Hipkins’ Conference speech

Written By: - Date published: 4:35 pm, December 1st, 2024 - 31 comments
Categories: chris hipkins, labour - Tags:

E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e rau rangatira ma

Tena koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa

Mālō e lelei

Kia Orana

Talofa Lava

Fakaalofa lahi atu

Mālō Ni

Ni sa bula

Namaste

As-salamu alaykum

Ni hao

Warm pacific greetings to you all.

Christchurch, Ōtautahi, thank you for having us. It’s great to be here in the South Island.

Note to the current government – that’s the bigger island below the North Island. It’s where the Interislander ferries take you, where Dunedin Hospital is, and where most of your Roads of National Significance aren’t.

Thank you for an amazing conference. I’ve felt your energy. Your ideas. Your challenges.

There are people here who’ve been in the party for a long time, but we’ve also heard from people who have recently joined, or recently come back to the party.

It’s clear to me, and it should be clear to everyone else by now, that we’re fired up and ready to get to work to make this the first one-term National Government in New Zealand’s history.

We’ve now put up with a year of the National, ACT and New Zealand First coalition of chaos.

If you’re a Kiwi household wondering where the cost-of-living relief Christopher Luxon promised you is, you’re not alone.

He talked a big game, now he’s failing to deliver.

I have absolutely no doubt that the cost-of-living crisis was a decisive factor in Kiwis voting for change last year.

People have opted for change in just about every country that has gone to the polls since the end of the pandemic.

Yet day by day, Kiwis are starting to see that the change they were promised isn’t the change they are getting.

The worsening economic forecasts we are now seeing aren’t despite the actions of this government, they are because of it.

This government has made the cost-of-living crisis harder for Kiwis by cutting discounted public transport, free prescriptions, and the expansion of 20 hours free early childhood education.

Their scrapping of affordable water reform is continuing to push rates up across the country, especially in rural areas.

They’ve cut back free and healthy school lunches and reduced funding for apprenticeships.

They’ve cut support for disabled kiwis, for budgeting services, and for those who work with children and victims of family and sexual abuse.

They’ve cancelled almost all action on climate change while stripping back protections for our natural environment.

They’re re-writing our gun laws and have abandoned the victims of the March 15 terrorist attack.

They’ve driven Kiwis out of work by cancelling projects for no other reason than because they were started by the last government.

And they’ve unleashed a divisive debate on the Treaty.

Christopher Luxon is choosing to look after the wrong people.

Choosing the tobacco and gun lobbies over focusing on what people had hoped for – what they voted for – the promise of help with rising costs.

And as a result, too many Kiwis are just giving up and leaving.

A record number of Kiwis left New Zealand in the past year, nearly 80,000 – to put that number into context, one New Zealand Citizen left every six and a half minutes.

I don’t want my kids to grow up thinking the only way they can get ahead is to move to Australia.

We have to get back to basics.

Almost all of our speakers this weekend have talked to why they are Labour – why we are Labour – and it’s to make our country better for our children, working people, and each other.

Labour in Government has always led for all New Zealanders.

We’ve focused on people, jobs, better pay, a place to call home, and safe, welcoming communities.

When we look at our history, we excel when we bring people together rather than drive them apart as this government seems determined to do.

Michael Joseph Savage brought the country together to beat the Depression.

Peter Fraser brought the country together to fight a war.

Norman Kirk brought the country together to reshape our sense of nationhood.

Helen Clark brought the country back together after a decade and a half of divisive economic reforms.

And Jacinda Ardern brought us together to fight a deadly virus.

While there are plenty of people who are experts in hindsight, the tough calls we made during COVID-19 kept people alive and resulted in one of the lowest rates of death in the world. I’m proud of that.

We didn’t get everything right though, and it’s really important to reflect and learn so we can mount an even better response next time, because there will be a next time.

But right now, we need a new Labour government to bring the country together again for our next big fight.

It’s a fight for a fair go for all New Zealanders.

If you work hard, play by the rules, and contribute your fair share you deserve a decent standard of living, security, and opportunities to grow.

The current economy isn’t providing that for too many people.

For too long, New Zealanders have been told that if we just grow the economy everyone will be better off. It’s not true.

We now have plenty of evidence that trickle-down economics is nothing but a hoax. The rich simply get richer and everyone else works harder just to stand still.

