ACT

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Greens

We would expand free mental health services to all communities, including Piki, Mana Ake and Youth One Stop Shops throughout Aotearoa, Asian Family Services and dedicated support for postnatal mental health. We would also implement the recommendations of the Every Life Matters – He Tapu te Oranga o ia Tangata Suicide Prevention Strategy with a particular focus on people under 24.

Labour

Mental health and addiction issues touch everyone in New Zealand at some stage. Labour wants to see better access to mental health and addiction services with properly funded teams, culturally grounded responses, and timely access. Labour will release its mental health policy closer to the election campaign.

National

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NZ First

New Zealand First advocates for expanding school counselling access. We also secured funds of $6m for Gumboot Friday free youth counselling. We propose establishing Mental Health Response Units. The party focuses on face-to-face suicide prevention, tackling cyber-bullying, and resourcing youth mental health services directly in communities.

Opportunity

Opportunity will shift mental health investment upstream, with greater emphasis on prevention, early intervention and community-based support rather than relying primarily on acute services.

We will integrate the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2026–2036 into our proposed 10-year cross-party Health Plan, with stable multi-year funding and a clear implementation plan. We will grow the mental health workforce, including mental health nurses, counsellors and peer support workers, and make clinically validated digital mental health tools available free at the point of use for mild-to-moderate needs. 

Te Pāti Māori

Te Pāti Māori will invest in kaupapa Māori mental health services and provide free community-based mental health services for all. We will also treat addiction as a health issue instead of a criminal justice issue by decriminalising drug use and implementing health-based addiction responses.