A new poll suggests New Zealanders are increasingly frustrated with short-term politics, with 82 percent supporting a law requiring governments to consider how their decisions will affect future generations.
The Talbot Mills polling was commissioned by the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa, or WEAll Aotearoa, as part of its rangatahi-led Tomorrow Together campaign calling for a Future Generations Act.
The proposal would introduce a legal requirement for governments to consider the long-term consequences of laws and policies rather than focusing primarily on the immediate political or electoral cycle.
The level of support is significant, but so is where it is coming from.
According to the polling, 90 percent of Green voters, 89 percent of ACT voters and 87 percent of New Zealand First voters support legally requiring politicians to consider the long-term impacts of their decisions.
That cross-party support suggests concern about short-term decision-making is not confined to either the political left or right.
At the centre of the campaign is 18-year-old Nate Wilbourne, Future Generations Lead at WEAll Aotearoa.
The organisation argues many of the biggest challenges confronting Aotearoa — including housing, climate change, unemployment, infrastructure and the cost of living — require decisions that extend far beyond a single three-year parliamentary term.
Its proposed Future Generations Act would make intergenerational fairness a legal consideration, creating greater pressure on governments to account for what today’s decisions could mean decades from now.
A kaupapa Māori idea with deep roots
For Māori, thinking about generations yet to come is hardly a new political concept.
Whakapapa connects past, present and future generations, while principles including kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga encourage responsibility for the wellbeing of people and te taiao beyond an individual’s own lifetime.
That makes the debate particularly relevant when governments make long-lasting decisions about whenua, wai, housing, infrastructure, climate, natural resources and the economy.
A policy that produces immediate economic benefits could also leave environmental costs for mokopuna.
Likewise, delaying investment in housing, health, education or infrastructure can transfer today’s problems — and potentially much greater costs — to future generations.
While the media release does not set out how specifically Māori concepts would be incorporated into any eventual legislation, its focus on intergenerational decision-making raises obvious questions about how mātauranga Māori, Te Tiriti and indigenous approaches to long-term stewardship could contribute to the development of such a framework.
Rangatahi say the economy is failing young people
The campaign is also being driven by concern about the position of young New Zealanders today.
Additional WEAll Aotearoa polling found 71 percent believe New Zealand’s economy is working poorly or very poorly for young people.
That finding comes as rangatahi face major questions around housing affordability, employment, the cost of living and what kind of environmental and economic future they will inherit.
The Future Generations campaign argues those challenges demonstrate what happens when governments fail to maintain a sufficiently long-term focus.
Instead of measuring success only against what can be achieved before the next election, the proposal would require policymakers to consider consequences extending across generations.
Wales provides the model
The campaign is drawing inspiration from Wales, which introduced future-generations legislation in 2015.
WEAll Aotearoa says the approach demonstrates that governments can formally incorporate long-term wellbeing into decision-making and points to interest in similar approaches elsewhere internationally.
However, the media release does not provide the detailed design of a proposed New Zealand law, including exactly which government decisions would be covered, how compliance would be measured or what consequences agencies could face for failing to meet their obligations.
Those questions would become critical if the proposal progresses from a campaign into legislation.
Young MPs cross political divides
The campaign has attracted support from some of Parliament’s youngest MPs across several parties.
The release lists Tom Rutherford from National, Arena Williams from Labour, Tamatha Paul from the Greens and Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke from Te Pāti Māori among those supporting the campaign, alongside former senior political figures including Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Christopher Finlayson.
That breadth of involvement fits with the campaign’s attempt to position long-term decision-making as an issue that should transcend party politics.
National MP Tom Rutherford has emphasised that decisions made by Parliament today will shape what younger and future generations inherit, particularly on challenges that cannot be solved during one parliamentary term.
Labour MP Arena Williams has similarly highlighted the importance of involving young people in political decisions affecting their lives, alongside ensuring future generations have access to employment, healthcare and affordable housing.
The challenge: turning long-term thinking into law
The polling presents politicians with a striking number — more than eight in ten respondents supporting a legal requirement to consider future generations.
But translating that sentiment into legislation would require difficult decisions.
Parliament would need to determine what long-term wellbeing actually means, how far into the future governments should consider consequences and how competing economic, social, cultural and environmental priorities should be balanced.
There would also be questions about accountability.
A Future Generations Act could become a powerful mechanism shaping public policy, or it could become another legislative obligation that produces reports without substantially changing decisions.
For Māori, there is another important question: whether any New Zealand framework would simply import an overseas model or develop something grounded in Aotearoa, including whakapapa, kaitiakitanga, Te Tiriti relationships and the responsibilities one generation carries for those still to come.
WEAll Aotearoa describes itself as a non-partisan organisation seeking to redesign the economy around the wellbeing of people and te taiao, with its Tomorrow Together campaign specifically focused on moving political decision-making beyond short electoral cycles.
With Election 2026 underway, the polling adds another issue for political parties to consider.
The message from the campaign is that voters are not only asking politicians what they will deliver during the next three years.
Increasingly, they are asking what kind of Aotearoa today’s decisions will leave for their tamariki, mokopuna and generations they may never meet.
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