We, alongside Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Aotearoa (PADA), Te Hokinga Mai Collective, The little Miracles Trust, and Vicki Culling Associates, asked key political parities for their policy responses on four key questions regarding perinatal mental health and wellbeing.
You can find their responses below.
Please note:
All parties were asked the same questions and the responses below are exactly as they came to us - we’ve not edited them at all.
Ngā mihi mahana
National –
What is your party's perinatal (maternal) mental health/wellbeing policy/ies?
All party policy will be released closer to the election.
However, we have had and will continue to have a focus on improving maternal mental health outcomes by delivering faster access to support, more frontline workers and a better crisis response.
Budget 2026 included a significant funding boost for maternal mental health of $20.18 million. This will ensure we get support to more mothers much earlier, because we know how important the first 2,000 days are.
It will allow us to grow the frontline by adding more specialist roles and peer support workers, because we know one of the biggest barriers to support, and a reason for unmet need, is workforce vacancies.
It also includes a $1 million per annum fund that NGOs around the country can access to help increase support in their communities.
We have also announced an additional $4.9 million for four regions identified as having lower levels of investment in maternal mental health. This new funding is intended to ensure more equitable access across the country.
The cost of inaction on perinatal (maternal) mental health is well evidenced – what specific investment will your party make in parent and whānau support, and how will you measure its impact?
I (Minister Doocey) have been clear that I want to see the end of the postcode lottery. It shouldn’t matter where you live in New Zealand, nor should that determine the level of support you receive.
That’s exactly why I set the first mental health and addiction targets, to ensure all regions, whether you live in Northland or Christchurch, have the same access to primary and specialist support.
I want all regions improving access to maternal mental health support. Where any unmet need is identified, I expect Health New Zealand to look at what more we could be doing to see real improvements and ensure that, nationally, all mothers and families have the support they need.
How will your party ensure equity of perinatal mental health service access?
As above. The mental health and addiction targets can be broken down by region and ethnicity, and we are working to end postcode lottery.
We have already announced more funding for regions that were identified as having lower levels of investment, so more women needing specialist mental health support during and after pregnancy having better access to care.
We are committed to continuing to ensure all women have faster access to support.
What is your commitment to fully fund and implement Tuituia te Kahu | National Bereavement Care Pathway for Perinatal Loss so bereaved whānau get the support they need and deserve?
National acknowledges the bereavement pathway and have invested $5 million to support implementation of the mental health components of the new pathway. It will ensure parents and families experiencing pregnancy or baby loss have faster access to mental health support.
This funding will ensure bereaved parents receive coordinated support that matches their needs. Families who need mental health assessment, intervention or ongoing support following a loss will be able to receive it.
As part of the pathway, grieving parents who are coping with stillbirth are now able to register their baby through a dedicated website, Whetūrangitia, as well as order a birth certificate, and access tailored information and support services.
It is not right that parents had no other option other than to go through this process through SmartStart. There is a stark difference between the two websites. One can feel overly confronting for those experiencing loss, while the other is built specifically to support families who have experienced baby loss. This was a big step in the right direction.
The Opportunity Party –
What is your party’s perinatal (maternal) mental health and wellbeing policy?
We have deliberately kept our health policy high level. This is because we want to secure cross-party agreement to a 10-year plan for Health, paired with a substantial increase in funding (increasing from 7.4% to 9% of GPD). We are concerned with political overreach in health, and we want an enduring plan, developed with and by experts, rather than in political manifestos.
We therefore do not have a standalone perinatal mental health and wellbeing policy.
We want the 10-year plan to include lifting first-level care from 5.7 to 10 per cent of Health New Zealand’s expenditure over the decade. That is where perinatal mental health need mostly presents - midwives, general practice, Well Child Tamariki Ora, community and kaupapa Māori providers - and it is the part of the system that has been funded with whatever was left over.
Within mental health specifically, we want to replace input-share targets with outcome measures, give the peer support workforce permanent recognition and funding, and commission community providers on multi-year contracts rather than annual ones. The Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy runs to 2036 but is costed for a parliamentary term. We are giving it a funding horizon that matches the one it was written to.
