Election 2026: Why the candidates behind the party leaders matter this election - Cecilia Robinson

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OPINION: Parliament needs more than headline-making political personalities.

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Beyond the big names: Parliament needs people who know how to deliver, says Cecilia Robinson. Photo / Mark Mitchell

There is a disproportionate amount of focus during an election campaign on party leaders. We analyse every speech, debate performance, announcement and mistake. We ask who looks the most prime ministerial, who has momentum and who has won or lost the political week.

That scrutiny matters. Leadership matters enormously. But a government is not one person. If I were better at sport, I would make an All Blacks analogy here about the captain only being as strong as the team around them, but for your benefit and mine, I will resist.

A government is a Cabinet, a caucus and a wider parliamentary team. It is the people who may become ministers, chair select committees, scrutinise legislation and make decisions across health, education, justice, infrastructure and the economy.

So while we examine the leaders, we should be paying far more attention to the benches behind them. Who are the people each party is bringing forward? What have they done before entering politics? Have they led organisations, taught in classrooms, served communities or been accountable for delivering results?

The 2026 election campaign has not yet reached full speed, but the contest for attention is already well underway. Act’s recruitment of Paul Henry was always going to generate headlines. Henry is articulate, provocative and understands better than most aspiring politicians how to capture an audience.

New Zealand First’s decision to run Michael Laws follows a similar logic. Laws has previously been an MP, mayor, regional councillor and broadcaster. He knows politics, understands the media and is unlikely to disappear quietly into the background.

Neither man will struggle to be noticed.

In a fragmented media environment, parties increasingly need candidates who can command attention. Name recognition, personality and communication matter. But politics needs more than personalities. While the most recognisable candidates gather headlines, less attention is paid to those who bring substantial experience from outside politics. Government is execution: converting aspirations into legislation, funding, functioning services and measurable improvements in people’s lives.

That is why it is encouraging to see candidates such as National’s Emma Chatterton, Candace Kinser and Mahesh Muralidhar, alongside Labour’s Rakesh Naidoo, putting themselves forward.

They bring very different professional backgrounds. None should be elected merely because of what they achieved before entering politics, but substantial experience outside Parliament should count for something.

Chatterton is a particularly strong example. She spent nearly a decade in the classroom before moving into social investment, where she worked alongside Sir Bill English, and then into education policy. A senior adviser to Education Minister Erica Stanford, she has now been selected as National’s candidate in Papakura.

In my view, Stanford has been one of the Government’s most successful ministers, bringing urgency, command of detail and a relentless focus on student achievement. Chatterton has not observed that programme from a distance. She has helped translate the Government’s education priorities into action and understands the difference between developing policy and implementing it across a complex system.

She understands education from both directions: how decisions are developed in a ministerial office and how they land in a classroom. Parliament benefits from people who understand both policy and the practical realities of delivering a public service.

Naidoo is another strong example. A senior police leader who has worked extensively with ethnic, iwi and community groups, he has seen first-hand some of New Zealand’s most difficult realities, including family harm, addiction, mental distress, organised crime and social disconnection.

Labour has placed him high on its party list, putting him in a strong position to enter Parliament. His transition into politics has attracted legitimate scrutiny over when the Police Commissioner was informed of his candidacy, and those questions should be addressed transparently.

But they should not obscure the value of attracting someone with his experience.

Government may divide policing, health, education, housing and justice into separate portfolios, but families often experience them all at once. Someone who understands those connections should bring a grounded perspective to Parliament and help shape policy that works in practice, not just on paper.

Kinser is another candidate building momentum. Auckland Central was held by National’s Nikki Kaye for four elections, demonstrating how much a strong individual candidate can matter in this electorate. Early polling now has National on 30% of the candidate vote, ahead of the Greens and Labour.

Her leadership experience and ability to navigate complexity should allow her to speak credibly about bringing together central and local government, businesses, community organisations and residents. The early signs are encouraging for National, with Kinser emerging as a serious contender and building a credible path to return Auckland Central to the party.

Muralidhar brings another valuable perspective. His experience spans technology, entrepreneurship, investment and the challenges involved in building growing organisations. He was Canva’s first head of people operations, giving him direct experience inside one of the world’s most successful technology companies during its early growth.

He is now standing in Tāmaki, a long-held National seat that shifted to Act in 2023. His campaign therefore represents an opportunity for National to reclaim one of its most historically secure electorates, while bringing into Parliament someone with direct experience of the economic challenges New Zealand must address.

Those challenges include low productivity, limited access to capital and the continued loss of talented and ambitious people offshore. Government settings shape whether businesses invest, hire, innovate and grow. Muralidhar understands those decisions through his work with founders and emerging companies.

Parliament would benefit from more people who understand what it takes to build ambitious organisations, attract talent and compete from a small country at the edge of the world.

Taken together, Chatterton, Naidoo, Kinser and Muralidhar demonstrate the value of bringing a wider range of experience into political life. No party has a monopoly on talent, and professional success does not automatically produce political wisdom. Real-world experience is not a substitute for values, intellect, political judgment or the ability to represent people unlike yourself.

But it gives those qualities context. It means an aspiring minister may have previously been responsible for implementing change rather than simply announcing it.

It means a member of a select committee may understand the practical consequences of a law, not just its stated intention. It means people entering Parliament may already understand what it feels like to be accountable for an outcome that cannot be solved with a press release.

Our political parties should therefore be looking actively beyond the traditional political pipeline.

New Zealanders regularly complain about the quality of political leadership. We say Parliament needs more practical experience, broader perspectives and a better understanding of life outside Wellington.

Yet we have also created a political culture that makes standing for office increasingly unattractive to people with successful careers and other options.

Candidates face relentless scrutiny, personal attacks and the possibility that their families, colleagues and historical comments will be drawn into public debate. Some of that scrutiny is necessary. Democratic accountability is not supposed to be comfortable.

But we should be careful not to create a system in which public life becomes attractive only to those already immersed in politics or comfortable with its increasingly combative nature.

There is nothing wrong with building a career in politics. It requires specialist skills, institutional knowledge, resilience and stamina. The problem arises when Parliament becomes too detached from the worlds it governs.

A healthy Parliament needs teachers alongside lawyers, business builders alongside public servants and community leaders alongside experienced political operators.

It needs people who know what it feels like to make payroll, manage a classroom, confront a dangerous situation, lead an organisation through uncertainty or take responsibility when an ambitious plan fails.

Henry and Laws will bring personality, confidence and a formidable ability to attract attention. They may also bring valuable perspectives. But the candidates commanding the biggest headlines are not the only ones worth watching.

Chatterton, Naidoo, Kinser and Muralidhar represent something equally important: people with substantial experience outside Parliament who are prepared to put that experience to public use.

All four must still earn voters’ confidence and withstand proper scrutiny. Who forms the next Government matters. So does the calibre, judgment and experience of the people who will help that Government function.

Democracy needs leaders who can communicate, but government also needs a deep bench of people who know how to get things done.

As the campaign progresses, we should spend less time treating elections as presidential contests between two leaders and more time examining the teams standing behind them.

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