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.
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