Labour leader Chris Hipkins unveiled his caucus reshuffle while giving his State of the Nation address to Auckland Business Chamber members on Friday.
Former principal Jan Tinetti has lost education to children’s spokeswoman Willow-Jean Prime.
Labour deputy leader and long-time Kelston MP Carmel Sepuloni has taken on the party’s Auckland issues portfolio.
OPINION
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown applauding Chris Hipkins may not have been on many people’s bingo cards ahead of the Labour leader’s State of the Nation today.
Nor would they have expected Labour needing to change the location of Hipkins’ speech twice toaccommodate the level of interest in the Auckland Business Chamber-hosted event.
Nevertheless, both came to pass as Hipkins outlined the foundations of Labour’s 2026 election campaign – jobs, homes and health – and announced his caucus reshuffle.
Brown’s applause was slightly comedic, welcoming Hipkins’ promise the pair could find “common ground” in getting central Government to butt out of Auckland’s business. No guesses for who Hipkins fancies in this year’s mayoral race.
Nothing but words at this stage and you can be sure Brown will be reminding Hipkins of them should they both find their way to power in the next two years.
But interest in Hipkins and Labour from Auckland’s business community comes at a time of increasing support for the Opposition party as the coalition Government runs into a few hurdles.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins gave the address to members of the Auckland Business Chamber. Photo / Dean Purcell
Recent public polling suggests Labour is gaining ground on National. Labour’s own polling places it above its governing counterpart on occasion, a signal the public has a growing appetite to hear what it has to say.
Enter Hipkins, promoting his party’s renewed focus on the economy and posing the timeless question: do you feel better off today than (insert time since last election)?
While he might have opened his speech with a joke at Phil Goff’s expense about commenting on the actions of US President Donald Trump, Hipkins is certainly borrowing from the Trump playbook that won him a second term, highlighting the pain people continue to feel at the till.
That pain is still real in New Zealand as it is in the US. Voters here are steadfast in citing the high cost of living as their top issue.
Aucklanders are among those central in Labour’s sights as deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni, a West Auckland MP for more than a decade, is given the Auckland portfolio while a raft of new or adapted portfolios focused on investment and jobs are spread among high-profile MPs.
Labour hasn’t hidden from the fact it lost Auckland in the lead-up to 2023 amid the Covid pandemic and its long tail. Hipkins reckons Sepuloni’s new role will send a “powerful message”, given her standing in the party.
Many will have been heartened by Hipkins’ commitment not to scrap National policies simply for the sake of it. Aucklanders know all too well the disruption lengthy infrastructure projects can cause and will no doubt welcome signs of bipartisan collaboration.
The messages weren’t all rosy. In front of a crowd likely harbouring a few landlords, Hipkins made it clear Labour would push to redirect investment in the property market to areas that would encourage growth in business.
While a focus on the cost of living may be reassuring, questions will remain until Labour unveils policy.
Hipkins wants to set out the party’s policies well in advance of next year’s election campaign. A few announcements are expected before the middle of the year. The much-anticipated decision on Labour’s tax policy is expected before the year is out.
Finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds, now holding the new savings and investment portfolio, will be key in selling Labour’s solutions to back-pocket pain.
She jumps above Megan Woods to third on the caucus rankings. Transport spokesman Tangi Utikere, dubbed a “rising star” by Hipkins, moves from 19th to 12th amid his efforts to prosecute the Government on its Interislander ferry problem, signalling his odds of becoming a future minister.
They are the only two ranking changes of interest in a caucus reshuffle that’s closer to “refreshing” than revolutionary.
Former education minister and principal Jan Tinetti loses her treasured education portfolio to Willow-Jean Prime as the party looks to a fresh face to combat a competent minister in Erica Stanford.
Tinetti’s long time with the portfolio and her recent own goal in her criticism of the revamped school lunches programme may have influenced the handover to Prime, whose clashes with Children’s Minister Karen Chhour have proven she’s up for a scrap.
Despite this, a clued-up Stanford will be aware Prime will be missing Tinetti’s institutional knowledge when it comes to complex curriculum reform.
Labour MP Jan Tinetti has lost the education portfolio in party leader Chris Hipkins' reshuffle. Photo / Tom Eley
The move is not dissimilar to PM Christopher Luxon’s decision to swap Shane Reti out of health and give it to Simeon Brown – a specialist being replaced by a different operator seeking a bit more cut-through.
Ginny Andersen’s new jobs portfolio gives her something positive to focus on, likely a welcome change from her police portfolio that often sees her sniffing out any negative crime story she can find.
Social development gets a new set of eyes in Willie Jackson, who takes over from Sepuloni in what is probably a necessary change given her new Auckland role and her hold over the portfolio across the past decade.
The changes hardly constitute a new-look Labour. National and Act were quick to lob the “reshuffling the deck chairs” claims, hoping to remind voters how similar present-day Labour is to its team in 2023.
But consistency appears to be working for Labour, at least for now. Reports from inside the caucus suggest a strong sense of unity. Predictions of a leadership contest haven’t come to fruition as public cracks emerge within the coalition as it grapples with new Cook Strait ferries, a problematic school lunch programme and a struggling health system.
Hipkins may be taking a note from Act leader David Seymour, who often uses the renowned Napoleon saying: never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
