{"id":623105,"date":"2026-10-07T08:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/623105\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T08:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:34:12","slug":"election-2026-sir-john-key-experts-and-politicians-face-off-in-the-nz-herald-future-of-new-zealand-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/623105\/","title":{"rendered":"Election 2026: Sir John Key, experts and politicians face off in the NZ Herald Future of New Zealand Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Business leaders, entrepreneurs and academics were among the 24 influential New Zealanders taking part in tonight\u2019s two-hour broadcast, exploring how they hope to harness AI and technology, grow key industries and lift prosperity.<\/p>\n

The panellists included former Prime Minister Sir John Key, One New Zealand chief executive Nick Judd, Contact chief executive Mike Fuge, Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated chair Bayden Barber, economist Cameron Bagrie, Far North Mayor Moko Tepania and climate change expert Bronwyn Hayward.<\/p>\n

The debate covered topics that include: <\/p>\n

Future of New Zealand (20 years from now)New Zealand\u2019s competitive advantage (what we are known for, what puts us on the global stage)The future of AI and technology (is AI going to kill us or improve us?)Our infrastructure challenge (housing, climate, CRL, extortionate budgets, etc) Welfare and our collective prosperity (poverty, homelessness, healthcare) Long-term leadership (tales of success \u2013 how did you do it?)<\/p>\n

The politicians (National\u2019s Nicola Willis, Labour\u2019s Barbara Edmonds, the Greens\u2019 Tamatha Paul, NZ First\u2019s Shane Jones, Act\u2019s Nicole McKee, Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori\u2019s Oriini Kaipara and Opportunity\u2019s Daniel Eb) then joined to discuss what they see as the future of the country and what they want to change.<\/p>\n

NZME managing editor multimedia content Sarah Bristow said: \u201cWith so much disruption happening now, thanks to AI and technology, the country is at a pivotal time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis conversation is about lifting up from the daily political discourse and talking about what\u2019s ahead for NZ, how we can best prepare for our future and how we can build the best possible country for the generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bridge added: \u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of feedback from viewers over the past year specifically asking what AI will do to our jobs and what we should be teaching our kids to prepare them for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an awesome opportunity to try to answer some of those questions. Also, do our politicians have a credible plan to supercharge the economy and grow the industries of the future?\u201d<\/p>\n

On October 14, Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins go head-to-head in The NZ Herald Leaders\u2019 Debate, before The NZ Herald Powerbrokers\u2019 Debate, featuring leaders of Act, the Green Party, New Zealand First, Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori and Opportunity, on October 21.<\/p>\n

Watch the debates live on the NZ Herald app and website, Three and ThreeNow. Plus, the Leaders\u2019 Debate will be simulcast on Newstalk ZB.<\/p>\n

Download the new NZ Herald app on the App Store<\/a> or Google Play<\/a> to watch live. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Business leaders, entrepreneurs and academics were among the 24 influential New Zealanders taking part in tonight\u2019s two-hour broadcast,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2246,2840,95,9218,30726,1887,4101,31406,5903,5658,1872,3052,71,3273,305,10938,78,46323,5126,4277,26477,3025,117,111,43,139,69,1118,6662,1523,18481,3168,8485,544,5441,223,165,80559,80,2963],"class_list":["post-623105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2246","tag-across","tag-and","tag-before","tag-commentators","tag-countrys","tag-debate","tag-direction","tag-election","tag-experts","tag-face","tag-faced","tag-from","tag-future","tag-have","tag-herald","tag-in","tag-influential","tag-john","tag-key","tag-leaders","tag-most","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-off","tag-over","tag-politicians","tag-shared","tag-sir","tag-some","tag-spectrum","tag-the","tag-their","tag-visions","tag-zealand","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}