Anna Knight - Alliance Party Candidate for Taieri

30/07/2026

Ōtepoti, please get behind this great pilot programme by Our Food Network if you can, to help establish our food sovereignty! 💪🏻

We import way too much food for such a fertile place. The Taieri Plains for instance have exceptional soil and must be protected!

Ōtepoti, something exciting is growing.
We’re launching a Local Food Pilot to connect households directly with local producers: fruit, veg, meat, dairy, eggs, grains, pantry goods and more.

Join the pilot and help create steady demand, fair prices, and reliable income for our growers and makers. Every Friday you’ll get an email with what’s in your box, and anything you don’t want goes straight to foodbanks or KiwiHarvest.

Let’s build a food system that’s local, resilient, and ours.

Link to the produce box https://forms.gle/XJDzJN7NfZJLBGDu5
Link to the vegan box https://forms.gle/73EwNWkEsjae1eCr8
Link to the vegetarian box https://forms.gle/n4KNkLEwzh5phP387
Link to the omnivore box https://forms.gle/oyyDucsz39H87bj89

If you have any questions, please email [email protected]

30/07/2026

Welcome to our newest candidate!

30/07/2026

Alliance Ōtepoti branch were out supporting the students’ fees-free movement yesterday!

We support the students’ demands for:
1. Fees-free education
2. Funding above inflation
3. Independent student unions
4. Universal student allowance

It was very heartening to also see the presence of some very motivated high-school students bolstering the ranks!

Thanks to the students’ stickability during a peaceful sit-in protest at St David’s Lecture Hall foyer, “the mountain came to Mohammed” as Grant Robertson eventually capitulated and came down to speak with them on site, rather than them all decamping to an auditorium as he’d requested.

During the lively Q&A that ensued, he said he agreed with student demands but his hands were tied legally regarding max borrowing. The crowd remained unconvinced. In answer to a student query, he did say he would take it up with the government to try to remove the cap on borrowing. We must hold him to it! The movement continues…

17/07/2026

17/07/2026

Keep our assets and our wealth local!

A management takeover bid being proposed for the South Island's largest port is continuing to rock the boat with unions, as the Lyttelton community meets to discuss it.

05/07/2026

Deeply saddening and maddening! https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Cz6K8RdWz/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Withdrawal Of MV Moana Chief Erases Last New Zealand Flagged Container Ship From Our Coast

The Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) says the planned withdrawal of the container vessel MV Moana Chief from domestic coastal services represents a catastrophic milestone for the country’s economic resilience.

The MV Moana Chief, operated under the Pacifica Shipping brand by the multinational Swire Group, is the final remaining domestic container ship on the New Zealand coast to fly the New Zealand flag and employ a local maritime workforce.

Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Carl Findlay says the decision is a direct consequence of decades of short-sighted transport deregulation and government indifference to our strategic infrastructure.

“The withdrawal of the MV Moana Chief is a devastating blow, not just to the skilled Kiwi seafarers who face redundancy, but to our entire island nation,” says Mr Findlay.

“We have allowed our last domestic container link to be broken. Our absolute reliance on foreign-flagged, foreign-crewed vessels means that decisions about New Zealand’s supply chain security are now made entirely in overseas boardrooms with zero loyalty to our country.”

Mr Findlay says this development underscores a desperate need for immediate government support, intervention, and a long-term, cohesive strategy for domestic coastal shipping.

“New Zealand is an island nation that relies on sea transport to move freight, yet our ‘blue highway’ has been left to rot. Leaving our coastal lanes open to international operators running flag-of-convenience vessels with sub-standard wages is an act of economic sabotage. We need a real plan to back our domestic fleet, protect local jobs, and build maritime resilience before the next major disaster or global shock cuts us off completely.”

MUNZ is advocating for immediate legislative reforms to amend Section 198 of the Maritime Transport Act 1994, which currently allows international ships to carry domestic cargo as a matter of right. MUNZ also demands a return to rules that prioritize New Zealand-flagged and New Zealand-crewed vessels for domestic port-to-port trade.

