The Socialist Equality Group (SEG) says it will contest the Hutt South electorate in New Zealand’s 7 November general election with candidate Tom Petterson. The group describes it as the first time a Trotskyist movement has stood a candidate in a New Zealand general election.
In a statement released on Thursday, 15 October, the group said its campaign is “not a bid for office within the existing order” but an effort to challenge the established parties and argue for a socialist, internationalist leadership of the working class. It has invited workers and young people to a public meeting on 1 November at 1.30pm at the Dowse Art Museum (James Coe Centre), 45 Laings Road, Lower Hutt. Attendees are asked to register online.
The statement did not say whether SEG is a registered party or give details of Petterson’s nomination, which closed on 8 October. Times of Georgia could not independently confirm his listing on official candidate lists at the time of publication.
The seat: Hutt South
Hutt South is held by National’s Chris Bishop, who took it from Labour in the 2023 election with a majority of 1,332 votes (3.09%), according to the electorate’s record. He has held the seat since that election.
Election timetable
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced in January that New Zealand would vote on Saturday 7 November. Parliament was dissolved on 1 October and writ day was 4 October, 1News reported. Advance voting begins on 26 October. Polling places open from 9am to 7pm on election day.
Voters must be enrolled by Sunday 25 October. New Zealand citizens and permanent residents aged 18 or over who have lived in the country continuously for at least 12 months at some point in their lives can enrol, according to the Office of Ethnic Communities. Enrolment and checking details are available at vote.nz.
What the group says
SEG says the election takes place as “world capitalism enters the most dangerous period since the Second World War”. It points to wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Iran and to what it describes as the militarisation of the Indo-Pacific, and argues that no party contesting the election offers workers a way forward.
It describes New Zealand as a “minor imperialist power” that, with Australia, is helping to draw Pacific nations into a US-led confrontation with China. It says successive Labour and National-led governments have backed the US and that both parties now support lifting defence spending from 1 percent to at least 2 percent of GDP.
Policies put forward
SEG’s statement lists the following demands:
- Defence and foreign policy: end all military spending and redirect the money to schools, hospitals and poverty; withdraw from the Five Eyes intelligence network, close the Waihopai base and abolish the intelligence agencies; abolish the ANZUS Treaty; and withdraw all troops from overseas deployments.
- Wages and jobs: an immediate 20 percent pay rise for all workers and higher benefits, with wages and benefits indexed to the cost of living; a full-time, permanent job for anyone who wants one.
- Education and health: cancel student debt and restore free tertiary education; free universal healthcare and a reversal of cuts to health and education worker pay.
- Economy: nationalise the banks and major corporations under workers’ control and seize the wealth of billionaires.
- Workplaces: rank-and-file committees independent of the unions and the main parties, linked internationally through the International Workers’ Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees.
- Immigration: full citizenship rights for immigrants, an end to deportations and repeal of anti-immigrant measures.
Criticism of other parties
The group is critical of the main parties. It says Labour and National are “two parties of war and austerity” and that differences between them are “minor and tactical”. It also criticises the Greens, Te Pāti Māori and The Opportunity Party, saying each would operate within the capitalist system. It describes the International Socialist Organisation and Socialist Aotearoa as “pseudo-left” groups. None of those parties or groups were quoted in the statement.
The statement also criticises trade unions, which it says function as “an industrial police force for the state and big business”, and says the October 2025 public-sector strike was “strangled by the union apparatus”.
Claims and figures
SEG cites a number of statistics in its statement. Times of Georgia has not independently verified most of them, so they are presented here as the group’s claims.
- The group says one in five children lives in poverty, 10 percent of people rely on foodbanks, more than 112,000 people are homeless and real wages have fallen 6.4 percent since 2021.
- It says combined support for Labour and National has fallen to less than 60 percent, the lowest since the 1930s.
- It says more than 100,000 teachers and healthcare workers took part in last October’s strike. 1News reported that tens of thousands of workers walked off the job on 23 October 2025, after an estimated 100,000 had been expected to strike. Public Service Minister Judith Collins called the action “politically motivated”.
- The group says the wealthiest 150 individuals and families hold more than $129 billion. That figure matches the NBR Rich List published in June, which put the collective wealth at $129 billion, up from $102 billion in 2025.
Where the wider contest stands
Opinion polls point to another close contest between the National-led coalition and a Labour-led opposition, Reuters reported in a factbox on the main parties. Luxon is seeking a second term, and Chris Hipkins leads Labour. Smaller parties including NZ First, ACT, the Greens, Te Pāti Māori and The Opportunity Party are also in the race.
Further election coverage on Times of Georgia includes the pre-election debate planned by Waikato students, the arrival of the Free Palestine Party, a warning on the Te Pāti Māori election strategy, a look at how tactical voting could affect MMP and the Electoral Commission’s voter education campaign. More are in the Political section.
Based on a statement from the Socialist Equality Group. Times of Georgia publishes statements from political groups for information and does not endorse any party or candidate.
