Early votes for New Zealand's general election can be cast from today. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Early voting officially opens on Monday, and while you must be 18 years or older to vote in Aotearoa, you can never be too old.
At Claire House retirement home in the electorate of Epsom, RNZ found local MP Paul Goldsmith playing the piano, and a number of residents with a range of political views.
Some wanted to see more police on duty to deal with youth issues on the streets, or the health system fixed and free lunches ensured in schools. For others, action on climate change was a priority.
Gail Hunter wants more medication for diseases like cancer and multiple sclerosis to be available in New Zealand.
She described a friend with multiple sclerosis who was getting medicine from Australia at great expense, and had even been looking as far as Russia to obtain it more affordably.
Another resident, 87-year-old Alex Burrell, said coming from a family that ran a business he only ever had one choice of who to vote for.
"I've never voted Labour because I came from a family that, if I voted Labour, I would have been out there starving on the side of the street."
The question of lowering the voting age to 16 was put to Paul Goldsmith, something he said his party did not support.
Burrell agreed: "Totally ridiculous, not 16, they're still at school. And I always thought 18 was silly too. But in my days it was 21."
Sitting opposite Burrell was Sheldon Brown, who described a phone call he received recently.
"They said, 'oh it's a representative of the National Party', and I said, 'why are you calling me? I've been a socialist for 76 years'."
Brown's political views are in stark contrast to those of his rest home friend, Burrell.
"Well, I guess my father was a socialist and a bit of a rebel, so I guess that was ingrained in me."
The key issue on Brown's mind was the future.
"I think New Zealand is incredibly vulnerable to climate change. There's a lot of us who've got our heads in the sand."
In his view, none of the parties were making a strong commitment to climate change, despite the increase in disasters here and abroad.
"We're trying to achieve these goals by 2050, but the way that climate is changing so dramatically, I don't know whether we're going to be around by 2050.
"We've had Libya, we've had Turkey, we've had Greece, we've had major wildfires in Canada. You know, it seems to me that it is a very extreme and intense issue that the world has got to address."
He was also not impressed with the potential leadership the country was facing, and said they were lacking in charisma.
"We have two very similar leaders of the National and Labour Party, they even have the same Christian names. They don't seem to distinguish themselves in any major way.
"There isn't that charisma, that personality, that real conviction and commitment to what they're talking about."
The electoral office will visit Claire House on Friday 6 October, setting up a pop-up booth to ensure residents can vote easily.
Meanwhile, Burrell was looking forward to the end of the election campaign.
He said the wall-to-wall election coverage could be too much for him at times.