What specific investment will your party make in parent and whānau support, and how will you measure its impact?
We agree that perinatal mental health needs more investment. We expect to see it prioritised within the 10-year health plan.
On measurement, we want to move away from counting money allocated rather than need met. The target that a quarter of mental health and addiction investment goes to prevention and early intervention was reported as met in June, which tells you nothing about whether anyone was seen. We want to measure outcomes instead: waiting time to first specialist assessment, and the proportion of people supported in the community before they reach crisis - reported publicly, and to Parliament, every year.
How will your party ensure equity of perinatal mental health service access?
We are focused on tackling three factors that drive inequity of access.
Cost and wait. A quarter of adults (25.5 per cent) say the wait for an appointment stopped them from seeing a GP, up from 11.6 per cent in 2021/22. One in seven did not go because of the cost, rising to one in four for Pacific adults. We are growing first-level care from 5.7 to 10 per cent of Health New Zealand’s expenditure because that is the structural answer; without it, people present later and sicker.
Commissioning stability. Kaupapa Māori, Pacific and community providers reach whānau the mainstream system does not, and they are funded on short contracts they must repeatedly re-bid for. We are committing to stable, multi-year commissioning; measurable equity goals with public reporting; meaningful Māori participation in planning and oversight; and devolution where it demonstrably improves outcomes. We are working from an independent costing in which the largest single gap is hauora Māori, at $1.7 billion a year.
Geography. We want to make rural access a named outcome measure in the Plan rather than an afterthought, and we see rural diagnostics, telehealth and rural retention as among the strongest candidates for early investment in primary care.
We are not treating equity as a separate programme bolted on at the end. It is what the whole funding path is for.
What is your commitment to fully fund and implement Tuituia te Kahu | National Bereavement Care Pathway for Perinatal Loss?
Tuituia te Kahu clearly illustrates the problem our policy exists to fix. Health New Zealand published it in April 2026: nine national standards, developed with whānau who had experienced loss at the centre, intended to guide planning and commissioning across primary, community, hospital and specialist services. Around 700 to 900 whānau experience perinatal loss each year, and a further 13,000 to 15,000 are affected by miscarriage before 20 weeks.
The Technical Advisory Group was clear that the pathway needed a cost-benefit analysis, and set out confirming the pathway’s costs as an establishment-year task under Standard Nine. As far as we can see, that work has not been done, and no implementation funding has been appropriated. Until it is, the pathway is a benchmark rather than a service, and the Group’s own warning about insufficient funding is the risk actually materialising.
We are placing implementation inside the ten-year Health Plan, sequenced against workforce capacity, with progress reported publicly. The capital elements - records and notification systems, dedicated bereavement spaces - belong in the infrastructure envelope rather than leaving them to compete with operating spend, which is how we treat digital health across the platform.
We recognise that the operating cost is not large in health system terms and has never been the obstacle. What is missing is a decision to commission it. We are not willing to leave perinatal bereavement care depending on charitable effort and individual clinicians going beyond their roles.
New Zealand First -
(Note from NZ First: Please note as a disclaimer that for a lot of areas, the party has yet to finalize its policies. The questions answered draw inspiration from publicly announced policies for the upcoming elections, party principles and past party policies - which may or may not be part of NZ First Election Manifesto for 2026.)
What is your party's perinatal (maternal) mental health/wellbeing policy/ies?
New Zealand First views perinatal mental health and maternal wellbeing as a critical investment in New Zealand’s human capital (Principle 6). Key party policies and coalition commitments include:
· ACC Coverage for Birth Trauma: NZ First supports to investigating the inclusion of all birthing injuries and birth-related trauma for both mother and child under ACC, ensuring financial and therapeutic support for affected mothers.
· Guaranteed Postnatal Care: In the 2023 Coalition Agreement, NZ First secured commitments to ensure proper funding for birthing units and maternity care, specifically providing for a funded three-day stay for new mothers to promote physical and psychological recovery.
