In a speech outlining Labour’s take on the state of New Zealand, Leader of the Opposition Chris Hipkins acknowledged need for systemic reform.
Mr Hipkins reiterated a promise made during the 2023 election campaign to keep all promises on the table. Whilst time will tell what Labour plans to do, I wonder now if it drew a conclusion in 2023 that it was not an election that the party had a realistic chance of winning. It is possible that the general mood of just wanting the Government gone, and that no amount of good policy or electioneering would work, was seen by Labour as a red flag for attempting to run an aggressive campaign.
Although that thinking might be becoming a bit more understandable now, it happens against the backdrop of a rapidly spreading bush fire of slash and burn politics that appears to be happening without thought for who gets hurt. One becomes understandably alarmed when looking at the already horrendously long list of policies that have been undone simply because the coalition Government does not like them.
But there is a problem that I was not aware of with rushing policy out as an Opposition party straight after an election: to do so signals that the defeated parties have not taken on board in depth why they lost the election. It is kind of like trying to apologize whilst someone is in the midst of telling you off – unless they are profoundly wrong or have already gone disproportionately beyond what is necessary for the instance, best practice is to humbly take on board the message and promise it won’t happen again.
And yet, someone has to stand up now and make very clear to this Government that their slash and burn socio-economic vandalism will not be tolerated, that it will cause long term damage to the country. Which it is – and will continue to until checked.
I welcome the humility in this speech. I welcome the fact that Mr Hipkins is reading the room and acknowledging the need for reflection before starting to put a plan in place to win the 2026 election. I just hope that the public start to accept a need to act, and that Labour respond, before the slash and burn bush fire burns this country to the ground.
Leftist Kiwi Writes 