19 Sep 2023

The challenge of vetting political candidates in New Zealand

From First Up, 5:33 am on 19 September 2023

With less than a month to go until New Zealand goes to the polls, the selection of party candidates and the quality of background checks is once again in the spotlight. It comes after a number of historic social media posts have come back to bite candidates, the most recent being National's Ryan Hamilton who was forced to do a u-turn on his anti-flouride and anti-mandate stance. Our producer Matthew Hutching looks at what needs to change to give voters greater confidence in their local candidates.