Policy.nz
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Short description|New Zealand election information website}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=February 2023}}
Policy.nz is an interactive, online voting advice application run during election campaigns. It simplifies and categorises the election policies of political parties and candidates and allows users to compare policies within topics. Using interactive features, users can save policies or view policies with party or candidate names hidden.
Policy.nz and PolicyLocal.nz have been used by hundreds of thousands of voters around the world.
Background
Policy.nz was developed by Ollie Neas, Asher Emanuel, Chris McIntyre, and Racheal Reeves. According to Neas, it was created because “there was no single place to view all the parties’ policies”{{Cite web |date=13 August 2017 |title=Policy tool to compare parties' promises |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/201854553/policy-tool-to-compare-parties-promises |access-date=11 July 2022 |website=RNZ |language=en-nz}} and “there has been a dearth of coverage that provides policy information in a clean way”.{{Cite web |date=3 May 2018 |title=Filling the policy gap |url=https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/news/2017/08/filling-the-policy-gap |access-date=11 July 2022 |website=www.wgtn.ac.nz |publisher=Victoria University of Wellington |language=en}}
Since 2019, Policy.nz has received funding from Google News Initiative.
Methodology
Policy.nz captures party policies from parties’ official websites, policy documents, press releases and social media posts, or by surveying candidates directly.
For party policies, an editorial process is applied to create simplified policy statements and descriptions that use consistent language.{{Cite web |title=About {{!}} Policy |url=https://2017.policy.nz/about |access-date=11 July 2022 |website=2017.policy.nz |language=en}} This allows users to compare policies from different parties and candidates by topic (such as Housing) and sub-topic (such as Housing Affordability). Citations to parties’ original source material are provided for all policy statements.
Policy.nz contrasts to other voting advice applications by not using a quiz-based format or algorithms to recommend who a user should vote for.
Uses
= New Zealand general elections =
Policy.nz was published at the 2017 general election, 2020 general election, and the 2023 general election in partnership with The Spinoff. Around one in six New Zealand voters – 500,000 users – used the 2020 general election tool, which covered 2,000 policies and 500 candidates.{{Cite web |last=Blake-Kelly |first=Chris McIntyre and Stella |date=16 October 2020 |title=The most liked policy of them all, based on 400,000 New Zealanders' choices |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/16-10-2020/the-most-liked-policy-of-them-all-based-on-400000-new-zealanders-choices |access-date=11 July 2022 |website=The Spinoff }}
Since its launch in 2017 the Policy.nz website has received acclaim from media commentators and was called “the stand-out success of the 2017 election” in The New Zealand Herald’s round-up of voting advice tools.{{Cite web |title=Political Roundup: Tools for deciding who to vote for |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/political-roundup-tools-for-deciding-who-to-vote-for/ACH3AJYY6OOSXZMQHUYBIBQDBA/ |access-date=11 July 2022 |website=The New Zealand Herald |language=en-NZ}}
In 2020, Policy.nz ran a civics education programme and a policy idea competition for school students alongside its election coverage.{{Cite web |last=Asher |date=3 August 2020 |title=Policy for Schools |url=https://policy.nz/ |access-date=11 July 2022 |website=Your complete guide to NZ Election 2020 — Policy |language=en}} The policy idea competition was judged by basketballer Steven Adams, journalist Mihingarangi Forbes, science educator Michelle Dickinson, academic Marilyn Waring and entrepreneur Tim Brown.{{Cite web |last=McIntyre |first=Chris |date=28 August 2020 |title=Attention schools: The Policy NZ 'idea contest' for election 2020 is now live |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/28-08-2020/attention-schools-the-policy-nz-idea-contest-for-election-2020-is-now-live |access-date=11 July 2022 |website=The Spinoff }}
= New Zealand local elections =
PolicyLocal.nz was published at the 2019 local elections and 2022 local elections in partnership with The Spinoff and the Local Government New Zealand Vote2019 campaign.{{Cite web |title=Partners |url=https://www.lgnz.co.nz/partners |access-date=11 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127150225/https://www.lgnz.co.nz/partners |archive-date=27 January 2022 |language=en}} The website profiled 3,500 candidates across 574 elections. Around one in 20 voters used PolicyLocal.nz.{{Cite web |last=Neas |first=Ollie |date=25 October 2019 |title=Policy Local: 10 things we learned from surveying thousands of local election candidates |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/local-elections/25-10-2019/policy-local-10-things-we-learned-from-surveying-thousands-of-local-election-candidates |access-date=11 July 2022 |website=The Spinoff }}
= International uses =
Versions of Policy.nz have been launched to cover the Belgian general election, in partnership with Le Vif and Knack in Belgium, and global Covid-19 policies.
Covid-19 Policy Watch captured the Covid-19 policies of 31 countries, in partnership with Newslaundry (India), Knack (Belgium), Taiwan News, Vietnam National University, and The Spinoff (New Zealand).