Chippy steps up but is it better than Jacinda’s ‘great first steps’?
There were two Jacinda’s.
The first was bold, kind, empathetic with an emotional IQ in communication unseen in politics and who was prepared to make huge calls in moments of national crisis.
The second Jacinda was hyper cautious and timid about challenging the actual neoliberal hegemony of the State beyond rearranging the bureaucratic deckchairs on the Titanic.
The anguish so many Wellington Unions and NGOs would publish as press releases towards her lack of actual reform were painful to read because they would all start with ‘first great step’ by a leader they celebrated and loved but were endlessly disappointed by.
There are only so many ‘great first steps’ you make in 6 years without realising you are actually just jogging on the spot.
Chippy’s recent policy focus hasn’t been about a great first step at all, it’s been about stepping up.
He acknowledges the election loss and has come back steely eyed and said, ‘I’m here for another decade’.
That is as strong a call as you can make after losing to the most right wing Government in NZ history.
Those who voted Labour in 2020 and voted National in 2023 did so because they hoped their house value would go up by 10%, they weren’t buying a culture war with Māori!
It is these voters Chippy needs to appeal to.
Those who voted Labour in 2020 and didn’t vote at all in 2023 did so because they were disappointed that when Jacinda had an unprecedented MMP majority, that she squandered it, those who didn’t vote however sure didn’t want this hard right Government to rule.
It is these voters Chippy needs to appeal to.
Those who voted Labour in 2020 and voted ACT or NZ First in 2023 are too far gone and are unreachable.
Support for NZ First and ACT are the collateral damage for Labour refusing to diffuse the dumb lives matter protest on Parliament Lawns.
They are lost to us forever.
Those who voted Labour in 2020 and voted Greens in 2023 did so because they were also appalled at how little Labour achieved domestically and were won over by the Greens Wealth Tax.
With the Darleen Tana saga dragging on, Chippy needs to appeal to those Green voters with a better tax policy and electrification would appeal while for political reasons, stealing the Greens down to 7% would be a smart move tactically.
Those who voted Labour in 2020 and voted Māori Party in 2023 are clearly telling Labour and the Māori Party to work together!
Māori voters gave their electorate vote to the Māori Party and their Party vote to the Labour Party, they are some of the most successful tactical voters in NZ politics.
The Māori voters want the Māori Party and Labour to work together, unfortunately the Māori Party is more focused on political theatre and hats than they are to actually forming a Government.
Chippy has to negotiate that.
I think people are battered and surprised by the right wing blitzkrieg and are looking for a decent bloke to protect them from this.
Chippy is that decent bloke.
There are ways to win a Labour led victory in 2026, if Chippy blows it, he won’t get that decade long chance to again.
It’s time for Chippy to step up because we are all over Labour’s ‘first good steps’.
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Chippy needs to allow David Parker to work with the greens and TPM on a robust tax reform policy .If one had thrown out our red neckness and voted on policy TPM would have won by a landslide .
NZ has massive projects it needs to get done ASAP ,not in 10 years or the next 30 years ,NOW .
To get those started we need to step up and start paying ,and that funding needs to be up front and not smoke and daggers as is happening right now with Browns false ,we will build this ,mantra because the stuff he is talking about is just that talk .One only has to look at the ferry bullshit to see what a shallow bunch this government really is .Brown should have been the man and told Willis to back off because actually ,we need those ferries and ports today and the mini minor ones wont cut the mustard .But being the whimp he really is he bent over and said spank me .
Do we really want Chippy hanging round for the next decade? He has too much baggage and for the good of everyone, he needs to step aside. He’s probably a nice guy but there’s nothing worse than a leader who won’t accept that their time is over.
Prefer him to let Jackson or someone who can repatriate the Māori and Green vote, then get back to normal LABOUR policy. With the emphasis on workers. They need a leader with some intellectual credibility, not just sausage roll salesmen. We are not children and at this point, to upstage the prime minister in the intellectual stakes, wouldn’t take much.
The Greens have too many boxes to tick. Have forgotten that fair social policy and green issues are what they got voted in for. They have been distracted. Where are the manly men in the Greens? Are they being hidden? May they only speak when spoken to? They need to be front and centre for male voters to see.
TPM could have been good but yes, they got too carried away with what they wear. Also distracting and isn’t actual policy.
As a National voter I find your comment on the present Labour government similar to how I see them. I voted for them twice under Clark as their policies made sense and she was a good PM but they have lost there way and direction.Hipkins is a poor leader and has little to inspire voters
The biggest common denominator in all this is the fan girls and boys in the so called msm. Every day there is bouquets for Luxon and brickbats for Hipkins. Now that must tell you something in itself that Luxon needs their powerful protection every day. Remember the parliamentary sit in , well when the shit hits the fan with the Treaty bill watch out Aotearoa because Luxon will be appeasing his red neck voter base and that’s not pretty. He is ignoring the well educated young in our society at his peril. They will not go back to the racist past they have been brought up in two worlds with equality for Maori like never seen before and many of these 18 year olds will be voting for the first time in 2026.
Yes the next generation are going to turn the rednecks over .Just look how the youngest MP in the current parliament sat Peters on his backside when he tried to shut her down .At the last local body elections I met one of the candidates and suggested she get the younger voters on side .Her reply was they dont know anything and should be seen but not heard .The end result was she never got elected .
