Chris Hipkins gives bottom line on coalition prospects with Te Pāti Māori

Labour leader Chris Hipkins has doubled down on his Te Pāti Māori position in election year, saying the party needs to get its own house in order before they consider working with others.

Te Pāti Māori has been in turmoil for months, expelling MPs Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and Tākuta Ferris after a period of internal conflict.

Kapa-Kingi is currently embroiled in an ongoing court dispute over her expulsion, which the party claims was prompted by the MP bringing the party into disrepute and misusing funds for her personal gain.

Speaking on Ryan Bridge TODAY, the Labour leader said his position on working with Te Pāti Māori is unchanged from last year.

Asked why Labour would be hosting a press stand-up with the Green Party and not Te Pāti Māori “even though it’s Waitangi”, he said.

“[Te Pāti Māori] have got some issues of their own to work through before they’re in any position to be working with others.

“They need to demonstrate they can work with each other, and then I think they could have conversations about working with other people.”

RNZ’s Reid Research poll last week had Labour as the largest party on 35% and National following on 31.9%.

Hipkins said the largest party does not necessarily have the right to form a Government under MMP.

“The person... who can go to the Governor-General and say, I can form a majority Government in Parliament, is the person who ends up becoming the Prime Minister.

“We’ve seen a situation previously where, and I was part of that.

“Jacinda Ardern wasn’t leading the largest party, but formed the Government. And that is a legitimate MMP outcome.”

Asked about the housing market being projected to have flatter prices for a long period of time, Hipkins said it would be good for New Zealanders, “particularly first home buyers”.

“One of the goals of our capital gains tax proposal is to actually shift investment out of the speculative housing market and into productive investments.

“If potential investors in the housing market see that they’re not going to get the same returns from speculating in the housing market as they have previously and put their money elsewhere instead, that’s a good outcome.”

He said the projections the CGT is based on are conservative and have assumed a low rate of price growth.