With a wash of coloured lights and a score of dramatic music, the 2023 New Zealand Presidential campaigns got underway in Auckland this weekend.
They aren’t presidential campaigns, of course, but both National and Labour’s official election campaign launches put their leaders front and centre.
National’s event, in South Auckland on Sunday, kicked off with a WrestleMania-style entrance introducing a long list of party candidates who formed a guard of honour for the leader.
The spotlight followed Christopher Luxon as he walked the aisle, shaking hands with candidates and supporters with a big wide grin.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins entered his event, in Aotea Centre on Saturday, to the sound of a live band playing a forgettable Kiwi classic.
News cameras walked the aisle with him as wove his way through Labour supporters, flanked by just a handful of his top ministers.
By the time Hipkins made his grand entrance, the event had already been disrupted once by a protester associated with the anti-vaccine mandate movement.
The attendee stood up during former prime minister Helen Clark’s introduction and began shouting at the stage before being dragged out. It wasn’t clear what he was saying but others were more articulate.
Less than two minutes into Hipkins' big speech there was a second interruption.
“We have record low unemployment, more Kiwis are in work than ever before and we have so many opportunities ahead of us as a country,” the labour leader said.
At that moment, a woman near the front rows stood up and shouted: “why did I lose my job then — I was mandated” before being drowned out by Labour supporters chanting.
This routine would happen another three times with a total of six protestors being removed from the event.
National didn’t have the same problem, although its launch was also picketed by members of Destiny Church and supporters of the Freedoms NZ umbrella party.
Vision NZ leader and Destiny pastor Hannah Tamaki said the congregation had cut short their Sunday church service, just a few blocks away, to protest National’s policies instead.
If any disruptors had planned to make it inside, they were unsuccessful.
Labour has been attempting to turn a page from the Covid-era and the campaign launch was supposed to be something of a fresh start with Chris Hipkins at the helm.
However, the party is still being haunted by ghosts from its past. Some of those who feel their lives were disrupted by the vaccine mandates have been eager to return the favour.
Freedoms NZ also knows it will get little or no media attention for its own campaign events, which means their only real chance at grabbing headlines is through disrupting others.
It has already had some success heckling Hipkins at Otara market, and Luxon in Pakuranga.
Hipkins said a noisy minority “shouldn’t drown out the voices of the majority” and Luxon said he had “no time for them at all”.
Party lines
Despite the distractions, both leaders got to make their pitch to voters.
Hipkins had a message of hopefulness and a word of warning. He said problems with inflation, education, and health were because of the pandemic. And, a National government would fund tax cuts by cutting services that low and middle income families relied on.
Hipkins mentioned National more than 16 times during his speech, but Luxon didn’t mention Labour once (although Nicola Willis did in her introductory speech).
Instead, the National party leader painted a bleak picture of New Zealand and pledged that he would find a way to fix it.
He said young people were unable to become homeowners, farmers were giving up on the job, dairy owners were too scared to run their businesses, and people couldn’t afford a full supermarket shop.
“New Zealand and New Zealanders are not broken; we just need a good government that will unite us and get things working again.”
While he delivered the speech, two young people who had performed at the event dozed off among party supporters in the bleachers behind him — one sprawled out flat between the rows of empty chairs.
Luxon had no new policies to announce and instead revealed an eight point pledge card, outlining the party’s top priorities. These ranged from tax cuts to climate change.
Hipkins did have a shiny new policy, free dental care for people under 30 years old, although some have already questioned whether NZ has the workforce to deliver it.
The policy would cost about $160 million a year, once it gets fully up and running in 2026, and would be funded as new spending in future budgets.
Whether it would be enough to get Labour back into Government remains to be seen, but Helen Clark thought it was possible — if not probable.
MMP elections were “always tight” and winning a third term was “always hard” but it could be done.
“Leading a party through a tough election takes a lot of courage, and Chris Hipkins has spades full of courage,” she said.
With polls predicting defeat and more protests planned along the campaign trail, he’s going to need all of it.
37 Comments
Unfortunately Bruce Cotterill’s column in NZH over the weekend was paywalled. Every New Zealander should be cognisant with the points therein. The Nation is drastically in debt with a financial position so dire globally the IMF rate us only above Equatorial Guinea. The column explains how this situation has deteriorated dramatically in the six years of this, the sixth Labour government. The facts of that outcome are certainly laid bare but as far as I can see neither Labour nor National are offering anything remotely innovative, energetic or productive to address our plight. In 1984 New Zealand was similarly placed. The Lange/Douglas government arrived with a hiss and a roar, like or loathe Rogernomics, they at least had the courage, foresight and energy to tackle major issues that had been ignored. Not even a sniff of that about in 2023 I would say.
