After the release of the Coalition for Books (CFB) election manifesto, the sector reached out to the seven main political parties to ask for their response. We know they are busy on the campaign trail, so we gave them several weeks to reply and followed up our email with a reminder as the deadline for a response drew near.

CFB heard back from only three parties: National, Labour, and Te Pāti Māori. The organisation analysed their responses and present them in this matrix. A summary analysis (prepared with the help of AI tool Copilot) follows, and then below these you will find the parties full responses so you can analyse them yourself.

We hope that these help you as you consider your vote this election.

Summary analysis:

The National Party response discusses funding for literacy, Creative New Zealand, literature, libraries and Public Lending Right but does not commit to the dedicated $1 million fund.

It says it shares the ambition to increase reading but gives no commitment or direct answer on a New Zealand Year of Reading.

National explicitly commits to protecting intellectual property and rewarding creators, and cites proposed reforms addressing creators’ rights, piracy and licensing. It says work on generative AI is still underway, so implementation details remain unresolved.

National points to procurement rules already favouring New Zealand economic benefits and local businesses. These could benefit publishers and book suppliers, but it makes no specific commitment or purchasing target for New Zealand books or stories.

The Labour Party promises to protect public arts funding and invest in the creative sector but does not commit to the specified dedicated fund.

It gives no commitment or direct answer on a New Zealand Year of Reading.

Labour explicitly proposes an AI copyright framework giving creators control over their work, recognition and fair payment. Its commitment is narrower than our election manifesto asks because it focuses on AI.

Labour’s reply states support for New Zealand writers, publishers and storytelling generally, but makes no commitment about government purchasing or procurement.

Te Pāti Māori explicitly supports the requested funding for a national body supporting local authors, diverse stories, exports and reading campaigns.

It commits to co-funding a major nationwide reading campaign, explicitly supports copyright reform, AI licensing requirements and expanded Public Lending Right compensation, as well as support for our ask that the government buy locally.

Responses in full:

(these are presented here in the order they were received)

National Party: “National recognises the important role books and reading play in our education, culture, economy and communities. New Zealand authors and publishers help tell our stories, preserve our heritage and share our unique identity with the world. We want to see more New Zealanders enjoying reading, more opportunities for our writers and publishers, and a strong and sustainable creative sector.

Improving literacy has been a major priority for National since we were elected. We campaigned on our Teaching the Basics Brilliantly policy and Literacy Guarantee, and have delivered on those commitments by introducing an hour each of reading, writing and maths every day in primary and intermediate schools, mandating structured literacy, introducing a new English curriculum and phonics checks, and investing in teacher training and resources.

We’ve backed these reforms with significant investment, including a further $131 million in Budget 2026 to strengthen literacy and mathematics teaching, with new reading resources, targeted interventions and professional development for teachers. Our Read to Succeed action plan supports our target of 80 per cent of Year 8 students achieving at or above the expected curriculum level in reading, writing and maths by 2030.

Our relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly is delivering encouraging early results. By Term 4 2025, 53 per cent of children assessed after 20 weeks at school were meeting or exceeding phonics expectations, up from 36 per cent in Term 1. After 40 weeks at school, achievement rose from 26 to 47 per cent. In schools facing the greatest socioeconomic barriers, the proportion meeting expectations after 20 weeks more than doubled, from 19 to 40 per cent. These improvements in foundational reading skills are crucial, because the earlier children master reading, the better their chances of succeeding throughout their education.

The Government continues to encourage reading for children outside the classroom, supporting Reading Together Te Pānui Ngātahi and Duffy Books in Homes through a combined $2.89 million annual funding provision, helping children develop a love of books and supporting whānau to read together. The Ministry of Education also partnered with Duffy Books in Homes on a Summer Reading Challenge to encourage children to keep reading over the school holidays.

We’ve also invested $4.5 million in new te reo Māori literacy and curriculum resources for Māori-medium and kaupapa Māori education, including resources enabling students to study important New Zealand literary works entirely in te reo Māori.

Reading is fundamental not only to educational achievement, but also to lifelong participation in culture, employment and community life. That’s why National’s focus on lifting literacy standards and rebuilding achievement is closely aligned with our broader goal of encouraging more New Zealanders to become confident readers.

Additionally, it is crucial that we support New Zealand’s creative industries, including our authors and publishers. That’s why, in 2025, we launched Amplify, our strategy to grow the creative and cultural sectors through to 2030. The strategy focuses on making government funding easier to access, creating more opportunities for New Zealand creatives to reach international markets, developing talent and sustainable careers, and removing regulatory barriers that limit the sector’s ability to grow.

The National-led Government is providing $16.4 million in core Crown funding to Creative New Zealand in 2026/27, helping support New Zealand’s arts and cultural sector, including our authors and publishers, through its grants and programmes.

Through Creative New Zealand, 28 literature grants totalling more than $6.6 million were offered in its 2026 funding round, supporting literary organisations over one-to-three-year periods. This includes $600,000 for the Publishers Association of New Zealand and more than $855,000 for Read NZ Te Pou Muramura over two years, alongside funding for New Zealand publishers including HUIA, Auckland University Press and Bridget Williams Books. Funding has also been offered to Māori and Pacific literary organisations, including HUIA, KUPU Trust and Mila’s Books, helping support the stories and voices that reflect New Zealand’s identity.

We’re also supporting opportunities for New Zealand books to reach international audiences. With Creative New Zealand’s support, New Zealand publishers showcased their work at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in April 2026 and the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2026, promoting local titles, building international relationships and growing export opportunities.

