The NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party says the cancellation of a Runanga Meet the Candidates forum highlights a wider problem of political gatekeeping ahead of the 2026 General Election. The party alleges Councillor Kate Kennedy falsely blamed venue restrictions for excluding candidate Sue Grey before cancelling the event. It has lodged a formal Code of Conduct complaint and is calling for transparent, equal rules governing candidate access to election debates.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 30th September 2026
GREYMOUTH, NEW ZEALAND A growing pattern of political censorship, administrative gatekeeping, and corporate control is threatening the foundation of democratic choice in New Zealand ahead of the 2026 General Election.
What began as localised disputes over candidate access in provincial electorates has expanded into a nationwide story. Across New Zealand, minor party leaders, independent candidates, and grassroots community advocates are systematically being filtered out of public hustings, denied broadcast platforms, and subjected to misleading administrative roadblocks by sitting establishment politicians.
The issue reached boiling point on the West Coast this week, culminating in the abrupt cancellation of a public “Meet the Candidates” forum in Runanga after Greymouth District Councillor Kate Kennedy was exposed for falsely blaming local venue management to exclude a registered candidate.
When challenged by media over direct written evidence from the Runanga Workingmen’s Club denying any involvement, Councillor Kennedy admitted she fabricated venue restrictions to politely decline political opponents, before launching into a profanity-laced outburst to the Greymouth Star and pulling the pin on the entire community event.
“This is no longer just about one local councillor lying to cover up political bias and shutting down a “meet the candidates” event, this is a nationwide story about the deliberate manipulation of democratic choice,” says Aly Cook, Campaign Manager for the NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party.
“Voters across New Zealand are facing severe cost-of-living pressures, rate hikes, and governance failures. Yet, instead of open debate, voters are being served a pre-filtered menu of establishment figures protected by corporate lobby groups, restrictive media thresholds, and local political gatekeepers who collapse meetings the moment they are asked to face genuine opposition.”
The Runanga meeting cancellation comes just days after the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, a privately owned limited liability company,used arbitrary, self-selected polling thresholds to exclude NZ Outdoors & Freedom candidate Sue Grey from the podium at a nationally livestreamed debate in Greymouth, despite a significant portion of the live audience turning out specifically to hear her speak.
Leader and West Coast-Tasman candidate Sue Grey, a high-profile lawyer and advocate, says the deliberate filtering of candidates deprives New Zealanders of critical solutions on key issues including regional development, health freedom, local government spending, and accountability.
“Democracy requires that voters are given the opportunity to compare all candidates on their merit, track record, and solutions, not just those pre-approved by lobbyists, corporate media sponsors, or sitting officials who fear hard questions,” says Grey. “When lobby groups use rigged polling scripts and local councillors resort to deceit and abusive language to keep candidates off the stage, it proves that the establishment is far more interested in protecting its patch than serving the public.”
The NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party is taking formal action to hold gatekeepers accountable:
- Local Government Integrity: A formal Code of Conduct complaint has been lodged with Grey District Council Mayor Tania Gibson and the Chief Executive regarding Councillor Kate Kennedy’s misleading public statements, breach of elected member standards, and cancellation of public debate.
- Electoral Transparency: Calling on all national media outlets, debate hosts, and local organizers across New Zealand to establish open, equal, and transparent access rules for all registered candidates contesting electorates.
- Voter Empowerment: Encouraging voters nationwide to challenge candidate meeting organizers who attempt to filter political choice or deny voters the right to hear every voice on the ballot paper.
“We are seeing a coordinated effort to manage political outcomes before a single ballot is cast,” adds Cook. “We will not allow dishonest gatekeeping to silence genuine community representation anywhere in New Zealand.”
