Labour's Chris Hipkins says Covid inquiry terms platform conspiracy theorists
The National-led coalition Government decided in June last year to establish a 'phase 2' of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Covid-19 Lessons,
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NZ Herald
27 minutes ago
- NZ Herald
Watch: Christopher Luxon mouths off at ‘frickin' Chris Hipkins over lack of policy
But that has not stopped inflation becoming a political problem, with Hipkins and Edmonds rounding on the Government for high prices this week. Luxon said the Government cared about people on low and middle incomes and helped those people through tax relief using fiscal policy to help the Reserve Bank fight inflation. Annual inflation in the past full quarter before the change of government was 5.6%. Luxon said Labour's outrage over high prices was 'crocodile tears'. 'This is the party that didn't support tax relief - moving tax thresholds. That's not deeply ideological, it helps low and middle income New Zealanders.' Luxon listed his Government's cost of living measures. 'They didn't support FamilyBoost, they didn't support Working for Families credits, they don't talk about helping construction workers by getting on board and u-turning on Fast Track [which Labour opposed, although not for supermarkets], they've got a gazillion positions on PPPs [Public-Private Partnerships], they're all over the place. 'They have no idea what to do - they put us in this mess, we are cleaning up the mess,' Luxon said. Labour leader Chris Hipkins hit back. Photo / Mark Mitchell While Labour opposed these changes in Parliament, it took to the election its own early childhood education policy, extending 20 hours free care to children under 2 years old. It also proposed a more generous Working for Families policy. National copied that policy on the campaign trial, but watered it down during coalition negotiations, costing some families $38 a week. Changes made in the 2025 Budget reduced some of this loss. Hipkins hit back at Luxon, noting that figures obtained by Labour and published on Tuesday showed the full $75 FamilyBoost tax credit was only claimed by a tiny number of households. This means few, if any, households are getting the $252 a fortnight National promised some would get from its tax plan. The Government subsequently changed settings of the policy, meaning more people will start getting more money from it. Willis said about 16,000 more families will get the tax credit. Hipkins defends lack of policy Hipkins defended Labour's light policy slate saying 'we're not even close to an election at the moment'. 'Unlike [Luxon], when we go into an election next year, I will make sure the policies that we have add up and we can actually deliver on them. They didn't actually do that and now they are suffering - and New Zealanders are suffering as a result,' Hipkins said. He said one of the reasons Labour was waiting to unveil policy is the Government has one more budget to deliver. That budget will detail how much money Labour would have to spend if it took over in 2026. 'Before we come out with significant policies that are going to cost money for example, we want to see what the shape of the Government's books are,' Hipkins said. 'I want to know we can afford what we promise,' he said. Hipkins would not say whether the party would have any policy before the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election in September. He has promised a tax policy before the end of the year. Willis also attacked Labour's 'crocodile tears' on the cost of living. Finance Minister Nicola Willis attacked Labour for its lack of policy. Photo / Mark Mitchell Willis took to social media on Monday to note Edmonds was unable to list any cost of living policies. 'I thought it was the most telling thing ever when Barbara Edmonds came down here to do a stand-up lashing us for a 2.7% inflation rate... when asked what specific policy she had to address the cost of living she said 'none' - none, none, none. 'Now that is to me, the boy crying wolf,' Willis said. In the stand-up, Edmonds gave no policy suggestions, she did not literally answer 'none'. Willis said Labour was gripped by 'shallow attack politics which doesn't put bread on anyone's table'. She alleged Labour was 'bereft of ideas' and 'internally divided on what the way forward for New Zealanders is. How much policy is normal In December 2022, the Leader of the Opposition was asked about his own lack of policy and gave a very similar answer to the one Hipkins gave on Tuesday. 'Look, we are one year out from an election ... rest assured, we will have policy,' the leader said. The leader of the opposition back then was Luxon himself. As political campaigning shifts to embrace 'small target' strategies, releasing lots of policy before an election campaign has become less and less common. Assuming the current Parliament runs a roughly full term and there is an election at the end of next year, we are about halfway through the term. At this point in the last Parliament, National had released a tax policy - however, it was careful not to promise that this would be the policy it would take to the election. That policy, published just prior to the 2022 Budget - the middle-Budget in Labour's second term - called on the Government to increase tax thresholds to deliver tax cuts to people to compensate for the higher taxes they were paying because of inflation. Later that year, National confirmed that this particular policy was only a suggestion for the 2022 Budget, but the party committed that its final tax policy would deliver at least the same level of tax cuts as the earlier plan. The final tax package was not announced until the end of August 2023 - less than two months before the October election. National had a handful of policy promises by this stage in the last cycle, including lifting the super age and reintroducing boot camps. Labour has also made some promises, including repealing the Three Strikes law, the future Regulatory Standards Act and reinstating the old Pay Equity Scheme in some form. That last commitment will come with a roughly $13 billion price tag, which will need to be paid for with some kind of tax increase, spending cut, or borrowing. National is keen to pin Labour down on just what combination of those three things Labour is planning. The Simon Bridges-led National Party took a different approach. In its middle year, it released several 'discussion documents' to members and the public testing potential policy ideas and giving a sense of where the party was headed. These discussion documents were meant to form the basis of National's 2020 election policy platform, however, that changed when the party imploded. Hipkins said the party was working on policy internally, but he would not say anything more. 'We haven't released discussion documents but that is the work we have been doing,' Hipkins said. 'We've got to make sure all the pieces of our policy fit together,' he said.
