Audrey Young: Best and worst of the week in politics – New Zealand Herald

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OPINION:

Welcome to
the Politics Briefing at the end of a week in which Chris Hipkins finally put on his Labour leader’s hat and announced some major election policy.

A re-elected Labour Government would remove GST from fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables, increase Working for Families (WFF) payments for 175,000 families by an average of $47 a week, and extend paid parental leave to the partners of primary carers for up to four weeks.

Hipkins was suitably blunt when one reporter seemed troubled that he may have been announcing the GST and WFF policies to win votes. “It is an election,” he said. Quite.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson conceded his “Road to Damascus” conversion on the GST policy announcement at the St Paul’s church hall in Waiwhetu on Sunday. In subsequent interviews, he emphasised the policy as being part of a wider package of cost-of-living measures and declared his support for it (suspected to be a white lie).

But it didn’t stop a tsunami of criticism about the policy from politicians, media and economists for apparently costing too much to deliver too little.

The next day Roberton’s mood switched with some justification; he was livid at National’s Nicola Willis for speculating there had been a rift between Robertson and Hipkins on the best start date for the GST policy. She was making mischief and hoped that her previous leaks about the policy would lend credibility to made-up theories.

The job of governing continued and some of the more controversial issues this week were decisions taken in the course of governing, such as the three-year transport plan and the repeal of the Resource Management Act, both under David Parker’s responsibility; an inquiry ordered by Andrew Little into migrant exploitation under the Accredited Employer Work Visa; and the end of Covid-19 restrictions by Ayesha Verrall.

In the realm of speculation, I wrote a couple of pieces on who could take over the leadership in Labour and National respectively if they do not get to form the government after October 14. You might be surprised.

Diversion of the week

Some recently discovered comments by National’s Sam Uffindell about going to the supermarket once a month to give his wife a break. That sparked questions to other MPs about how often they shopped and resulted in some over-sharing. Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis: “She shops up north and I buy my own toilet paper down here.”

No siree!

Not one but two new “knights” were created this week – Sir Michael Baker by Newshub, and Sir Jim Bolger by RNZ.

Brickbat

Goes to Chris Hipkins for accusing David Seymour of racism in Question Time for having said: “What New Zealanders object to deeply and strongly is the constant profiling of citizens by race by his Government.”

A brickbat as well to Speaker Adrian Rurawhe for not pulling up Hipkins over it, as he did with Greens co-leader Marama Davidson in June.

Bouquet

Goes to former health minister David Clark, a popular figure across the House who famously broke the rules by going cycling during Covid lockdown in 2020, addressing his kids during his valedictory speech: “Yes girls, we will have more time for bike-riding soon.”

Top political stories of the week

– The Government has unveiled a $20b transport budget for the next three years – but the kicker is that fuel taxes are going up for the first time since they were frozen in 2020.

– Immigration NZ has launched a major investigation after 115 migrants from India and Bangladesh were found living in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in six houses across Auckland.

– OPINION: Who takes over as Labour’s leader if it loses the October election? Audrey Young takes a look at the options.

– OPINION: Will Christopher Luxon be given another term as leader if he fails to lead National into government on October 14? Audrey Young reads the tea leaves.

– OPINION: Winston Peters’ resurrection in the Herald’s Poll of Polls is being privately celebrated by some of Christopher Luxon’s biggest backers, says Matthew Hooton.

– Environment Minister David Parker has reached an Everest: passing two pieces of legislation that will repeal and replace the Resource Management Act.

– OPINION: National has announced roughly 30 policies thus far – so far, however, there is precious little in the way of climate policy, writes Thomas Coughlan.

– Labour is pledging to give four weeks of paid parental leave to the partner of the main carer of a baby, on top of the 26 weeks paid parental leave for a main caregiver.

– New Zealand has now abandoned its final Covid-19 restrictions, ending a chapter in the country’s history that began with the global pandemic more than three years ago.

– National MP Sam Uffindell says his comment that he “gives my wife a break” by doing the grocery shopping once a month is not sexist and merely reflects the fact he works “80-odd hours” a week.

– National deputy leader Nicola Willis said Finance Minister Grant Robertson “probably needs a cup of tea and a lie down” after an excoriating radio interview in which Robertson repeatedly called her a “liar”.

– Labour has released its tax policy, which includes removing the GST from fruit and vegetables and making changes to Working for Families that will benefit about 160,000 families.

– The Green Party wants to offer homeowners up to $36,000 in grants and loans to make their homes more energy-efficient and healthy.

Audrey Young is the New Zealand Herald’s senior political correspondent. She was named Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards in 2023, 2020 and 2018.

For more political news and views, listen to On the Tiles, the Herald’s politics podcast.