ENDS
Source
NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party, Press Release, 30 September 2026.
https://elocal-one.b-cdn.net/ofp%202.png
Candidate Forum Cancelled as Dispute Over Sue Grey's Exclusion Escalates
NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party alleges political gatekeeping after Runanga meeting collapses
The cancellation of a West Coast-Tasman candidate meeting has intensified a dispute over access to election forums, after conflicting accounts emerged about who decided NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party leader Sue Grey would not be allowed to participate. The party is now alleging a wider pattern of political gatekeeping, while some of its broader claims remain allegations rather than established facts.
Report by eLocal
A dispute over who should be allowed to participate in public election meetings has escalated on the West Coast, with the NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party issuing a press release accusing political and media gatekeepers of restricting voters' access to smaller-party candidates.
The immediate controversy concerns a planned Meet the Candidates meeting at Runanga. A Greymouth Star report says organiser and Grey District councillor Kate Kennedy initially said Grey could not participate because the Runanga Club had asked that she be excluded. Club president Tammie Sandrey disputed that account, saying the club was simply providing the venue and did not determine who could speak. Kennedy subsequently cancelled the meeting. greymouth star 29-9 (1)
The party's September 30 press release characterises Kennedy's explanation as a "false venue claim" and says she later admitted she had been attempting to "politely" exclude the party before making profane remarks reported by the newspaper.
That description represents the party's interpretation of the episode. The underlying Greymouth Star report provides important additional context: Kennedy said the venue was limited to about 90 people and that nine candidates were already expected, creating concerns that adding further candidates would leave only a few minutes for each speaker. She also criticised the conduct of some party supporters and said she did not want them at the event. greymouth star 29-9 (1)
The distinction matters. There is evidence of a disagreement over the explanation given for Grey's exclusion, but the stronger claim in the press release that the incident demonstrates a coordinated national effort to manipulate electoral outcomes is not established by the Runanga episode alone.
A Second Exclusion in the Same Electorate
The controversy follows Grey's exclusion from a Taxpayers' Union West Coast-Tasman debate at Monteith's Brewery in Greymouth on September 22.
The Taxpayers' Union confirms it is running seven electorate debates during the 2026 campaign, with the West Coast-Tasman event among them. The debates are being streamed through the New Zealand Herald, and the organisation says each debate incorporates an electorate poll. Taxpayers' Union
The Herald identifies the West Coast-Tasman broadcast as content prepared by the Taxpayers' Union and published as advertorial "in partnership with Taxpayers' Union". NZ Herald
Reporting following the Greymouth event says Grey attended but was not permitted to speak because NZ Outdoors & Freedom had not met the organisers' 5 percent polling threshold. That reporting also raised questions about the polling methodology used to determine participation. Daily Telegraph NZ
The Taxpayers' Union itself discloses that its polling is conducted by Curia Market Research and that Curia director David Farrar co-founded the Taxpayers' Union and previously served on its board. In its published national polling methodology, the organisation says voting-intention questions are asked before other questions in its omnibus survey. Taxpayers' Union
Those relationships do not by themselves establish that polling is manipulated or that debate outcomes are predetermined. They do, however, make transparency about polling methodology and candidate-selection rules particularly relevant when polling results are subsequently used to determine who receives access to a nationally distributed political platform.
Registered Party, Limited Polling Support
NZ Outdoors & Freedom is a registered New Zealand political party. The Electoral Commission records its registration as dating from August 2017, while independent election information site Policy.nz identifies Grey as the party's leader and West Coast-Tasman candidate. Elections NZ
Registration, however, does not automatically establish an entitlement to participate in every privately organised debate.
Organisers face legitimate practical questions about venue capacity, broadcast duration and the number of candidates who can reasonably be accommodated. Conversely, once organisers decide to restrict participation, the criteria they choose can materially affect which political alternatives voters get to hear.
That is the substantive issue beneath the argument.
Party Announces Formal Action
The NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party says it has lodged a formal Code of Conduct complaint with Grey District Council Mayor Tania Gibson and the council's chief executive concerning Kennedy's statements and conduct.
