Labour leader Chris Hipkins isn’t providing an alternative plan of action to help struggling New Zealanders facing pain at the pump and the threat of rising prices elsewhere.
Asked repeatedly what alternatives Labour could suggest, Hipkins said the onus to present ideas was on the current Government.
He gave some principles, such as that any support should assist people on low, fixed income, and generally that Labour wanted to ensure a transition to renewable energy.
The lack of detail of alternative ideas contrasted heavily with the Green Party’s offerings this morning. It wrote to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon with a variety of policies to support New Zealanders.
This afternoon, Finance Minister Nicola Willis confirmed a package of support would be announced on Tuesday to help working families.
As the Herald has previously reported, two potential levers that could be pulled would be making adjustments to the In-Work Tax Credit and the Independent Earner Tax Credit.
Speaking after the Government’s press conference, Hipkins began his opening remarks by saying the world was “weeks into the war in Iran and the Government is still all at sea when it comes to providing New Zealanders with answers about how we can respond”.
Yet he was unable to offer any alternative policy ideas of his own to highlight how Labour would address the issue if it was in power currently.
Asked by the Herald what actions should be taken to help households, Hipkins responded, “the Government needs to come up with a plan”.
“This is going to play out over the next six months. The next election is not until the end of the year. New Zealanders today are relying on this Government to come up with solutions. They are the ones sitting in the hot seat.”
Hipkins said he refused to come up with “policy on the fly”.
“We are not the Government,” he said, before noting that during the Covid-19 pandemic the then-Labour Government didn’t wait to hear National’s ideas before acting.
Asked again to provide an alternative or any ideas, Hipkins said: “We will have plenty of ideas and we will be talking about them on the election campaign.
“The onus rests on the current Government.”
Generally, Hipkins said his principle for support was that it should help anyone on a low, fixed income.
“I want to see what the Government is offering before I pass judgment on it.”
When it was put to Hipkins that the Green Party had provided several policy suggestions, including making public transport free, expanding school bus eligibility and a windfall tax to stop price gouging, the Labour leader said minor parties can offer lots of things.
“They get a lot more luxury to promise whatever they want compared to the bigger parties.”
Hipkins said the circumstances later this year would be different from the current situation and repeated it was up to the current Government to present ideas.
“I think we can absolutely agree we need to be transitioning to more renewable energy, that supporting people with public transport would be a good thing.”
Pushed again for Labour’s ideas, Hipkins said the “emphasis right now should be on the current Government”.
“Neither Labour nor the Greens will be in Government at least until the end of the year, and hopefully we will be then. At the moment, between now and then, this current Government are the people in the hot seat.”
When quizzed on whether there were any measures being taken overseas to curb demand or help fuel supply that he was interested in, Hipkins said the Government should look at “every option”.
Last week, Willis told the Herald she believed the Government was “moving very quickly” to bring targeted support to Kiwis. On Monday, she said the details couldn’t be announced until Tuesday as implementation details were still being worked through.
Jamie Ensor is the NZ Herald’s chief political reporter, based in the press gallery at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist in 2025 for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.