Now Labour has the ability to govern alone, its policies will start to be implemented.
With Labour gaining enough votes to govern alone, it should be only a matter of time before the party starts rolling out policies it promised during the election campaign. Zizi Sparks picks out a few policies from key sectors and looks at them through a local lens.
The Labour Party's election manifesto runs to 29 pages. In it are policies covering health, education, immigration, housing and more.
Now the party has gained enough votes to govern alone, the policies are likely to come into play, or be in the pipeline. Here are a few key policies and what sector leaders think of them.
Labour's health and housing policies aim to ensure Kiwis have access to better healthcare and a "warm, dry, safe place to call home".
Aspects include increasing the number of state houses and requiring a quarter of new public housing to meet universal design standards; expanding the Ministry of Health's Healthy Homes Initiative to improve the quality of housing to prevent childhood hospitalisations; and strengthening public and transitional housing to keep tackling homelessness.
Tauranga Community Housing Trust chairwoman Jo Gravit said she commended any plans to extend the number of housing choices.
"Anything that helps to make homes healthy is a step in the right direction.
"People are finding it hard to get on to that first step [on the housing continuum] and that's having long-term secure housing. This is because of a shortage of supply of stable houses in the Western Bay.
"We have the promise of Labour they are going to accelerate the building of public housing but unfortunately the Western Bay is only the tip of the iceberg of unmet need."
Gravit believed a housing action plan was needed to get more stable housing built.
"While public housing has been promised, we're asking how are we going to meet unmet demand ... Labour Party policy is commendable but needs to be really accelerated to meet local demand."
Jobs and tourism are more important than ever as the country recovers from the impact of Covid-19 .
Labour policies affecting the sector include a promise to promote tourism as borders progressively open, and continuing to support domestic tourism.
Labour also promised to partner with regions to progress economic development through $200 million seed funding in the Regional Strategic Partnership Fund for strategic investments in projects or programmes that support the growth of new and innovative industries and deliver employment.
Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell said the seed funding was useful "but fast-growth centres like Tauranga really need support in the provision of the infrastructure that our ongoing growth requires".
"I would like to see the Government's regional economic development commitment extended to a partnership approach to infrastructure funding which would mean vital projects could proceed without adding to our already high debt burden."
Powell said "significant advances" had been made when it came to building regional partnerships and it was positive to see an ongoing commitment to that.
He said Government funding for regional tourism operations such as Tourism Bay of Plenty had helped support domestic tourism promotion but believed that needed to ramp up when international tourism was allowed.
"In the short-term ... more support will be required to sustain a viable tourism industry that will be ready to contribute to our economic recovery when the time is right."
Tourism Bay of Plenty head of destination marketing Kath Low said tourism was a vital industry for New Zealand - worth $1.1 billion to the coastal Bay of Plenty economy pre-Covid-19 - and partnerships would be critical to the industry's rebuild.
"The Regional Strategic Partnership Fund could deliver some fantastic outcomes for the Coastal Bay of Plenty.
"As New Zealand's largest export earner, tourism will be a critical component of our nation's economic recovery."
She said the region's tourism industry needed strategic initiatives to help businesses attract, train and develop staff and reach potential visitors.
"One of the industry's key needs is for more insightful data to assist with the planning and the rebuild of the tourism industry post-Covid-19."
In the last six months, Tourism Bay of Plenty has launched two campaigns and been part of a third collaborative campaign to showcase the region and encourage people to visit.
Low said the organisation welcomed central government support for domestic tourism and was also maintaining a brand presence in key international markets "to ensure we are still at the top of future travellers' buckets lists when border restrictions allow manuhiri [visitors] to return to Aotearoa".
Labour's education policies are about equity and reform.
Some of the key points are replacing the decile system with an equity index, expanding the school lunch programme to include 200,000 students by 2021 and making mental health support available to all primary and intermediate school-age students.
Labour also promised to build new schools and classrooms for 100,000 students, upgrade about 180 schools in the next decade and provide free access to apprenticeships and some trades training courses for the next two years.
Otumoetai College principal Russell Gordon was largely supportive of the education policies but what he really wanted to see was a cross-party policy.
"It's difficult to say what other policies should be there. My only plea is that anything to do with education is done with a cross-party accord.
"Young people are this country's greatest resource. If we want a cohesive education system we need consistency."
He welcomed the replacement of the decile system and mental health support but said finding people to fill counselling roles would be a challenge.
"I support the intent but when it comes to actually fulfilling we will continue to struggle."
He said while the school didn't benefit from Labour's school lunches policy, it recognised the benefit of it so it was trialling funding lunches for some students with a view to making it permanent in 2021.
Gordon said 2020 had been a difficult year and to maintain some level of normality had been a big ask.
"We're influenced by policy but our schools are in good hands."
Toi Ohomai's dean of primary industries trades and infrastructure, Brian Dillon, said the effects of free access to apprenticeships and some trades training courses had been generally positive and the institute had seen an increase in applications and enrolments for affected courses.
He estimated enrolments could be 20 to 30 per cent above normal for some courses, such as those in automotive, construction and road transport. However, it was unclear whether people enrolled because they were already planning to or because of the new policy, which came into effect in July.
He commended the Government's apprenticeship boost, which subsidises employers who employ apprentices.
The business sector is affected by a number of policies. Among them, the promise to increase the minimum wage to $20 an hour next year, double sick leave entitlements from five to 10 days per year and make Matariki a public holiday from 2022.
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley said he supported Labour's intention to overhaul the Resource Management Act, invest in regional infrastructure and speed up the building consent process.
"These policies will boost business confidence across many sectors if the changes are implemented successfully."
But he said employing staff would be more expensive under the new policies.
"It is the cumulative impact of Labour's policies that will make some businesses re-evaluate the true cost of employing staff. An employer would need to pay each employee up to seven weeks of time away from work each year.
"The employer has to be very certain that they have the right candidate before committing to the additional costs."
Cowley said reinstating the 90-day trial for employees would soften the risk of taking on new staff and the trial would give employees a "greater chance to prove themselves before the employer commits to employing them".
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