Chris Hipkins made history in the 2023 election, but for all the wrong reasons.
Rushed into the job of Labour leader and prime minister in February of that year, he and his party were faced with fighting a very different election to the one they had been preparing for.
Things did not go well, as Labour suffered a 23% swing against it and copped a monumental defeat, dropping from 65 seats to 34.
Normally such a shellacking would lead to resignations and leadership changes, but Labour recognised that circumstances did Hipkins few favours and his primacy in the party has been stable for the past three years.
Looking back, Mr Hipkins described election 2023 as a learning exercise, and said that having been prime minister before he was ready to do the job again.
‘‘Our most successful prime ministers are often the people who have experienced a few knocks and a few setbacks and they’ve picked themselves up again and they’ve gotten back into the ring and they’ve kept on going. I’ve learned an awful lot in my time in politics,’’ Mr Hipkins said.
‘‘It means that I will hit the ground running on day one and I will be absolutely, relentlessly focused on making sure that New Zealanders’ hard work is rewarded and that it pays off and that New Zealand is a more affordable country. I’m not willing to sit back and watch costs continue to rise, more people lose their jobs, and more young New Zealanders give up and leave the country.’’
————————
Labour’s key policies
- Capital gains tax, 28% tax on profit from selling investment property. Revenue dedicated to funding three free doctor visits for all, annually.
- Forgiving 10% of debt on eligible student loans.
- Weekly public transport fare cap of $20 in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and $10 everywhere else.
- Expand funding and qualifying trades for apprenticeship boost scheme.
- Compulsory KiwiSaver employer contributions rising to 6% by 2032.
————————
Mr Hipkins first policy choice was a brave one.
Labour has danced around the idea of a capital gains tax, alternatively ruling it or committing not to introduce such a thing. No equivocation from the party this time; Labour would bring one in, although the family home, farm or business would be exempt.
It would be set at 28% on profit above the value of the property on July 1 2027, and Labour has attempted to give itself some political cover by tagging any income derived from the tax to funding three free GP visits annually.
‘‘Free primary health care will be the biggest change, the biggest and boldest change to our health system since Michael Joseph Savage introduced the right to go to the hospital for free,’’ Mr Hipkins said.
‘‘You can go and see your doctor for free, pick up your prescriptions for free, get your maternity scans for free, get your cervical screening for free. These are big, bold changes for our health system.”
New Zealand is one of the only countries in the world that doesn’t tax capital gains so Labour’s policy was hardly radical, Mr Hipkins said.
However, knowing it would be controversial, Labour announced it right at the start of the year to give itself plenty of time to explain its policies to the sceptical.
‘‘I was always aware that the National Party, when backed into a corner, will go back to tax and tell lies about tax … that’s evident in the fact that they’re now putting up billboards, making up absolute outright lies,’’ Mr Hipkins said.
‘‘They are not actually critiquing the tax that we are proposing. They are critiquing a whole lot of taxes that we’re not proposing, and we would not support … a capital gains tax will be a significant change that will allow us to fix our health system.’’
And, by extension, Mr Hipkins hopes, fix the country’s financial position as well. The health initiatives he is touting fall into the sphere of preventive health care, and he is banking on a dollar being spent now saving a dollar from being spent later.
‘‘When we make preventive healthcare free, we actually ease the pressure on the other parts of the system and that does help us to balance the government’s books,’’ he said.
‘‘This government have taken a very short-term approach to government spending. They say we can cut a dollar now, even if it adds $2 in expenditure further down the track.
‘‘I’m taking the reverse approach. Let’s spend that dollar now and save the $2 further down the track.’’
Although backing a capital gains tax might be seen by some as eschewing the policies of the previous Labour government, there are some previous — and now repealed — policies which Mr Hipkins plans to restore, such as a dual mandate for the Reserve Bank to both tame inflation and reduce unemployment.
Inflation ran away from the Bank’s target range during Mr Hipkins’ time as prime minister, but he argued that much of that was driven by post-pandemic spending.
‘‘It was not the introduction of the dual mandate that caused that problem. The dual mandate is about putting people first. It’s about saying that keeping people in work and able to pay their own mortgages should be a key objective of monetary policy.
‘‘They function perfectly adequately in countries like Australia and the US. You know, the United States, the home of capitalism, has a multiple mandates for its central bank that includes full employment or includes employment outcomes.
‘‘Saying to them [the Reserve Bank] you don’t have to care about jobs, which arguably this government have done, if they think the dual mandate was the problem, then they need to claim ownership for the fact that there’s 40, nearly 50,000, if it’s 49,000 fewer jobs under them. I’m not willing to write off 49,000 jobs in the way that the National Party are. Those are real people
with real lives.’’
————————
Hipkins on local issues
- New Dunedin Hospital: ‘‘We will fit out the whole hospital. The biggest lesson from Dunedin Hospital is every time you change the scope of something, you increase the cost and it takes longer, and the Dunedin Hospital has been kicked around, re-scoped, redesigned, re-evaluated way too much.’’
- Bed taxes: ‘‘We think a bed tax is an issue for local councils. We will allow them to make that decision and they will ultimately be accountable to their local communities for the decisions that they take.’’
- AI data centres: ‘‘We are going to need more data centres in New Zealand. The key thing is their electricity use has to be new, renewable electricity, not competing for existing electricity supply. Their water use has to be sustainable, and there need to be clear standards around things like noise.’’
- The proposed Bendigo mine: “While the Labour Party opposes the government’s fast-track consenting process, there is a place for mining in New Zealand, but it needs to meet the standards that we would expect.”
————————
A central focus of the current government has been resource management reform. Mr Hipkins leant Labour’s weight to those efforts initially, backing the two Acts which have now replaced the Resource Management Act at first reading. However, Labour’s backing was fleeting due to a perceived lack of proper environmental standards, among other issues.
While another lengthy overhaul of planing law was not on Labour’s agenda, there would be legislation in this area if his party was able to form a government, Mr Hipkins said.
‘‘We put in place two new laws to replace the RMA. They repealed those and put the RMA back in place, only to then repeal that and put two laws in place that look quite similar to the ones that they had previously repealed. That’s just an absolute waste of people’s time and money.
‘‘We are not going to do that. What we’re going to do is use the laws that they have put in place, and we’re going to amend them. so the amendments that Rachel Brooking, your strong local Dunedin MP, the amendments that she’s put forward, we will turn into a Bill which we will introduce as a new government.
‘‘Yes, some of the community participation dragged things into a very, very slow lane rather than a fast track. We did need to speed up some of that, but that doesn’t mean you should shut out community voices altogether. There still needs to be community participation. There still needs to be environmental protection’’
There is one significant difference between Chris Hipkins 1.0 and Chris Hipkins 2.0. Back in 2023, when he became Prime Minister, his elevation was unexpected and he was, largely, running in defence of previous Labour leader Jacinda Ardern’s record in office rather than his own.
For election 2026 Mr Hipkins has drafted his own manifesto, and will running on his policies.
‘‘I’ve had three years to prepare. I am running on a platform that I believe in. I’m campaigning to make changes that I passionately believe in,’’ he said.
‘‘Last election, I was running on the platform I inherited from Jacinda Ardern. This time around, it’s about the issues that I really care about. Making sure people can get good, well-paid jobs. Making sure we’re keeping our talent here in New Zealand.
‘‘Making sure that the health system crisis is fixed. Making sure that everybody has a place to go home with bills that they can afford to pay. That is what I am in politics to achieve.’’