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The Spinoff
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Spinoff
Echo Chamber: Chris Hipkins, you frickin' smart-arse sausage roll eater
The Labour leader has been getting up to his old tricks again (complaining about FamilyBoost and butter). Echo Chamber is The Spinoff's dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Wellington editor Joel MacManus. There was a certain grumpiness in the air on Tuesday – for the government MPs, at least. Maybe it's those wintertime blues or that mid-year slump that seeps in around this time, or maybe it's the news of inflation being at its highest point in the last 12 months (at 2.7%), a Talbot Mills poll that showed 51% of New Zealanders think the country is on the wrong track, or maybe it's that 'frickin' Chris Hipkins', up to his old tricks again. After question time kicked off – following a statement from foreign affairs minister Winston Peters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza – the Labour leader and his counterpart in blue had their usual stand-off, and as per usual these days, it was over FamilyBoost. The childcare rebate scheme was recently expanded after figures showed only 241 of the expected 21,000 families had received the maximum refund amount, and the Labour Party has been all too happy to rub its enemy's nose in it. When prime minister Christopher Luxon opted to answer Hipkins' question of how many families had received the full $250 a fortnight rebate with the number of families who had received any payment under the scheme, Hipkins was undeterred. He asked the question again, and Luxon let him know that the great news here is that those middle and lower-income New Zealanders the working man's party purports to care so much about are finally getting some support. Then Winston Peters rose to his feet. 'Could the prime minister answer this question very slowly,' Peters began. As this is a sliding scale payment, are those entitled to the full amount on the scale getting their full benefit? Well, that's exactly the point I'm making, Luxon replied – 'everybody who is eligible and then applies for the rebate actually gets their full entitlement'. 'You're full of entitlement,' Labour MP Megan Woods offered. And then it was onto the price of butter – another sticking point for the red team – with Hipkins asking the prime minister how many blocks of butter he could buy with the $60 he supposedly spends on groceries a week. 'Well, it's a smart-arse question, isn't it?' Luxon replied, bringing the Hansard arse count to 45. 'In opposition you oppose, but you also propose – there's no proposals from that side.' In better news for the government, infrastructure minister Chris Bishop – with his usual gusto – lauded the government's recent announcement (or 'announcement of an announcement', if you ask Labour's Kieran McAnulty) that $6b worth of infrastructure projects will be under way by the end of the year, and 'there's some crackers on this list'. The barracking that had been rippling throughout the House all session turned to celebrations of success for the government benches: 'That's it! Hear hear!' Again, Peters decided to rise for a supplementary and insert himself into the conversation. Bishop being a Wellington minister, he began, why wasn't our 'no nonsense' Cook Strait ferry programme mentioned – but a bout of taunting laughter from the other side of the House cut over him. 'Hah,' cried Hipkins – 'because Nicola Willis cancelled it!' The finance minister leaned back in her seat and stared at the ceiling, and Peters finished his question. This ferry plan would save the taxpayers billions of dollars, he claimed, then looked to Hipkins and said 'in contrast, sausage roll eater' (side note: what does he mean by that, exactly?) 'to the profligate mess we inherited'. When the laughter died down, Bishop replied that there were just so many good infrastructure projects around the country, that he'd rather let the 'very good' minister for rail boast about his own 'good news'. But later, when NZ First tried to celebrate its own successes – with patsies from MP Jenny Marcroft giving associate health minister Casey Costello a chance to let the House know the country was still on track to be smokefree 'soon', thanks to vaping helping 200,000 smokers off of one nicotine stick and onto another – the operation went bust. After Marcroft asked Costello what she knew about current smokers, the Labour Party burst into laughter, without looking at anyone in particular. More Reading The barracking over Costello was enough to have the government benches bite back, shaking their heads and condemning their opposition counterparts for finding smoking so funny. As Costello went through the figures of current smokers – that most of them are aged between 45 and 65, are Māori or Pasifika and still smoke on a daily basis – the voice of frickin' Hipkins popped up again. 'What about the ones you hire out the back?' he called. It briefly brought laughter and a smile to Peters' face. 'Labour government my backside,' Peters grumbled.
