back in August 2019, the government first flagged an independent policy costing unit as something worth looking at. Treasury was then asked to figure out how it might work, and published advice on that in September 2025. But here we are heading into the 2026 election, still arguing about the details. That tells you how tricky these structural questions really are.
What each party is proposing
The Greens have put the most detailed plan on the table: a Parliamentary Budget Officer — an independent person or office — who would publish full cost estimates of the big parties' election policies. This builds on a Green Party policy from earlier.
National and Labour haven't put forward comparable plans. They both agree independent costings would be useful during elections, but they disagree on the nuts and bolts. Should every party be covered or just the big ones? Who gets to ask the unit to cost something? Should parties have to use it or is it optional? Where should this unit sit — with Parliament, Treasury, or somewhere else?
These questions matter more than they might sound. Australia has a Parliamentary Budget Office that works a particular way — it costs policies when parties ask it to, then releases the costings once the election is called. A New Zealand version could be run completely differently. Every choice about how it works — who it covers, what it can do, who can use it — would change how many staff it needs and what laws would need to pass to set it up.
Why this keeps coming up
Election campaigns throw up real arguments about money. In August 2023, National deputy leader Nicola Willis was defending National's own policy costings against Labour saying the numbers didn't add up. Labour said they didn't. Voters were left wondering who was right.
That's the problem an independent costing unit would try to fix: each party produces its own numbers, the other side disputes them, and the public has no way to settle the argument. One independent umpire could change that.
Treasury's advice from 2025 will matter for any actual bill that gets written. But Treasury advice and actual legislation are two different things. Previous versions of this idea have foundered in the gap between a good paper and a bill reaching Parliament's select committees.
What comes next
To turn this from a good idea both parties agree on into actual law, National and Labour would need to either agree on one model or at least find enough common ground to pass a bill together. The Greens' Parliamentary Budget Officer plan is ready to go. Whether National and Labour will accept it — especially the part about forcing all the big parties to publish their full costing — is the real question still in play.
The 2026 election is coming up fast. Any new costing unit would need to be set up by law, have people appointed to it, and be ready to work — all before campaign season. There's not much time for long negotiations over how it should work.
Both parties want it. They just need to work out what "it" looks like. That's where things sit.