I think Jacinda was the right leader for a couple of tragic events in New Zealand's history: the mosque massacre and Covid. Much like Winston Churchill was the right man for Britain in WW2.
I think she made the right move stepping down when she did not only for the country's sake but for the safety of herself and her family. The parliamentary-grounds protests were beneficial to the extent that they drew all the beserkers, anarchists, nay-sayers, anti-vaxers, cultists, and other assorted nutters out of the woodwork and into the public consciousness, and we now know that she received at least a dozen threats against her and her child the seriousness of which could not be ignored.
I've voted Labour in the previous 18 elections but I'm about to break the habit of a lifetime. I'll be voting for Winston despite his attention-seeking visit to the protests and his long hibernation between elections. I think he'll be a check on the major parties and give the likes of the Freedom Party short shrift.
I was prepared to forgive Labour a catalogue of mis-steps but this latest immigration fiasco has sealed it for me. I believe that New Zealand's immigration policy's reputation as a 'soft touch' is now firmly sealed. You can't tell me that the 200 or so Sikh and Bangalese arrivals that are in congested living conditions did not know that their so-called agents were just going to drop them off in New Zealand and leave them to the kindness and gullibility of New Zealanders to accept them as refugees. If the immigration department trusted the 'immigration employers" under whose auspices these arrivals entered the country then Andrew Little and Labour are plainly incompetent or overwhelmed. Either way they can't be trusted or seen as capable of running the country.
I voted for WP/NZF in 2017 partly because National were complacent, conceited, careless & their apparent attack on WP’s privacy, entirely self defeating. The other part was the proverbial handbrake and that worked, but only half way. Can’t do it this time though because the priority has to be the removal of this penny dreadful government from power. Driving that, is the prospect of a coalition of Labour, breaking ranks and an agenda of unsignalled racial selectivity, the Greens, spiteful and bursting with pent up personal ambitions, and TPM racially extreme, will be undeniably worse, more destructive than what Labour have inflicted on their own.
as far as I can see neither Labour nor National are offering anything remotely innovative, energetic or productive to address our plight
Probably because they can't. We're either locked into the runaway freight train of globalism, or reverting back to some sort of hermit-kingdom style outcast status, that we lack the fortitude to initiate anyway.
Over the years have come across quite a few ex bankrupts but since recovered. In every case that recovery was spurred by hard work and the ability to provide a product or a service. New Zealand is a mercantile nation it needs to sell either product or service, eg tourism, to pay its way, to normally support the wellbeing of the population. Previous governments have all recognised this. In particular the Kirk Labour government, eg formation of the Rural Bank, Shipping Corporation of New Zealand and the Lange/Douglas government who realised that Muldoon’s ridiculously counterproductive subsidies had to go in order for the agricultural sector to reconstruct to the requisite efficiencies. But this Labour lot have been of the opposite tack, just ask the farmers. And ask business owners too. Suppressing such industry, penalising success, simply ends up reducing where other people’s money comes from, ie tax, and if at the same time you ramp up spending, then the inevitable reality of the present financial circumstances, as per Mr Cotterill’s column, come home to roost.
What are National policies on farming and business?
For farming, I have heard they will export live cows. Not sure how that is a good long term strategy for farmers. Looking at their website they will allow more cheap fly-in labour, and ban planting of forests. They also promise to allow more environmental degradation. Race to the bottom then.
Nothing much about business on their website. Their partner Act intends to get rid of business subsidies for R&D and the like. Again, who cares about the long term.
As far as I can see, Nationals main policy push so far is 'lets fire up the housing market for the landlords'. They want to get the house prices back on an upward track, quickly.
Some honesty from the parties is sorely needed.
But we just get more policy waffle which goes nowhere near addressing the major issues that have been brewing for some time. I'd implore voters who have kids and would like them to stay in NZ to vote accordingly, rather than selfishly. That's a hard habit to break given the consumerism driven way of the world these days. But I can barely see anything in any of the parties that will deliver for the next generation.