1News
3 days ago
- Business
- 1News
Five Big Things That Happened Today: Tuesday, July 22
Sky TV buys Three for $1; Winning Lotto ticket set to expire; Debt collector convicted and fined $115,500 for 'misleading conduct'. 1 Sky TV agrees to buy Three for $1 Sky TV has agreed to buy Three owner Discovery NZ for $1, the company announced this morning. The agreement was announced to the NZX, and means US television giant Warner Bros Discovery will leave New Zealand's free-to-air television market. Under the deal, Sky would take control of all TV3 brands, including Three, Bravo, Eden, Rush, HGTV, and the network's streaming platform, ThreeNow. ADVERTISEMENT Read More 2 Debt collector convicted and fined $115,500 for 'misleading conduct' A debt collector and his company have been ordered to pay $115,500 in fines and emotional harm reparations. Director John Stuart Campbell and his company Law Debt Collection pleaded guilty in the Manukau District Court to making misleading representations when collecting debt after a prosecution by the Commerce Commission. Read More 3 Serious crash causes major delays on SH1 in Horowhenua A section of State Highway 1 between Ōtaki and Levin was closed "for several hours" today following a serious crash — with a nearby marae open to motorists held up. ADVERTISEMENT Emergency services responded to the scene at Manakau between Whakahoro Rd and Kuku East Rd, about 10.20am. Read More 4 Man arrested seven years after cold case killing of Hawke's Bay dad A man has been arrested nearly seven years after the killing of a Hawke's Bay father in Flaxmere. Eddie Peters, 45, was beaten and left for dead on the driveway at a home on Diaz Drive in Flaxmere during the early hours of Friday, November 16, 2018. He died eight days later at Wellington Hospital. Read More 5 Time running out for Lotto first division winner to claim prize ADVERTISEMENT A $200,000 Lotto prize is soon set to expire – with the ticket holder still not having claimed their winnings. The ticket was purchased at Coastlands Lotto in Paraparaumu on the Kāpiti Coast. It is set to expire on August 31 – one year from its draw date. Read More Watch: Luxon hits back at Hipkins calling Family Boost an 'absolute flop' Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he won't be taking any lectures from Labour leader Chris Hipkins. Watch Here ONE SEWING JOURNEY ADVERTISEMENT Jordaan Tuitama got into sewing four years ago. Now the 38-year-old man is breaking stereotypes of what sewing is and who it's for. Read More
1News
4 days ago
- Politics
- 1News
Luxon snaps back at 'frickin' Hipkins over claims of 'flop'
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. Labour revealed just 153 families had received the maximum FamilyBoost rebate, well short of the 21,000 families the Government said would be eligible for the full amount when it was unveiled last year. 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." ADVERTISEMENT 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. The coalition launched a review of the policy in April, given the unexpectedly low uptake and then expanded the initiative in early July. It said Inland Revenue had initially overestimated the number of eligible families despite best efforts. Hipkins labels National's policies 'absolute disaster zone' 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." ADVERTISEMENT 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. Finance Minister Nicola Willis: "I view butter as a beautiful, beautiful thing." The two party leaders also sparred on Tuesday morning over the price of butter which has soared to about $8.60 for a 500g block. ADVERTISEMENT Nicola Willis speaks to media on July 7, 2025. (Source: 1News) In recent weeks, Hipkins has repeatedly drawn attention to the issue, posting on social media last week: "The price of butter is up nearly 50 percent since this time last year. That's it. That's my X post." Asked what Labour would do about it if in power, Hipkins said the onus was on the coalition: "we're not the government... all we've had from them is tough talk." Luxon said dairy prices were largely dictated by global commodity prices and New Zealand dairy farmers were reaping the benefits "tremendously". He said Finance Minister Nicola Willis would be meeting with diary giant Fonterra on Tuesday evening in the context of supermarket competition. If Willis raised the issue of butter prices "good on her", Luxon said. Willis, who previously worked for Fonterra, told reporters she would raise the topic in her conversation as she was concerned butter was becoming out-of-reach for many New Zealanders. ADVERTISEMENT "I view butter as a beautiful, beautiful thing. I eat too much of it," she said. "When you see it on my piece of toast, it looks like some cheese." Willis said Fonterra was transparent about how it determined milk prices but it was less clear to her how that then translated to butter. "What we're talking about here is at the margin — 10 or 20 cents — but 10 or 20 cents really matters when you're a Kiwi family at the supermarket checkout." She also accused Labour of "crocodile tears", given its lack of proposed solutions.
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Luxon snaps back: 'I'm not taking any lectures from frickin Chris Hipkins'
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 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.
NZ Herald
4 days ago
- Business
- 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.
