State Of The Nation Address - Chris Hipkins

Thank you, Simon, for that kind introduction and for all you and the team do to bring these events together.

Good afternoon, everyone.

It’s a pleasure to be with you at the start of such a pivotal year for New Zealand.

I want to thank the Auckland Business Chamber for hosting me, and acknowledge my colleagues who have joined me here today.

Most of all, thank you to everyone for taking time from your busy schedules to be here.

Every year, party leaders stand before the Auckland Business Chamber to talk about the “State of the Nation”.

This year, that conversation comes at a moment when the stakes have never been higher.

When the choices we make will determine whether New Zealand puts the future back in our own hands or continues to fall behind.

Look around.

You can see the challenges we face everywhere.

People are working harder than ever and falling further behind.

Groceries cost more. Power costs more. Insurance costs more.

New Zealanders were promised the cost of living would be fixed. Two years later, it’s worse.

And it’s not just households feeling the squeeze. The cost of doing business also keeps rising.

These affordability challenges don’t exist in isolation.

Productivity has stagnated for years while our international competitors have been pulling ahead of us.

Technology is transforming entire industries, yet our investment in innovation and R&D remains stubbornly low.

AI is already reshaping how businesses operate and how work gets done.

New Zealand needs a plan for that – and it needs to be one we develop together, not something that just happens to us.

These are some of the biggest challenges we face – and this government’s response is simply to tinker around the edges.

New Zealanders are rightly asking: is working hard no longer enough to get ahead?

Can we still build a future here? Or does opportunity now happen somewhere else?

And looming over all of this is a rapidly changing climate that is already reshaping our economy and our communities.

I want to acknowledge everyone who has been affected by the extreme weather we have experienced over the last couple of months.

What were once one-in-100-year weather events are now happening every year. And they will keep happening – and they’re going to keep getting worse – unless we act.

And so we face a serious choice as a country.

We can carry on treating each disaster as if it’s an isolated event – clean up and move on.

Or we can recognise that the cost of inaction on climate change now far exceeds the cost of action.

The current government’s clearly made their choice.

Not only have they slowed the pace of climate action, they cut $3.2 billion from the very fund designed to prepare us for what’s coming.

And it’s not because the threat has receded. Not because the science changed. But to hand tax cuts to tobacco companies and overseas tech giants.

Labour would make different choices.

We would invest in the industries that cut emissions, build resilience, and create jobs – because that is how you build a stronger economy.

Not in spite of climate action – but because of it.

Cheaper renewable energy means affordable power bills – for families and for businesses.

A more resilient economy means more jobs, more security, and less exposure to global shocks.

Climate action is action on the cost of living. It is a smart economic investment.

New Zealand should be a renewable energy superpower – driving new industries, creating jobs in our regions, and cutting our emissions.

We have the resources, the talent, and the technology to do that.

The opportunity is sitting right in front of us.

But it’s not happening.

Energy costs have gone up 18 percent in two years.

Households are paying more. Businesses are paying more. And the market is not working.

The answer isn’t to lock New Zealand into volatile global energy markets. It’s to invest in cheap, clean power right here at home in New Zealand.

Which is why the Government’s proposed gas import terminal is exactly the wrong call.

It will add costs to every power bill in this country for decades to come.

Locking in expensive imported energy at the precise moment we should be building the renewable future that brings power bills down.

So let me be very clear about this:

We don’t support it. We won’t support it. And if we’re in government before a deal is done, we won’t go through with it.

Kiwi households and small businesses deserve proper action on energy prices – and Labour will deliver it.

Right now, too many New Zealanders feel the future slipping away.

Not through lack of effort.

People are working hard, playing by the rules. But hard work alone no longer guarantees the chance to get ahead.

And I hear it everywhere I go – that anxiety about the future.

Not just about paying today’s bills, but about whether New Zealand is heading in the right direction at all.

Every week, another 2,000 New Zealanders leave the country because they can’t see a future here.

Young professionals. Nurses. Teachers. Tradies who should be building homes here.

I’ve met many of them.

And they all say the same thing: “I love New Zealand. I want to raise a family here. But I can’t get ahead here. I can’t afford a house. I can’t find the jobs that I am trained for.”

Nearly 240,000 people have left the country in the last two years.

That’s like Napier, New Plymouth, and Rotorua all packing up and leaving.

It’s talent we can’t afford to lose – and talent we can win back.

The problem in New Zealand isn’t effort.

It’s opportunity.

Hard work should always pay off. But for too many people, it doesn’t – because the opportunities simply aren’t here anymore.

That’s why people feel frustrated – why they’re leaving; why they vote for change.

But change only matters if it actually delivers.

And it has to be built on solid foundations.

For Labour, that means three things: Jobs. Health. Homes.

These aren’t separate issues.

They’re how you build an economy that actually works for people – one that makes life easier, creates wealth, and keeps that wealth right here at home.

Good jobs that pay enough to get ahead.

An affordable health system.

Homes that are more affordable to buy and better to rent.

If we get those foundations right, everything else follows – including bringing down the cost of living.