The press release also calls on media organisations and debate organisers to establish what it describes as "open, equal, and transparent access rules" for registered candidates and encourages voters to question organisers about candidate-selection criteria.
The existence and eventual disposition of the complaint will be important in establishing whether the allegations concerning Kennedy amount to a breach of council standards. The party's announcement establishes that it says a complaint has been lodged; it does not establish the complaint's merits or outcome.
From Local Dispute to National Claim
Campaign manager Aly Cook argues that the Runanga cancellation and Grey's exclusion from the Taxpayers' Union debate demonstrate something much larger.
"This is no longer just about one local councillor lying to cover up political bias and shutting down a 'meet the candidates' event, this is a nationwide story about the deliberate manipulation of democratic choice," Cook says in the release.
The party further alleges that smaller parties, independent candidates and grassroots organisations are being systematically excluded through polling thresholds, media decisions and administrative barriers.
That is a substantially broader allegation than the evidence presently available from West Coast-Tasman can establish. Demonstrating systematic or coordinated national exclusion would require evidence across multiple electorates, organisers and media organisations, including the selection criteria used and how consistently those criteria were applied.
There is nevertheless a narrower question that can already be examined.
Who Controls the Political Stage?
New Zealand's MMP system deliberately allows political movements outside the major parliamentary parties to contest elections. But registration does not guarantee media coverage, participation in privately organised debates or equal broadcast exposure.
This creates an unavoidable gatekeeping function.
Someone decides who appears.
Sometimes that decision is made by journalists. Sometimes broadcasters. Sometimes polling organisations, lobby groups, community organisations or individual event organisers.
The democratic question is therefore not simply whether selection occurs. Some selection may be unavoidable. The question is whether the rules are transparent, established beforehand, consistently applied and clearly disclosed to voters.
Grey argues that voters should be able to compare candidates themselves rather than have viable political choices filtered before a meeting begins.
"Democracy requires that voters are given the opportunity to compare all candidates on their merit, track record, and solutions, not just those pre-approved by lobbyists, corporate media sponsors, or sitting officials who fear hard questions," she says in the press release.
The first part is a democratic principle the public can evaluate. The latter characterisation of organisers' motives is Grey's political assessment and has not been independently established.
Does This Make New Zealand Stronger?
Will this in fact make New Zealand stronger? The answer does not depend on whether voters agree with Sue Grey, Kate Kennedy, the Taxpayers' Union or any particular political party. It depends on whether New Zealand's electoral environment gives citizens sufficient information to make their own decisions.
A strong electoral system does not require every organiser to provide identical platforms to every candidate. Nor does registration necessarily entitle a candidate to every stage, broadcast or privately organised event.
But where candidates are excluded, transparent criteria matter.
If polling determines eligibility, voters should be able to understand the polling methodology and threshold. If venue capacity determines participation, that limitation should be applied consistently. If an organiser simply chooses which candidates to invite, that should also be stated plainly rather than attributed to another organisation.
The Runanga dispute is therefore significant beyond the personalities involved. The most important issue is not which candidate should win the argument. It is whether voters can see clearly who selected the political choices placed before them, what rules were used, and whether those rules were applied consistently.
That information allows New Zealanders to make the political judgment for themselves.
Source image: Greymouth Star, 29 September 2026.
Sources
NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party, press release, 30 September 2026, supplied to eLocal.
Brendon McMahon, Greymouth Star, 29 September 2026. greymouth star 29-9 (1)
New Zealand Electoral Commission, Register of Political Parties. Elections NZ
New Zealand Taxpayers' Union, 2026 Election Debate Series and published polling methodology. Taxpayers' Union
New Zealand Herald, West Coast-Tasman Taxpayers' Union Electoral Debate, 22 September 2026. NZ Herald
Daily Telegraph New Zealand, reporting on Sue Grey's exclusion and the West Coast-Tasman polling dispute, 23 September 2026. Daily Telegraph NZ