Those who know me know that my musical tastes are stuck in the 1980s, but I can assure you unlike this current government, my views on the economy aren’t.

The idea that you can get ahead through your own hard work feels like an illusion to more and more people.

Too many families have been going backwards for far too long.

The divide between generations is growing too. Younger Kiwis are giving up on the dream of home ownership and the idea that their lives could be even better than the lives of their parents.

There are more big challenges ahead and they’re coming fast. Climate change and AI will redefine our world and we need a Government that is prepared to meet those challenges head on.

I got into politics because I think we can be better, because I think government can be a force for good.

I’m not here to make myself richer, I’m here to make New Zealand better.

You could say I’m the no-frills, affordable Chris.

And call me old fashioned, but I reckon Kiwis deserve straight up answers from their political leaders. “What I would say to you” isn’t an answer.

In fact, the current PM is so averse to answering a question he’d probably respond to “how are you” with “it’s Labour’s fault.”

I think Kiwis deserve better than that.

I believe that economic progress means creating the conditions for everyone to have more choices and more empowerment.

Good economic policy has to recognise that we all have equal worth and all our people are entitled to live with dignity and security.

Healthy people and a healthy environment are the heart and lungs of a healthy economy.

New Zealand can be so much better than this. I’m so excited about the future potential of this amazing country.

Our next Labour government will be focussed on getting back to basics.

A place for everyone to call home.

A world-class public health system.

Education that gives everyone the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

Support for those that need it.

And good guardianship of our natural environment.

At the heart of our next government, we will focus on jobs jobs jobs.

We are a country of innovators.

We can complement our world-leading status as a food producing country by also becoming world-leading in processing and adding value to our food.

We won’t ignore hundreds of jobs being lost in major sectors like manufacturing and pretend nothing can be done. We had a transition plan, this Government scrapped it and now seems willing to turn the other way. Those workers and communities deserve better.

We can boost our world-class eco-tourism offering by offering a premium wellness experience.

We can build on our clean green reputation to back our innovators to take their ideas to the world.

I think of companies like Novolabs in Palmerston North and the world-leading portable water UV water treatment plants they have developed.

I think of Envico technologies in Tauranga and their predator eradication innovations and aerial tree planting technology.

I think of Forest Lodge orchard in Central Otago, the world’s first fully electric cherry orchard.

I think of Kara technologies in Auckland who have developed the world’s first AI-powered digital sign-language dictionary.

These are just a handful of the innovators and entrepreneurs I’ve seen in action recently, that have left me feeling inspired about our future.

More established companies like Xero, Wētā Workshop, and Animation Research have already shown how we can take Kiwi ingenuity to the world, and we need to back the next generation of those companies.

These innovators create jobs and they create the opportunities New Zealanders deserve.

They deserve a government that’s going to back them, and be proud of New Zealand, not one that goes around the world calling them c-listers and talking our country down.

Labour will bring together government, business, unions, innovators and researchers, and the social sector to tackle the complex problems of today and tomorrow.

We’ve already got some great examples of how this can work. Smokefree 2025, Predator-free NZ, our goal for 100% renewable electricity generation, and even parts of our pandemic response show what we can achieve when we set big goals and work together to achieve them.

This government promised a laser like focus on economic growth, but so far all they have proven is that you don’t grow the economy by just talking about it.

We need a vision and a plan and this current government has neither.

People started asking about our alternative plan literally months after the last election. They know better is possible too.

We can change the Government in 2026 if we work for it.

That’s why we have started planning already, and today I can confirm that Kieran McAnulty has been selected our Campaign Chair.

When we head back onto the campaign trail in 2026, we won’t make promises we can’t deliver.

We will stand behind our promises because every single one of them will have been properly researched, fully costed, and we will have a plan to deliver on it.

I know many New Zealanders had grown sceptical of big political promises by the time the last election rolled around.

COVID-19 turned everything upside down and as a government we weren’t able to meet all the commitments we had made. And in some areas like Kiwibuild, while the ambition was right, the implementation missed the mark.

We won’t repeat those mistakes again. This time we will be ready.

We will reject the backwards looking, cold and visionless politics of austerity that has been so clearly shown to fail elsewhere.

We’ll focus on investment in our future.

We’ll invest in our health system, with a much greater focus on keeping people healthy rather than treating them for illness that could have been avoided in the first place.