MUNZ also criticized State-Owned Enterprise KiwiRail for its complicity in undermining local maritime infrastructure through its freight aggregation models.

“It is a disgrace that KiwiRail, a taxpayer-owned entity, has chosen to outsource domestic freight movement to foreign vessels operated by international lines like CMA CGM and ANL,” says Mr Findlay.

“As a State-Owned Enterprise, KiwiRail’s primary obligation should be supporting New Zealand infrastructure, New Zealand workers, and New Zealand capabilities. Instead, they are bypassing local crews and local shipping in favour of foreign operators who pay a fraction of local wages. KiwiRail should be leading the charge to use New Zealand flagged and crewed ships, not helping to dismantle them.”

“We won’t rebuild our domestic maritime capability overnight, but we must draw a line in the sand today. Re-establishing a secure, low-emission, locally operated coastal fleet is a matter of basic national security. It is time for the Government to step up, close the loopholes in the Maritime Transport Act, and invest in our own people and our own shores.”

05/07/2026

Alliance Joins the Dots on Systemic Issues and Alleged Human Rights Abuses at Wakari

The Alliance Party has expressed its strong concern at alleged grave misconduct found by inspectors in March at the inpatient unit of Wakari Hospital in Dunedin, with the closure of Ward 10A reported on Friday by Chief Ombudsman John Allen.

Reports by the inspectors revealed mistreatment of adults with intellectual disabilities that included long-term isolation, prolonged use of restraints, unlawful administration of medication, denying people access to their own money and individuals being incentivised for “good” behaviour with access to basic necessities, including the toilet and dental care.

Some cases could satisfy criteria under the international legal definition of torture, John Allen told RNZ’s Checkpoint. One reported case involved a person being secluded for eighteen months, and another strapped to an EVAC, causing carpet burns.

Alliance Party candidate for Taieri, Anna Knight, says the situation is “an appalling breach of human rights and dignity”.

She says while the decision from the Ministry of Health and Health New Zealand to close the ward for refurbishment was likely overdue, she shared community concerns that the relocation process may add further stress, with reports of some patients being moved out of the city in the interim.

Ms Knight says the review process now underway must ensure systemic failures are addressed, funding increased and accountability delivered.

“While the facility was underfunded and not fit-for-purpose, the dire situation in Ward 10A was clearly not solely due to its physical environment. The governance arrangements and clinical context must be scrutinised, so how and why this culture of cruelty was able to develop and continue unchallenged for so long can really sink in.”

“Our hearts go out to patients and their families, who will be devastated to hear of punitive and coercive treatment.”

“Think of the families who, already hesitant to place loved ones with complex needs into such facilities, but with few options available to them, eventually resign themselves to doing so, only to learn our healthcare system has actively failed them.”

One of the key concerns is how long these issues have gone unaddressed, despite repeated attempts to sound the alarm, including an OPCAT (Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture) inspection in May 2021.

Ms Knight says the Alliance supports the call from disabilities rights lawyer Huhana Hickey for a nationwide overhaul of the disability system.

Health NZ says it will continue working with patients, families, staff and unions throughout the transition.

Ms Knight says beyond existing unannounced inspections, one way to avoid the “unseen” proliferation of such malpractice would be if staff were better unionised and in touch with collegial best practice.

Healthcare unions must be strengthened so that their members’ concerns are heard and whistleblowers are able to report such issues as chronic understaffing without fear for their livelihoods, she says.

“We have to assume the majority of healthcare workers go into such industries because they are caring individuals. So somewhere along the line, they are feeling unsafe and corners are being cut on patients’ rights.”

“It is unacceptable that the trade-off for worker safety could effectively become torturing our most vulnerable. It’s not a mystery what the solutions are, the problem is the unwillingness to adequately resource them.”

18/05/2026