· Resourcing Frontline Family Support: NZ First calls for proper funding for Plunket, expanding early-intervention "Family Start" programmes, supporting 0800 advice line services, and boosting primary care capitation so GPs and midwives can integrate mental health support early.
· Expanding Mental Health Access: Boosting funding for community-based mental health services and primary care teams so mothers experience timely, local care without bureaucratic delays.
As a coalition partner, NZ First supports the Government’s focus on improving access to mental health services and providing earlier support to families. Budget 2026 includes $20.18 million over four years for maternal mental health and addiction services, including peer support, family-focused services and implementation of the national perinatal bereavement care pathway.
The cost of inaction on perinatal mental health is well evidenced – what specific investment will your party make in parent and whānau support, and how will you measure its impact?
See answer to Q1
How will your party ensure equity of perinatal mental health service access?
Grounded in Principle 1 (Equal Citizenship) and Principle 8 (Welfare State as an umbrella for genuine need), New Zealand First ensures health services are allocated strictly according to clinical need, vulnerability, and geographic isolation, rather than race or postcode.
To guarantee equitable access to perinatal mental health services across Aotearoa, NZ First will:
· Resource Regional & Rural Health: Expand funding for regional birthing units, fund mobile health buses, and adjust GP/midwife capitation formulas to account for rural isolation, ensuring provincial mothers receive equal care.
· Resolve Health Workforce Shortages: Fast-track critical skill visas for midwives, obstetricians, nurses, and mental health professionals, while supporting bonding schemes for domestic graduates to staff hard-to-reach regions.
· Community-Based Primary Delivery: Shift mental health delivery out of centralized hospitals and into local general practices, community birthing hubs, and trusted providers like Plunket, making care accessible in every community.
What is your commitment to fully fund and implement Tuituia te Kahu | National Bereavement Care Pathway for Perinatal Loss so bereaved whānau get the support they need and deserve?
New Zealand First supports ensuring that families who experience perinatal loss receive compassionate, dignified, and fully resourced care wherever they live in New Zealand.
Key policy alignments and commitments include:
· Dedicated Frontline Resources: NZ First advocates directing health funding away from administrative bureaucracy and straight into frontline maternity care, specialist counselling, and community support networks so bereaved parents receive immediate, trauma-informed care.
· Evidence-Based Perinatal Data: NZ First policy explicitly supports establishing an independent perinatal database to track birth outcomes, benchmark care against international standards, and identify gaps in bereavement support.
· National Care Standards: We support establishing consistent, nationwide clinical and bereavement standards such as Tuituia te Kahu, so that every hospital, birthing unit, and regional health provider delivers equitable, respectful care and follow-up support to grieving families.
Labour -
We know that between 10 and 20% of birthing parents experience perinatal distress that requires mental health support. We want all women to be supported to live well through all stages of reproductive health. Prevention and early intervention are the focus of Labour's vision for the health system.
Under Labour, every New Zealander will benefit from three free doctor’s visits each year and free prescriptions. This is particularly important for women as we know they use primary care services more often than men and cost shouldn’t be a barrier to access.
We are proud that in government, Labour introduced the Women’s Health Strategy 2023-2033, New Zealand’s first standalone strategy dedicated to women’s health. We want to see this Strategy delivered on. Labour would make clear our expectations to health agencies that, in line with the Women’s Health Strategy, perinatal, maternal, and early years health outcomes are improved.
We want parents and babies set up to experience better health throughout their lives. This is why from July 2028, Labour will make maternity scans free everywhere in New Zealand with the Medicard. Scans currently cost up to $90 each, and are only free already in some regions. Labour will fund every scan a doctor, midwife or specialist refers a pregnant woman for. We will also grow the sonographer workforce by funding 24 paid trainee sonographer positions at Health New Zealand.
When last in government, Labour introduced bereavement leave for employees after a miscarriage or stillbirth. We have also supported the Government’s postnatal care legislation through the House this term.
We will continue to listen to women and advocates on ways to better support women’s perinatal and maternal wellbeing when in government.
ENDS.