The way you save money in the health system isn’t by cutting doctors, nurses and the people who help them to do their jobs.

It’s by investing in policies like free prescriptions and keeping people out of hospital in the first place.

We’ll reinstate Smokefree Aotearoa to keep reducing smoking and improving people’s health, and cancel the tax breaks this government gave tobacco companies.

We’ll invest in rebuilding our hospitals so our regions get the new health facilities they have been promised, and yes, I can announce today that means we will deliver the full rebuild of Dunedin Hospital as we committed to do before the election.

We will build state and social houses. One in six of our current state houses were built by our last government, but this government is killing off the build programme. We will start it up again.

We will invest in a publicly owned Interislander ferry service so that the North and South Island has a world-class, reliable passenger, road and rail connection.

We’ll invest in public transport, sensible roading projects and a robust, reliable, national rail network.

We’ll invest in our schools and classrooms. I’m proud of the work we did during our last government to rebuild and expand schools and fix up the damage caused by four decades of underinvestment.

We’ll continue to back our apprentices and support on-the-job training so young people can earn and learn at the same time. I’m proud that as Minister of Education I achieved a record number of apprentices in areas like building and construction.

We’ll have an unrelenting focus on lifting children out of poverty, and we won’t just change the targets when that gets hard.

We’ll improve the pay and conditions for working New Zealanders and focus on creating jobs and getting Kiwis back to work.

The Labour Party has always believed that Kiwis should be able to get ahead through their own hard work, earning a fair days pay for a fair days work.

We see increasing people’s incomes as a sign of success, not something to moan about.

Can you believe Nicola Willis recently complained that under Labour teachers, doctors, nurses, police, firefighters, and other workers had been getting too much pay?

Our next Labour government will deliver a fairer deal for working people, with the reinstatement of fair pay agreements, pay equity, and better protection for workers at the top of the list.

And let’s never forget that some of the strongest opposition to a better deal for working people during our first term in government came from New Zealand First.

Before the last election I ruled out working with Winston Peters and NZ First and I’ve not once regretted it.

We will take urgent and decisive action to tackle climate change and make sure we meet our obligations to reduce our emissions.

We cannot waste another day. The future of our kids and our grandkids depends on us doing the right thing now.

We will fix our economy so that we encourage productive, rather than speculative, investment, and yes, that means we will make the tax system fairer for working Kiwis.

A productive economy creates new resources and assets that didn’t exist before – and Prime Minister, buying and selling rental properties for capital gain is not wealth creation.

We will restore New Zealand’s proudly independent foreign policy.

Decisions about New Zealand’s best interests should be made here at home, not in Washington, Canberra or Beijing.

So today I can announce that under Labour, New Zealand will not be part of AUKUS.

We are proudly nuclear-free and want our region to stay that way.

New Zealand is a unique, strong, independent nation with so much to offer the world.

Under Labour we will continue to punch above our weight.

New Zealand is a better country than Christopher Luxon and his Coalition of Chaos take us for.

Where they offer chaos, we will offer stability.

Where they indulge conspiracy theories, we will follow evidence.

Tin foil sales will go down, but that’s a hit I’m willing to take.

Where they offer soundbites, we will offer solutions.

Where they flaunt entitlement, we will offer humility and service.

Where they play on fear, we will offer hope.

Where they cut, we will invest

Where they seek to divide, we will bring people together.

In 2026 Labour will be ready. This will be a one-term National government.

Let’s make it happen together.

Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

31 comments on “Hipkins’ Conference speech ”

  1. Ad 1
    1 December 2024 at 5:23 pm

    Well, good speech from Hipkins at Conference.

    Concrete in its promises, low on attacks, suitably indistinct on tax.

    Commitment to full rail and ferry across Cook Strait, full build of Dunedin Hospital, more pay increases for workers, and a definite NO to AUKUS.

    Not sure if this is the same guy that lost the election, but he was solid here.

    Reply
  2. Dennis Frank 2
    1 December 2024 at 5:28 pm

    This bit seems suspiciously like a rejection of neoliberalism:

    For too long, New Zealanders have been told that if we just grow the economy everyone will be better off. It’s not true. We now have plenty of evidence that trickle-down economics is nothing but a hoax. The rich simply get richer and everyone else works harder just to stand still.

    Innovating is what Labour ought to do:

    I think of Envico technologies in Tauranga and their predator eradication innovations and aerial tree planting technology.

