Election limbo and AI rules: what NZ firms should do before 27 Nov

What the preliminary count shows

New Zealand voted on 7 November and still doesn't know who'll govern. On the preliminary count the National, ACT and NZ First coalition has 67 of 131 seats, one more than the 66 needed for a majority, according to RNZ's analysis published on 9 November. About 399,000 special votes haven't been counted yet. That's roughly one vote in seven, and RNZ notes that special votes have historically leaned left. The Electoral Commission's official result is due on 27 November, and CNN reports that coalition talks could run for weeks after that. On the preliminary figures, Labour narrowly won the party vote with 29.36% to National's 29.21%. National still holds more seats because it won more electorates.

The count matters for AI governance because the two blocs campaigned on different plans. If the coalition returns, the current settings will most likely stay. A change of government would probably need the Opportunity Party's support, and it would put a dedicated AI office and a broader online safety regulator on the agenda.

The AI policies on the table

The current approach dates from July 2025. That month the Government released its AI strategy along with voluntary responsible AI guidance for businesses. Russell McVeagh's summary describes the strategy as light-touch and principles-based. It relies on existing laws and adds legislation only when new risks call for it. Simpson Grierson's pre-election review says National would largely keep that approach. In September, ACT leader David Seymour told RNZ that AI is already regulated, and he pointed to guidance the Ministry for Regulation has issued to government departments.

Labour announced its plan on 9 September. The plan's centrepiece is an Office of AI inside the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, run from existing resources and answering to a senior minister for AI. RNZ's coverage says Labour would also set up an online safety regulator with a wider mandate, write a copyright framework that lets creators control and be paid for AI use of their work, and align New Zealand's standards with Australia's. A LawNews opinion piece compared every party's commitments as at 19 October. The Greens' platform gives people the right to contest and opt out of AI-assisted decisions. The Greens would also pause consents for new hyperscale data centres until a regulatory framework exists.

Two smaller commitments are worth watching because the parties behind them could hold the balance of power. NZ First wants personal information used by public agencies to be stored in New Zealand. The Opportunity Party's digital policy includes serious-incident reporting and a review of protections for people affected by AI decisions in both the public and private sectors, according to the same LawNews piece. Before the vote, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon ruled out working with Opportunity. CNN reports that after the vote he said he wanted to build a relationship with the party's leader, Qiulae Wong.

What stays the same under either result

We expect the obligations most NZ businesses face over the next year to change very little, whichever bloc governs. Most of the binding rules that touch AI already sit in general law. The Privacy Act's new information privacy principle 3A took effect on 1 May 2026. Under IPP3A, an organisation that collects someone's personal information from a third party must tell that person, unless an exception applies. An AI tool that enriches customer records with third-party data is covered by that duty. Setting up a new office or drafting legislation would take a new government months, and the official result is still more than two weeks away.

Trans-Tasman firms face a firmer deadline in Australia. From 10 December 2026, organisations covered by the Australian Privacy Act must explain certain automated decisions in their privacy policies. The rule applies when a computer program makes, or substantially contributes to, decisions that significantly affect individuals. The policy must list the kinds of personal information those programs use. Allens points out that the duty falls on the organisation using the tool, and that having a human review the output doesn't automatically take a tool out of scope. NZ businesses covered by the Australian Act have about a month left.

The election result will shape the direction of policy from 2027. A second coalition term, with ACT and NZ First stronger relative to National, points to continued voluntary guidance and more pressure for public-sector data to stay onshore. A Labour-led government points to an Office of AI and closer alignment with Australian standards. Incident reporting could follow if Opportunity's policy survives coalition negotiations. None of the party policies we reviewed proposes a standalone AI Act like the EU's.

What to do while the count finishes

Owners and IT leaders can do the following work now, and it'll hold up under either government.

• List the AI tools your organisation uses, including AI features switched on inside existing software, and mark which ones process personal information.
• Check that any AI-assisted enrichment, scoring or lead generation that draws on third-party data meets IPP3A's notification duty.
• If you operate in Australia, map which significant decisions involve automated tools and update your privacy policy before 10 December.
• Record where AI-related data is stored and processed. NZ First's local storage policy targets public agencies, but government suppliers should expect to be asked the same question. Running sensitive workloads on an onshore private AI server makes that question easy to answer.
• Start logging AI errors and near misses now, so you'll already have records if incident reporting becomes a requirement.
• Name one person as the owner of AI governance and give them a short policy to maintain, using the Government's 2025 business guidance as the baseline.

We'll come back to this once the official result is declared and any coalition agreement is published. Coalition agreements usually set out policy commitments in more detail than campaign material does. If you want help setting up an AI register or policy, our AI consultancy page explains how we approach governance work.