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Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and opposition leader Christopher Luxon will be vying for the top job on October 14.
New Zealand citizen expats can now cast a vote for their mother country if they haven’t been home in less than six years – double the three-year limit in place previously.
Permanent residents have also received an expanded eligibility, from 12 months overseas to four years.
Non-partisan group Every Kiwi Vote Counts is calling on the heft contingent of New Zealanders in Australia to have their say.
Of the estimated one million New Zealanders living overseas, the group said almost 70 per cent of them were in Australia.
“In the past, elections have seen only one in 10 overseas New Zealanders vote, which represents a mere two per cent of our votes,” group director Tracey Lee said.
“With roughly one million New Zealanders living overseas, we could have an additional 750,000 New Zealanders who aren’t exercising their democratic right to vote.”
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She said the combined votes of the Australian-New Zealand bloc would outweigh eight electorates.
The group has also launched a tongue-in-cheek campaign led by mascot Darryl Brown, who boasted that Australia had always “guided” New Zealand.
“We showed them how to make pavlova, gave them their best music in Crowded House, their best athletes in Phar Lap, and their best actors – like that gladiator bloke,” he said.
“If you’re an Aussie-Kiwi and have been back to visit in the last six years, then you’re more than qualified to tell them how to run it.”
Overseas voting for the 2023 New Zealand General Election can be done online now to Sunday 14 October.
Find more information and links at the Every Kiwi Vote Counts website.