Creative New Zealand also supports a literature translation grant programme, administered by the Publishers Association, contributing up to $5,000 per title towards translating New Zealand books into foreign languages.

We’re committed to protecting intellectual property and ensuring creators are recognised and rewarded for their work. In June 2026, the Government announced proposed copyright reforms to strengthen creators’ rights, tackle online piracy and improve copyright licensing arrangements. Further work is underway on the implications of generative AI for copyright.

Public libraries play an important role in helping New Zealanders discover books and access reading opportunities. The National-led Government continues to invest in our national library and archival institutions, with $174.1 million allocated to national archival and library services in 2026/27. Through the National Library, we’re supporting access to books and reading resources for schools, helping public libraries deliver services, and preserving and digitising New Zealand’s documentary heritage so future generations can continue to access our stories.

We’re also supporting New Zealand authors through the $2.4 million annual Public Lending Right fund, which recognises their contribution by compensating eligible authors for books held in New Zealand libraries. We’ve simplified the scheme by replacing the requirement for authors to reapply annually with a simpler annual confirmation process. Cabinet has also agreed to lower the eligibility threshold from 50 to 30 library copies, which is expected to extend payments to around 170 additional authors.

National also believes New Zealand businesses should have greater opportunities to benefit from government spending. Our updated Government Procurement Rules, introduced in December 2025, require covered government procurements of $100,000 or more to give at least a 10 per cent weighting to economic benefits for New Zealand, including opportunities for local businesses and positive social and cultural outcomes. For procurements below $100,000, agencies are expected to award contracts to capable New Zealand businesses unless there is good reason not to, subject to our international trade obligations. These changes give New Zealand businesses, including publishers and book suppliers, greater opportunities to compete for government contracts and demonstrate the wider value they deliver to our economy and communities.

National shares the Coalition for Books’ ambition to see more New Zealanders reading, our local stories thriving, and New Zealand authors and publishers succeeding at home and internationally. Our investments in literacy, support for the creative sector, work to strengthen intellectual property protections, and changes to government procurement demonstrate our commitment to making progress across these areas.

Thank you again for writing and for the important contribution your members make to New Zealand’s cultural and economic life.”

Labour Party: “Please see the below response from the New Zealand Labour Party to your Book Sector Manifesto.

1 Supporting New Zealand artists alongside international acts

Labour will require visiting international artists to include at least one New Zealand-based support act at every concert they perform in New Zealand. This will give local artists valuable exposure to larger audiences, create paid performance and licensing opportunities, and help talented New Zealanders build sustainable careers. International tours should leave a stronger local legacy by showcasing our own musicians and growing the live music sector.

2 Protecting artists’ copyright in the age of AI

Labour’s AI policy will protect artists and other creators by developing a copyright framework for the use of creative work by AI systems. The framework will give creators control over whether and how their work is used, including to train AI, and ensure they are recognised and fairly paid when it is used. Labour will work with creators, iwi, experts and industry to get the details right, so innovation does not come at the expense of artists’ rights or livelihoods.

3 Protecting public funding for arts and culture

We can’t afford three more years of more cuts and more chaos. After cuts across Vote Arts, Culture and Heritage, Labour will take a different approach: investing responsibly in the institutions, people and expertise that sustain New Zealand’s creative sector and make the arts accessible across the country. This will protect the public funding that organisations such as Creative New Zealand, the Department of Internal Affairs, the National Library and Archives New Zealand rely on.

4 Recognising the wellbeing value of arts and creativity

Labour will update the Government’s Amplify creative and cultural strategy to include a dedicated section on wellbeing. This will recognise that the arts do more than contribute to jobs, exports and economic growth: they help us tell our stories, express who we are, and strengthen mental and physical wellbeing, connection, identity and support resilient communities. The wellbeing section will include a clear commitment to equitable access to the arts, including for people living in regional areas, Māori, Pacific and ethnic communities, and disabled people. The updated strategy will set clear wellbeing and equity outcomes and ensure these wider public benefits are considered in government investment, partnerships and measures of success.

The Labour Party remains deeply committed to supporting the arts, including New Zealand writers and publishers, and we look forward to demonstrating this commitment when in government.”

Te Pāti Māori: “Te Pāti Māori supports the Book Sector Strategy, especially the focus on promoting indigenous, local, and diverse stories.

Te Pāti Māori supports the following kaupapa to realise the Coalition for Books’ Vision:

Strategic central funding of $1 million p/a for an Aotearoa equivalent to Writing Australia– a body that will support our local authors; ensure that we can develop the te reo Māori and Pasifika stories, written and developed by Māori and Pasifika authors, that underpin our identity; drive export growth through global trade programs and digital innovation; and champion sustained book and reading campaigns that anchor Aotearoa New Zealand’s cultural identity and ensure our local stories thrive.

Co-funding of a major nationwide campaign to get more New Zealanders – children and adults, on farms and in the cities, at school and at home – reading our stories, reading our books.

Copyright reform that protects the intellectual property rights of creators and publishers in line with international treaties, clear regulations that requires AI companies to license content from Aotearoa if they want to use it, and reform of Public Lending Right to include compensation for Educational and Digital lending as per the 2020 Allen & Clark report.

Prominent Buy Local, Read Local campaigns that promote books written and produced in Aotearoa, full support for the additional benefits that locally developed educational resources provide to learners, and the implementation of a government ‘Buy Local’ policy to include NZ public libraries and educational resources purchasing contracts to stop the damaging practice of offshore contracts with overseas based wholesalers.”