Otago Daily Times
27 minutes ago
- Otago Daily Times
Luxon snaps back at 'frickin' Hipkins over FamilyBoost
By Craig McCulloch of RNZ Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has challenged Labour to front up with any policy at all as he comes under pressure over National's struggling childcare support scheme. The comment was made after Labour revealed just 153 families had received the maximum FamilyBoost rebate - well short of National's pre-election promise that 21,000 families would be eligible for the full amount. Speaking on his way into a caucus meeting this morning, Luxon rejected Labour's characterisation of the policy as a failure. "I'm not taking any any lectures from frickin' Chris Hipkins or the Labour Party," he told reporters. "They have no idea what to do. They put us in this mess. "You can stand on the other side and criticise as much as you like, but I don't see any policy from Labour." Luxon said 60,000 families had received some support from the FamilyBoost policy and another 20,000 would soon be eligible due to recent tweaks to the eligibility settings. "Isn't that great? We have put a programme in place which Labour didn't support, didn't vote, don't back, because they don't back low-and-middle-income working New Zealanders." The former Labour government extended cheaper childcare to parents of two-year-olds, giving them access to 20 hours a week of free early childhood education. On taking office, the coalition reversed that policy and instead rolled out its more targeted FamilyBoost scheme - a weekly rebate on childcare costs. 'Absolute flop' Responding to Luxon's comments, Labour leader Chris Hipkins said National's refusal to admit the FamilyBoost scheme was "an absolute flop" showed it was completely out of touch. "They're getting really desperate. On a daily basis, they're attacking me and attacking the Labour Party rather than talking about their own track record." He defended Labour's lack of public policy, saying that would all be laid out in full before next year's general election. "We're not even close to an election campaign at the moment," Hipkins said. "But unlike him, when we go into the election campaign next year, I will make sure that the policies that we have add up." Labour wanted to see the government's next Budget before it outlined significant policies which would cost money, he said, and suggested a lot of policy work was under way in the background. "The National Party desperately wants to talk about the Labour Party's policy at the moment because their own policies are turning into an absolute disaster zone." National also came under criticism when it was in opposition for a paucity of policy heading into the 2023 election year, but it had released elements of its tax plan and several discussion documents indicating a direction of travel.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Luxon snaps back at 'frickin' Chris Hipkins' over National's FamilyBoost 'flop'
Photo: RNZ Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has challenged Labour to front up with any policy at all as he comes under pressure over National's struggling childcare support scheme. It comes after Labour revealed just 153 families had received the maximum FamilyBoost rebate, well short of National's pre-election promise that 21,000 families would be eligible for the full amount. Speaking on his way into a Tuesday morning caucus meeting, Luxon rejected Labour's characterisation of the policy as a failure. "I'm not taking any any lectures from frickin' Chris Hipkins or the Labour Party," he told reporters. "They have no idea what to do. They put us in this mess. "You can stand on the other side and criticise as much as you like, but I don't see any policy from Labour." Luxon said 60,000 families had received some support from the FamilyBoost policy and another 20,000 would soon be eligible due to recent tweaks to the eligibility settings . "Isn't that great?" he said. "We have put a programme in place which Labour didn't support, didn't vote, don't back, because they don't back low-and-middle-income working New Zealanders." The former Labour government extended cheaper childcare to parents of two-year-olds, giving them access to 20 hours a week of free ECE. On taking office, the coalition reversed that policy and instead rolled out its more targeted FamilyBoost scheme - a weekly rebate on childcare costs. Responding to Luxon's comments, Labour leader Chris Hipkins said National's refusal to admit the FamilyBoost scheme was "an absolute flop" showed it was completely out-of-touch. "They're getting really desperate. On a daily basis, they're attacking me and attacking the Labour Party rather than talking about their own track record." Hipkins defended Labour's lack of public policy and said that would all be laid out in full before next year's election. "We're not even close to an election campaign at the moment," he said. "But unlike him, when we go into the election campaign next year, I will make sure that the policies that we have, add up." Labour wanted to see the government's next Budget before it outlined significant policies which would cost money, Hipkins said, and suggested a lot of policy work was underway in the background. "The National Party desperately wants to talk about the Labour Party's policy at the moment, because their own policies are turning into an absolute disaster zone." National also came under criticism when it was in opposition for a paucity of policy heading into the 2023 election year , but it had released elements of its tax plan and several discussion documents indicating a direction of travel. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