    Aerial trees are more than innovative! He sees plenty of undeveloped terrain up there.

    I think of Forest Lodge orchard in Central Otago, the world’s first fully electric cherry orchard.

    Electric cherries are an innovative product, true. Who knew he's such a clever bugger??

    I think of Kara technologies in Auckland who have developed the world’s first AI-powered digital sign-language dictionary.

    So robots can look up words they haven't been programmed to know? Brilliant.

    Labour will bring together government, business, unions, innovators and researchers, and the social sector to tackle the complex problems of today and tomorrow.

    Tackle them, but not solve them. It's a rugby way of thinking. His minders must have pointed out the need to connect with traditional kiwi males. You wrap your arms around the legs of complex problems until they fall over.

    We need a vision and a plan and this current government has neither. People started asking about our alternative plan literally months after the last election. That’s why we have started planning already, and today I can confirm that Kieran McAnulty has been selected our Campaign Chair.

    He then proceeds to the end of his speech without mentioning what else is in the plan. Still, we got one swallow to simulate a summer, right? Better than none!

    He didn't explain why it took the Labour Party the entire year of 2024 to produce that first step in the master-plan though. Was it really that hard to think of??

    Reply
    • Craig H 2.1
      1 December 2024 at 5:41 pm

      Great to see he learnt from the member feedback after the election. As a conference delegate, I'm pleased to us get through the first round of policy work without disempowering members by announcing policies in areas that are being worked on.

      To that end, Hipkins announced 3 concrete policies that weren't altered by anything in the policy work to date since 2 of them were previous commitments left untouched and 1 was voted on by the conference. Smart politics while also being popular.

      Reply
      • Patricia Bremner 2.1.1
        1 December 2024 at 5:54 pm

        Exactly, and see the photo of the Taxpayers union outside the venue? Someone should put that photo up and name the participants, so when we see or read their stuff we know them as part of that Atlas supporting group. That interview with Gibbs daughter was revealing. Apparently we are conspiracy theorists trying to bring Seymour down! Said she had not read the Bill. Said Philanthropists donated for "Freedom of speech" Isn't that nice of them!!! And they don't want anything???

        Reply
        • Binders full of women 2.1.1.1
          1 December 2024 at 7:42 pm

          Agreed we need to expose the nefarious Atlas- Act-Rothschild hydra. The latest news is that Atlas funded the 'free' Speech 'Union' in a campaign to oppose the gang patch ban in Aotearoa.

          Reply
        • thinker 2.1.1.2
          2 December 2024 at 6:23 am

          Watch it again and notice how the eyes blink around all the points you mentioned…

          When Prince Andrew did 'that' interview, blink rate was considered by many of the experts as an important signal of inaccurate responses.

          Reply
    • Mac1 2.2
      1 December 2024 at 5:51 pm

      Dennis, Hipkins named about 12 areas where Labour would take action to improve matters. If that ain't part of the plan, what is?

      Details will come later, of course. 🙂

      Reply
      • Patricia Bremner 2.2.1
        1 December 2024 at 6:07 pm

        Hi Mac1 Chippie's praxis is plans costings innovations and repairing the damage to work place Law the Ferries and the Dunedin Hospital Honouring the Treaty and continuing working together to create unity. The statement about trickle down is gold and yes a clear change of direction imo ( praxis a wee nod to Dennis)

        Reply
  3. alwyn 3
    1 December 2024 at 7:02 pm

    I was interested in one paragraph of the speech

    "We’ll invest in rebuilding our hospitals so our regions get the new health facilities they have been promised, and yes, I can announce today that means we will deliver the full rebuild of Dunedin Hospital as we committed to do before the election."

    Gosh that looked familiar. Then I remembered his predecessor as Labour leader, Ms Ardern who told us in 2017 that

    "A Labour government would work with iwi and the University of Otago ahead of building Dunedin's new hospital in its first term, Jacinda Ardern told an enthusiastic audience in Dunedin yesterday."

    That was in 2017 and the first term during which she promised the Hospital would be built ended in 2020 with nothing accomplished. Why do I think that one should take Mr Hipkin's words with a very large grain of salt?

    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/election-2017/ardern-pledges-quick-hospital-construction

    Reply
    • Drowsy M. Kram 3.1
      1 December 2024 at 7:23 pm

      Why do I think that one should take Mr Hipkin's words with a very large grain of salt?

