Chris Hipkins Is Right
Chris Hipkins is not Jacinda Ardern. His small bore policies may not even reward Labour in 2026 vote share. But 2026 is the right time for the Chris Hipkins school of politics.
Politics
elections
The Leader’s debate
Some thoughts on the first Leader’s debate, essentially to agree with Thomas Coughlan that Luxon is leading National to a defeat and this debate did not help.
Who buys the election – follow the money
A site called followthemoney.nz is worth looking at. It is beta site that tracks since 2019, the visible money directed at political parties. It includes declared donations, the broadcasting allocations, some details on the donations over and under 15k and a interesting list of declared donors in 2026 up to the end of September.
The Diesel Powered Election
This is the diesel election and we need the fastest way possible out of it.
RNZ-Reid poll happy dance
This is good. It’s one poll, trends are better, but what it gives left wing parties and volunteers a big confidence boost twenty […]
Green Party policy: Reconnecting Aotearoa
The Greens’ transport policy introduces a quantum leap on climate and public good.
To overhang or not to overhang, that’s the question
National has a snowball’s chance in hell of creating an overhang for its nefarious need to lead Coalition Mark II.
The Race for Tamaki
Normally the seat of Tamaki is won by the right but given a potential vote split, a Teal type response to the right’s culture war campaigns and an outstanding campaign by Labour’s Max Harris anything is possible.
The Race for Mt Albert
A Spinoff poll suggests that the race for Mt Albert is a clear choice between Labour’s Helen White and National’s Melissa Lee.
Opportunity’s five bottom lines
This is OP practicing what they preach: rebuilding trust in politics. It looks odd because we are so used to Peters’ centrist grandiosity, power-mongering and manipulating MMP while actively undermining other parties. OP are doing something completely different.
Watch Waitaki
Damien O’Connor has a unique chance to wrest the safe seat of Waitaki off National’s Miles Anderson.
The Latest One News Verian Poll
It’s only one poll, but it’s broadly in line with other recent polls.
Talking up the left
Do we want a change of government or not?
National’s LNG terminal tax is on hold (for the moment).
National proposed building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Port Taranaki. Ostensibly for dry year support for the electricity generators. National were planning to have this signed up before the election. Act and NZ First appear to have quashed that. The outrage of consumers to being taxed yet again by the National government for their piss-poor 1990s energy management broke through?
Is the Opportunity Party left wing?
With Opportunity Party consistently polling above the 5% threshold, the left should be looking at who OP is and what their policy is instead of just reacting against them.
The problem with foreign funded polls
Why does our media allow potentially foreign funded polls that are out of kilter with other polling results to affect local political discourse?
Labour to accelerate climate action
“Labour is fully committed to the Paris Agreement and will put New Zealand on course to meet its targets…. Walking away from it, as National and its mates are planning to do, would be giving up on our kids’ future and impose huge costs on our economy.”
Greens launch plan to break up the supermarket duopoly and bring down the price of food
“The Green Party has today announced a plan to break up the supermarket duopoly by creating a publicly owned supermarket chain called KiwiMart, as part of its Affordable Kai election policy”
Labour will guarantee a job for graduate nurses
“Nurses who trained here should be able to work here. A good job. A future here at home. Better starts now.” – Chris Hipkins
How To Ensure Power Shifts
There is now a 50-50 chance that the government will change in November 2026, and Labour must have the plan to fully shift power beyond Parliament. This is how you do it.
Vote Climate
When voting this year vote Climate.
Big Hairy Te Tiriti Debate
The debaters for the night are:
David Seymour (ACT)
Casey Costello (NZ First)
Willie Jackson (Labour)
Marama Davidson (Greens)
Also participating is:
Pat & Chewie (BHN)
Paul Barlow (The Collective)
Ripeka Lessels (NZEI)
Nathan Seiuli (Pillar NZ)
A Labour Government Is Good For Business
In the week that the Prime Minister offended small business, unemployment rose to 170,000 and over 6% in the North Island, and the Reserve Bank continues to raise interest rates, Labour showed, again, why the public knows they are better for small business than any other party.
Does Policy Still Win the 2026 Election?
In a 2026 election beset already by bombast and hyperbole, is the big-policy-first approach of the left still working?
Luxon’s biggest problem is Luxon
As we enter the home strait for the 2026 election National strategists must be thinking “what the f*(k do we do from here”? Because Christopher Luxon’s complete indifference to the difficulties businesses are facing and his inability to control Winston Peters are harming National’s reelection prospects big time.
The Greens in their own words
The co-leader speeches at the AGM, and the new policy of a 1 year moratorium on AI data centres.
Electricity Policy and Power Bills In Winter 2026
The Green Party’s Kiwipower policy has a lot of similarities to the policy that the Greens and Labour jointly launched in the 2014 election. It will again be major issue in this election.
Defusing the goddamn ticking time bomb
Our reliance on fossil fuels is a ticking timebomb, There Are Real Alternatives, and the Green Party have a plan
The Greens: Kiwipower and Power for All of Us
The Greens’ energy policy is about reducing costs to citizens, and making our generation system more resilient
Green Party calls for union membership as default setting for new employees
“Workers deserve the right to safe, fair and decent work, and being automatically a part of a collective is one of the best ways to ensure their rights will be fought for.”
Does Parliament really need more shock jocks?
Michael Laws and Paul Henry are planning a return to Parliament. Laws as a potential New Zealand First MP and Henry as an Act MP. Does Parliament really need more shock jocks?
Simpleton Brown: an idiot about power
I was struck by just how out of touch Simeon Brown is with the frustration of residential consumers of electricity. The ever rising prices, the frequent outages, and the stupidity of our electricity market. National’s fast-track doesn’t address any of that, nor their minuscule solar plan. Labour’s plan is a more useful fast-track to transform our real productive economy. Far more so than just exporting profits offshore from mining and data centres
Labour: Solar without the Upfront Cost
This is a very impressive policy from Labour
Opportunity knocks.
Denmark produces excellent beer, world class design, unmanageable open sandwiches and an object lesson in the operation of proportional representation. A particular interest […]
Chris Hipkins: Vote for hope and optimism over fear and division
Chris Hipkins’ speech at the Labour Party conference yesterday
The Greens’ new tax policy: A tax system for all of us
“Enough is enough. No more tinkering around the edges. It’s time for the super-rich to pay their damn taxes”