Gordon walker. If you’re talking about the wahine who boasted that she “ triggered Winston Peters”, IMO she looked a spoilt brat and Peters did not look triggered. She also does a song and dance act, which seems to be a prerequisite to being a TMP MP, along with Meghan Markle smuggery and kiddie dress-ups.
I, too, am hoping the young, educated voter will not let us go back to the past re The Treaty.
Luxon can appease the silly old fools who left school at 15 and managed to survive to be angry in old age. They never were much use. Although in that age-group myself, I do not want to be identified as being one of them. I know a few though and it’s harder than ever to find anything to talk about. They are just so cross. They cannot discuss, they only bully. They know best!
The well-travelled, politically aware, educated people with a social conscience, not scared of males, plus the males themselves, are the ones to attract. The clear thinkers. The ones who can see the enormous battles we have ahead and realise that this’ getting back on track govt.’ is actually leading us into the quagmire.
I like the way you think Joy
Wondering if his uncharismatic and ineffectual leadership is part of the reason Labour has been forgotten. At least Ardern was enthusiastic when she was doing little, plus she knew when to quit/flee to cash in what was left of her brand. Chippy is like a long-term back-room employee sitting out his time until retirement.
Yes he should take a leaf out of Keys book. When Key was doing nothing other than feathering his own financial portfolio nest and knew when to quit/flee to cash in what was left of his sordid brand( think Chow Bros, Ardern clearly had more intellect than Key on that one).
And you do not think Jacinda had her eye on the end game following Clark.She used her time in power as a stepping stone to greater thinks and why not. She is a savvy operator and knew when to move on.
Key and Jacinda were I the right place at the right time .bur knew when to quit Hipkins needs to move aside but there is no body putting their hand up to replace him.A lose in 26 my be needed
Chipkins should get a job as a Sausage Roll Salesman.
Fascinating comments. I am a 74 year old pakeha and I joined TPM two years ago. They and the Greens are the future. And I am interested to see if they ever vote differently. Chippie is pathetic frankly, I sincerely hope they ditch him. I have often wondered what he thinks of his younger self demonstrating outside parliuament when he was at university. I don’t see any dreadful headlines from TPM. But I do think, as a previous Green party member, that the Greens got totally hooked into another mantra, sis men and all that stuff is complete bullshit. But it came and will continue to come from Marama when she is back on board, I am a big fan of Chloe very smart woman. Marama keep your mouth shut more often than not.
Appealing to White prejudice, ignorance and power is the reason the right wing dominates politics.
Since 1945 the right wing has never had less than 3 terms. Labour has had just one 3 term Government.
Governments are elected in on land slides and elected out on land slides.
Appealing to White prejudice, ignorance and power is the reason the right wing dominates politics.
Adern only just won in 2020 and only because Peters jumped ship.
Covid was great for Labour 2020 landslide but when Covid finished there was no plan B
In 2023 National invoked Maori blaming Maori Hate Maori bashing to win back power.
Appealing to White prejudice, ignorance and power is the reason the right wing dominates politics.
National will win in 2026 because they have never been elected out after just 3 years.
Maori blaming Maori hate and Maori bashing will not work in 2029.
Labour will win in a landslide in 2029 quite possibly with a Maori leader.
Chris Hipkins is out of here sooner rather than later because similar to Jacinda he has no personal hard ideological base. Unless he and NZ Labour finally repudiate Rogernomics/neo liberalism…and what ex social democratic Party, apart from UK Labour briefly under Corbyn, has done that anywhere?
Chippy pissed off David Parker to the extent of his portfolio landing on the Cabinet table and drove out Grant Robertson–hardly young Lenins the pair of them but an indicator.
Hipkins is no answer unless he makes a grovelling apology for Rogernomics, and democracy is restored to ordinary NZ Labour Party members.
That’s it. Hipkins is a career politician.
Never possessing any vision beyond re-election.
Perfect fit for any post 1987 Labour Party Caucus.
With Hipkins the question is how someone who was a terrifically good technocrat in the way that he handled something like the Covid response, turned out to be such an underwhelming leader. Is it something intrinsic in his nature, or the near impossible hand he was dealt? And do the voters even understand that such a distinction exists at all – or do they simply attribute everything a person does to their instrinsic nature?
Whatever the answer to those questions, Hipkins has to appear different – the new Hipkins has to change from Chippy to not-Chippy. The Chippy brand needs to killed off. The best way to do that is through the thing Labour might have done in Budget 2022, but didn’t because of the pandemic, and didn’t do in Budget 2023 either because of inflation fears. That is, more money in the pockets of Labour’s natural supporters via a major tax switch of some sort – and it needs to be fiscally neutral because inflation is still around. Clearly all National’s tax giveaways to landlords can be reversed*, but it will need more than that.
Anything less than this will be seen as technocratic Chippy-style tinkering.
*Note: or more than reversed. The brightline test could go to 15 years in response to National lowering it from 10 years to 2 years. A more aggressive note from Labour occasionally would be well-received.
A poor Government leader, but perfect as a Opposition Leader for the next ten years.
Agree 100%+, if Labour want to stay in Oppostion keep Chipkins on, he is ineffectual and come s across as a grizzling school kid.
“ … comes across as a grizzling school kid. “ So do TPM and the gender-bender Greens.
Short answer. no.
Chippy must hand the reins to McAnulty or Jackson….. asap
Give the job to someone with a set of gonads, sooner rather than later, can’t stand Baldrick and this COC.