      Interesting though alwyn that the good voters of Otago and Southland chose to march in such numbers on CLuxon's 'watch' – presumably they have their reasons.

      ‘National hates the south’: On the ground at the Ōtepoti hospital protest [30 Sept 2024]
      On Saturday, Tara Ward was one of 35,000 southerners who marched against the government’s proposed cuts to the new hospital.

      Dunedin hospital: Warning given just before cutbacks [30 Nov 2024]

      https://thestandard.org.nz/reti-secrectly-wants-to-privatise-health/

      Reply
    • Incognito 3.2
      1 December 2024 at 7:31 pm

      That was in 2017 and the first term during which she promised the Hospital would be built ended in 2020 with nothing accomplished. [my italics]

      I should ask you to back up your claims and put you into Pre-Mod, but I’d be wasting my time, so here you go, Alwyn: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/what-you-need-to-know/529431/dunedin-hospital-a-timeline-of-the-redevelopment

      Reply
      • alwyn 3.2.1
        1 December 2024 at 8:56 pm

        I rechecked the timeline in your link and found, as I had thought, that at the time of the 2020 election there had been some demolition of the old Cadbury factory.

        They certainly hadn't got a design sorted out. As you link shows they were still in the process of letting contracts for the design phase in 2021, which was after the election and they were still in the process of demolishing an old building where they had decided to build the new hospital? Why did they pick that site by the way? It is jammed between a couple of major roads isn't it, and there is no space for parking I suspect. Perhaps I am wrong on that. I don't live in Dunedin, although my father came from there.

        Reply
        • Incognito 3.2.1.1
          1 December 2024 at 9:07 pm

          As usual, you deflect – you claimed that nothing had been accomplished by the end of Ardern’s first term in 2020, which is a false claim, evidently.

          As expected, I’m wasting my time on you, as usual.

          Reply
    • Jilly Bee 3.3
      1 December 2024 at 8:28 pm

      One word Alwyn – COVID.

      Reply
      • alwyn 3.3.1
        1 December 2024 at 9:00 pm

        Covid hit New Zealand in March 2020 if I remember correctly. That was two and a half years after the election campaign when the Labout Party made the promise and there is certainly no evidence that they were going to have a design ready, nor a clear site to have started any building before the 2020 election which was only about six months away.

        Reply
    • Ad 3.4
      2 December 2024 at 7:37 am

      You are completely right to criticise the previous government for their handling of the Dunedin Hospital build.

      It is now so clear that the original optioneering team didn't ground out a refit of the existing buildings – and their legacy use full stop – which would have stopped futile revisiting of this. And very weird that at this initial point there was no mention of any private sector ownership or partnership option.

      It's perfectly evident that the Minister of Health didn't have strong control over the MoH Capital team.

      It's completely obvious that the team didn't test the geotech conditions well enough in the site optioneering at the beginning.

      It's totally clear that during the Cabinet meeting that reviewed it, MoH didn't actually explain that cost savings of any nature meant redesign, and the redesign was going to cost you huge amounts of time and lots of money and that itself would have a massive political effect with the political term running out. So as a result they got to the finish of their first term with very little to show for it.

      It's also clear that MoH didn't form the partnership with Otago Uni that they promised they would – and the typical comparator would be the Dunedin Stadium which has a strong partnership. The future productivity and research gains appear now to be just gone.

      MoH failed to apply any of the lessons of the Christchurch hospital build that had gone through a lot of problems in the previous two years. A few timely reminders from the design and delivery team there would have helped.

      MoH also clearly failed to integrate NZTA Dunedin or DCC in integrating the new hospital into the urban form or transport network – they still haven't put out a clear option for it despite the Minister of Transport stepping into it strongly.

      Cabinet also failed to properly empower Pete Hodgson on the Advisory board to do much and allowed MoH to consistently undercut him.

      Most of this is down to Minister Little being successfully excluded from MoH capital team obsessions with controlling the whole deal, and then giving the Design team far too much leeway when the direction was for savings.

      This in turn has made it a gift for the National government, who will deliver it within this term.

      Reply
      • alwyn 3.4.1
        2 December 2024 at 12:51 pm

        Ouch. Was it really that bad?

        I disagree with your last sentence though. They will have something to point at by the end of this term. They really can't afford not to. It won't be an operational hospital though.