Everyone should also watch Q&A from the weekend,all 3 parties had a representative grilled by Jack Tame,essential viewing leading into the election.
Ripped into Hipkins,Willis and some no name from ACT who has been parachuted into #4 on their list...(MMP at it's worst).
Takeouts,Labour going to struggle to leave the last 6 years behind,Nats for all their self proclaimed "better economic manager" moniker appear to have no clue either,admitted they didn't look into tax treaty implications and took advice on gambling from Sky City and Nicola heard about this thing called VPN's this week for the first time...then there was the shady ex big pharma ACT candidate who has pharmac not spending anymore money,but targetting more expensive drugs at "productive citizens" only...
Nicola says we will get tax cuts no matter how bad things,akin to finding out a month before Xmas that you can't pay the mortgage,your income has been reduced,but what the hell,lets put Xmas on the credit card and worry about that later.
Also she admitted that there was no plan 'B' if we can't sell 2,000(or what ever number they guessed) houses a year to foreigners..
Yeah it was a train wreck interview from Willis. That being said Hipkins didn’t fare much better. I always thought Tame had a left leaning bias in his interviewing but he grilled Hipkins just as good as Willis. There is a new economist or tax expert coming out daily calling Nationals revenue figures for their FB tax bullshit. They have no credibility. It really is a choice between a shit sandwich and a sandwich with extra shit.
you can see GST being lifted to 17.5% , same person same process as the election it was raised from 12.5 to 15, its her real agenda the rest was just smoke and mirrors then after the election will come the great tax switch instead , Hopefully their support parties will stop them in their tracks
Who are you referring to, National?
"The National Party had largely supported vaccine mandates" - Chris Luxon.
I just want to go to bed and wake up when the election is done - the political milieu is very depressing right now.
On one hand, National is up to its usual tricks of placating the rentier class, wrapped up in a thin layer of "squeezed middle support".
On the other hand, Labour is just starting to rev up the bribe machine - "a bribe a day keeps Luxon away" I guess. What will be next if the polls don't shift sufficiently - free Warriors tickets for all? Free Taylor Swift VIP box seats? Another public holiday or two? Who knows - I'm sure we will find out.
As would be expected, the useless media can't be bothered to ask any difficult questions of anybody and just plays along - asking instead the important questions instead like why National didn't present any bribes of its own yesterday, or what colour underpants Chippy prefers to wear.
To paraphrase Green Day, 'wake me up when October ends'.
I cannot see how the FBB removal could be anything but inflationary for house prices.
The wealthy foreigner buys a a house in the double grammar zone in AKL,pays $2mill+ 15% tax.House now $2.3mill,every other house in the street now will be valued up by 15%.Houses around the 1.8-1.99mill mark will all try their luck listing@ above $2mill to land a big fish.Said businesman puts his kid in the house for at least 2 years to go to grammar or similar.Then when he is finished,he lists the house,adds the tax he paid and then on sells ,no capital gains tax and if some poor local wants to buy in the area,he has now had to pay overs to get in the area and essentially pay the foreign buyers tax for him.Net result,nice capital gain for offshore buyer who may repatriate that money home,whilst a local now has a mortgage at least $300k more than what would have originally been required and making it harder for locals to upgrade from one property to another as the gaps increase.Beware of unintended consequences..
Luxon told a story about a young couple who bought a house two years ago and are in negative equity now. He said he was going to help couples like them. To help this situation house prices must to up so he's basically admitting they are planning on making house prices go up in the name of helping the few that got caught out with the recent market fall.
Yes, I've got a home with an over-sized valuation of $1,200,000. A good marketing ploy if National became the government would be to list it for $1,999,999 with the highlighted selling point that it won't attract a foreign buyers tax. There's a chance that a foreign buyer may fall for it.
Yes, I've got a home with an over-sized valuation of $1,200,000. A good marketing ploy if National became the government would be to list it for $1,999,999 with the highlighted selling point that it won't attract a foreign buyers tax. There's a chance that a foreign buyer may fall for it.
I hear the ABC'ers are back! Anybody but... Another Crisis!
Housing
Homelessness
Health
High 'Real Unemployment-11.2%
Forever Inflation
The Cost of Living
Education
Crime
WWIII
Immigration & Terrorism
Infrastructure
Incompetence
Poor Decision Making
Eco Terrorism
The list has grown under this current government. Is their one on the horizon that can akshully solve any of this?
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