Right now, families are squeezed on the basics. Groceries, power, the cost of seeing a doctor.

Labour will put affordability at the centre of everything we do – starting with three free doctor’s visits a year for every New Zealander.

That will put real money back in people’s pockets.

But lowering costs today isn’t enough on its own.

We also need to build the productive capacity that creates good jobs and rising wages.

Government can’t just divide the pie. It needs to grow it.

That means more innovation. More exports. More industries that add value here.

That’s how we lift wages, fund world-class public services, and create opportunities that keep our best and brightest here.

This is very personal to me.

I’m part of a large, blended family. And like many of you, I have kids whose futures keep me up at night.

I see young New Zealanders – smart, hardworking, full of potential – making calculations that no young person should have to do.

Do I stay in the country I love? Or do I leave to build the life I’ve worked for?

It breaks my heart. Because it means we are failing them.

Not because they aren’t good enough for New Zealand. But because we haven’t made New Zealand good enough for them.

But we can. And we will.

This is why I got into politics. That’s why I’m standing here today.

Because I believe we can build a New Zealand where your kids, and mine, never have to make that choice.

Where everyone can build their future here, in New Zealand.

So why can’t they get ahead right now?

It’s certainly not for lack of effort.

It’s because our economy has been rewarding the wrong things.

For too long, too much capital has been locked up in housing speculation – driving up prices, while businesses struggle to find the investment they need to grow.

That’s why Labour will introduce a simple, targeted capital gains tax on investment and commercial properties.

Not on the family home. Not on Kiwisaver. Not on farms. Not on businesses.

But on speculative investments that drive up asset prices without creating jobs or building productive capacity.

This will unlock capital for the productive investments that New Zealand so desperately needs.

Our New Zealand Future Fund will back infrastructure and innovative Kiwi businesses to create good, secure jobs right here.

Too often, Kiwi businesses with great ideas are forced to look overseas for capital – or they’re bought out by foreign investors who take the jobs and wealth with them.

The Future Fund will change that.

Instead of selling assets and waiting for foreign investors – as this government is doing – we’ll use what we already own to create lasting wealth here at home.

That’s how we make New Zealand a place people choose to come to, not leave from.

I know Labour didn’t get everything right last time – and some of you don’t hold back in telling me!

We tried to do too much, too fast, and we lost our focus.

But here’s what I also know: New Zealanders didn’t vote for what they got instead.

They were promised lower costs and a stronger economy.

Three years later, Christopher Luxon has delivered neither. In fact, they have gotten worse – and they continue to get worse.

Costs are up. Job losses are up. The economy has shrunk.

That’s the record of this government. And three more years will only set us further back.

There is no plan. New Zealand is stagnating.

And I won’t stand by and watch it happen.

New Zealand is better than this – and New Zealanders deserve better than this.

So the next Labour Government will be different.

We’ll be focused on what matters most.

I will put affordability at the heart of all decisions that I make as Prime Minister, and I will expect

all my Ministers to do the same.

We’ve already shown what that looks like. Free doctor visits. An investment fund that builds for New

Zealand’s future.

And there’s more to come.

We’ll be making further announcements later in the year, as we get closer to the election.

But let me be clear: I want to know that I can deliver on any promises that I make.

That’s the standard I will hold myself and the next Labour Government to.

Because, frankly, Kiwis have had enough of promises that aren’t kept.

We won’t try to do everything in our first term. We’ll focus on what matters most – and we will deliver.

On jobs and wages, that means backing the businesses that make this economy work – from innovative companies creating the jobs of the future, to the local café, the tradie, the family dairy.

And on costs, it means we won’t add new charges onto people – like increasing every household’s power bill to pay for a gas import terminal, or tolling the Auckland Harbour Bridge to pay for a new crossing.

Labour supports a second harbour crossing. But we won’t penalise people for using the one that already exists.

I’m not promising perfection. Where we make mistakes, I’ll take responsibility.

But I am promising this:

A government that puts the cost of living first.

A government that partners with business to create jobs and raise wages.

A government that invests in our people and backs our potential.

Not just managing the country.

Building it.

New Zealanders deserve a government with that ambition.

And this election is the chance to demand it.

We can vote for real action on the cost of living – lower power bills, cheaper healthcare, and wages that actually rise.

Or a Prime Minister who tells you to just be patient while groceries go up and you fall further behind.

We can choose a government that backs New Zealand businesses to compete and succeed. Or one whose entire plan is to wait and hope foreign investors solve our problems.

We can choose a country where young people build their futures here. Or three more years of watching 2,000 New Zealanders leave every single week.

Real action on the cost of living. Good jobs that pay enough to get ahead. Healthcare you can afford. Homes that don’t take up all your income.

Jobs. Health. Homes.

Not a slogan, a to-do list.

The Prime Minister will spend this year saying he just needs more time before things come right.

But time is not a strategy when the direction is wrong.

We need change.

And Labour knows how.

This year’s election is a choice between two futures.

One path says: “Do less. Wait more. Hope for the best.”

The other says: “Fix the cost of living. Back ourselves. Build a future made in New Zealand.”

I know which path I believe in.