Former National MP Harete Hipango is now a member of New Zealand First.
It comes as NZ First leader Winston Peters opens the party’s annual conference lashing parties on the left and right, including coalition partners National and Act, for over-promising the speed of New Zealand’s economic recovery in the 2023 election campaign.
The speech sets the stage for the party’s longest ever remit discussion where members will debate policies to develop a long-term “Demographic and Migration strategy”, explore using nuclear power, axe the Waitangi Tribunal and consider New Zealand’s participation in the Paris climate change accord.
Hipango is attending the party’s conference in Palmerston North this weekend. The Herald has approached Hipango for comment.
Hipango entered Parliament in 2017 after winning the Whanganui seat. She wasn’t able to retain the seat in 2020 but returned as a list MP when National’s Nick Smith resigned in 2021.
In 2023, Hipango ran unsuccessfully as National’s first candidate in a Māori electorate - Te Tai Hauāuru - since the party last contested the seats in 2002.
In 2022, Hipango was told off by National leader Christopher Luxon for attending a Voices For Freedom anti-vaccine and anti-mandate protest in Whanganui before posting messages of support on social media.
Hipango, then-National’s spokeswoman for Oranga Tamariki, Whānau Ora and Māori Development, later removed the social media post.
Luxon said he had spoken with Hipango and conveyed how Voices For Freedom’s views didn’t align with the National Party’s.
Later in January of that year, Hipango was caught out instructing a staffer to edit her Wikipedia page by removing controversies from her biography.
Hipango will be one of about 280 party members registered to take part in NZ First’s conference, held over two days in Palmerston North.
Party president Julian Paul began proceedings, pointing out the audience’s age ranged between 16 and 91. Many identified themselves as first-time conference attendees.
Peters, introduced by de facto deputy leader Shane Jones as the “champion of major victory in 2026″, began his address in typical fashion with criticism of the media.
He slammed the NZ Herald for an article this morning about byelections, which he claimed omitted NZ First’s success in previous byelections. The article was in fact run by another publication.
He noted the article, which examined byelections since the adoption of MMP in 1996, did not include his victory in the Tauranga byelection in “1983″. The byelection was held in 1993.
Moving on, Peters lamented New Zealand’s economic and social challenges as he sought to convey the importance of the party’s conference.
“We are still at the infection point before real improvement and better future years.”
He took a shot at both leaders of the Labour and National, describing Chris Hipkins as the “guy with the sausage roll” and Christopher Luxon as “eating ice cream most of the time”.
While he lambasted Labour’s promises to fix the economy having “blown the country into massive debt”, Peters also criticised “those in Parliament on the right” for asking the public to “elect us and we will fix it”.
“Here’s the tragedy. If they ever knew how bad things were, they’ll have never said that,” he said.
“They would say we could begin to fix it, but it’ll take time. It’ll take years, maybe decades to turn it around wholly ... but it would never have been the case where you promised to fix it within three years.”
Peters claimed NZ First had never been so prepared for the “greatest part of its future”, while acknowledging it had required “hard graft”.
“It’s just been enormously difficult work to put New Zealand First out there and to not have to always defend yourself while you’re promoting plain, common sense ideas.”
Despite it being Peters’ opening address, he finished by encouraging supporters to prepare for next year’s conference.
“Please go home and talk to your supporters, to all your friends who work with you back home and say, ‘Get ready for convention 2026 and onwards to a major massive political victory’.”
Remits, policy proposals for the upcoming election campaign, will be discussed and voted on throughout today and tomorrow.
The 55 remits feature policies central to NZ First’s core principles, including removing Treaty of Waitangi references, developing a migration strategy, legal protection to use natural health products, axing the Waitangi Tribunal, reforming local government, providing affordable energy and supporting regional development.
Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.