        Reply
  4. Populuxe 4
    1 December 2024 at 8:37 pm

    I'd like to know when we've ever had an independent foreign policy since 1840 that Chippy is going to restore?
    There's a certain inevitability that we're going to end up incorporated into AUKUS one way or another – our defence forces are closely integrated with Australia's, we have a defence pact with Australia, and we're still, as far as I'm aware, in Five Eyes and ANZUS (US suspensions didn't remove us). We are also very much NATO aligned and if China did ever attack Taiwan I really can't see Labour staying neutral or siding with Beijing.

    Reply
  5. Darien Fenton 5
    2 December 2024 at 1:03 am

    I thought it was a blinder of a speech. Some people will try to pick out a sentence or two to argue about because they can't seem to be bothered looking at the context of a LP conference one year after the election and the policy making process – which is meat and drink for Labour Party members. Or they are so intent on picking holes in Labour (looking at you Alwyn) they can't see or hear anything other than the one hand clapping for Luxon. Of course there is work to be done, but I, for one, will never, ever undermine the Labour Party and Affiliated Union members who went to ChCh in good faith, who participated actively and keenly in the Policy discussions, who bought the raffle tickets and supported sector discussions and/or fundraisers. And who will be heading home full of hope and determination.

    Reply
    • Incognito 5.1
      2 December 2024 at 9:30 am

      Well said.

      Picking holes or fabricating a massive void are signs of good or bad faith critics, respectively. Learning from past mistakes and then moving forward is progress. Tearing down the past and causing collapse, fundamentally rather than collaterally, of the present is destructive.

      Reply
    • Patricia Bremner 5.2
      2 December 2024 at 11:49 am

      Darien, the whole conference felt electric with resolve and energy, and I observed only.

      Reply
    • Bearded Git 5.3
      4 December 2024 at 3:06 pm

      Can't be a blinder without a wealth tax or a Land Tax…too timid as usual.

      CGT complicated and takes a long time to produce uncertain revenue levels. WT/LT can be based on readily available rates valuations.

      Reply
  6. thinker 6
    2 December 2024 at 6:26 am

    It was good to see the start of Hipkins' educating the uneducated to watch for false promises and divergent responses from Luxon et al, coming up to the election.

    Jack Tame also reminded viewers that, leading up to the election, Luxon would be promising the hard times behind us and better times around the corner, so vote us in again.

    Reply
  7. thebiggestfish7 7
    2 December 2024 at 11:20 am

    Speech writer has done a nice job on this one. I’m looking forward to seeing where they get to on actual policies for the election. Personally myself and the wife won’t vote Labour again until Hipkins stands down. It’s time for fresh leadership and he carries the baggage of the second half of the Covid response that a lot of us have not forgotten . KM would be my pick to step up.

    Reply
    • Patricia Bremner 7.1
      2 December 2024 at 11:47 am

      KM is smarter than you, and knows he lacks experience, and doing the job he's been given will lead to a Cabinet Post. He is a staunch supporter of Chippy.

      Reply
    • Craig H 7.2
      2 December 2024 at 12:31 pm

      KM was announced as campaign manager for 2026 so it's highly unlikely that party leader is in his current plans.

      Reply
    • Vivie 7.3
      2 December 2024 at 2:56 pm

      thebiggestfish7: As you are presumably aware, Kieran MacAnulty has commented several times that he is not interested in the leadership and he supports Chris Hipkins as leader, along with the rest of the Labour Caucus.

      It seems you are trying to sow seeds of doubt and division, as some in the media are.

      Reply
  8. Mike the Lefty 8
    4 December 2024 at 2:18 pm

    I know that Chris Hipkins tries to be charitable and project the image of a leader who doesn't automatically damn anything his political opponents say and do, but sometimes I wish he would be get stuck into this useless, deceitful CoC and get nasty.

    An example is this morning on Morning Report Hipkins responding so mildly to Simeon Brown's decision to change the powers of Auckland Transport and form a committee to direct it. Sounds so reasonable doesn't it? But a little thought would suggest that Simeon Brown's prime motivation here would be get a committee of handpicked political subservients that would do what he wants, which is probably nobble any development in public transport and build more by-passes and fly-overs.

    I have nothing against Hipkins personally but I feel he needs to lose the Jacinda successor mentality and go for the jugular of this arrogant cocky coalition of losers and grifters.

    Reply

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