Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Editorial: Labour has the power, now it must bring change for Hawke's Bay

By Chris Hyde
Hawkes Bay Today·
18 Oct, 2020 08:05 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Hawke's Bay has turned red - but it'll be a fight to keep it that way. Photo / Paul Taylor

Hawke's Bay has turned red - but it'll be a fight to keep it that way. Photo / Paul Taylor

Editorial: Hawke's Bay is now a red bay.

With a region split down the middle (two Labour and two National seats) going into Saturday night, a Split Enz special ensued.

Anna Lorck knocked over National's Lawrence Yule in Tukituki. Meka Whaitiri got her vindication with a crushing win in Ikaroa-Rawhiti. Stuart Nash kept his majority in Napier. And Kieran McAnulty stormed home in Wairarapa, an electorate that includes Dannevirke, Waipawa and Waipukurau. The Labour dominance extended north, with Kiri Allan taking East Coast.

The result is one for the books, for Lorck in particular. She gambled everything on Tukituki, running a relentless street corner-style campaign.

She refused to take any form of list spot and in doing so not-so-subtly hinted that she was in politics only for the people of Tukituki, rather than the free lunches.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Yule's campaign on the other hand focused on National promises that he'd worked hard to seal for his electorate.

It made for good headlines — who wouldn't love a huge $500m rebuild of Hawke's Bay Hospital? — but because of the rabble that his party had become, they were promises very unlikely to ever be delivered.

The relationship between the pair, if there ever was one, had clearly disintegrated by the end of the campaign, and the last few weeks descended into some politically petty moments on both sides as they fought for every last vote.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Ultimately, Hawke's Bay's turn to Labour can be put down to Jacinda Ardern's incredible popularity, gained through her constant displays of competence and compassion, in three years of history that New Zealand is unlikely to ever forget.

McAnulty, Whaitiri, Lorck and Nash have all been boosted by the Jacinda effect.

Now it's time for them to do great things for Hawke's Bay. They have the biggest mandate to make changes, to fix what is broken, to not compromise on what matters to the people of this region for the sake of votes, in modern NZ's political history.

Labour has been given the power to rule, but it'll have to do so wisely. Immediate issues need addressing — housing woes, water allocation, and picking the fruit this summer are among them.

If the region struggles to recover from its Covid hangover, or if the ever-present possibility of the disease sneaking in again comes to reality, there is hope among the destruction for National.

Tukituki will flip in a heartbeat if all's not well in camp Labour. And Katie Nimon, who was closer than most would have predicted in Napier given the big party vote swing to Labour, will be snapping at Nash's heels in 2023.

On Saturday night, Labour turned red. Now the hard work begins.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Plan to drill wastewater pipe under Clive River withdrawn amid opposition

08 Jul 02:32 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke’s Bay Magpies land another Super Rugby star for upcoming NPC campaign

07 Jul 11:17 PM
Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

'100% a crisis': More than 900 women wait for specialist gynaecology care in Hawke’s Bay

07 Jul 06:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Plan to drill wastewater pipe under Clive River withdrawn amid opposition

Plan to drill wastewater pipe under Clive River withdrawn amid opposition

08 Jul 02:32 AM

'We are in a position where we will have to find alternatives.'

Hawke’s Bay Magpies land another Super Rugby star for upcoming NPC campaign

Hawke’s Bay Magpies land another Super Rugby star for upcoming NPC campaign

07 Jul 11:17 PM
Premium
'100% a crisis': More than 900 women wait for specialist gynaecology care in Hawke’s Bay

'100% a crisis': More than 900 women wait for specialist gynaecology care in Hawke’s Bay

07 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
Editorial: Coronial inquest into deaths in flooding will hurt - hopefully it will also help

Editorial: Coronial inquest into deaths in flooding will hurt - hopefully it will also help

07 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP