The Front Page: Will Labour’s long list of ministers lost in 2023 derail Chris Hipkins?

Justice Minister Kiri Allan is the latest minister to depart under the tenure of PM Chris Hipkins. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Labour Party has had a tumultuous 2023, losing a minister every five to six weeks since Chris Hipkins took over as Prime Minister.

Despite this, the polling hasn’t yet shown a mass exodus of voters to National, as some would have expected off the back of the Government’s internal struggles.

NZ Herald deputy political editor and host of the On the Tiles podcast, Thomas Coughlan, tells The Front Page podcast Hipkins looked shell-shocked when fronting media after the news Justice Minister Kiri Allan had been arrested overnight.

“He doesn’t look [to be] in a good place,” Coughlan said.

“I think he’s probably sick of fronting media to talk about his ministers getting into trouble. Officially, he’s talking about wanting to take a supportive approach to a minister who’s obviously going through a rough time … but it would be impossible for him not to think about the fact that this year, he has lost an awful lot of ministers.”

This long list of ministers who have either lost or left their jobs includes former Police Minister Stuart Nash, former Transport Minister Michael Wood, long-time Minister Meka Whaitiri and now former Justice Minister Kiri Allan. If you were to take it back even further, you could also include the loss of former PM Jacinda Ardern at the beginning of the year.

The question is whether the latest departure will become the nail in the coffin for the Labour Government.

“Labour’s polling has been pretty resistant, but it’s been an incredibly damaging few for the Labour Party. I don’t think I can remember, for a party in Government, a more damaging few months,” says Coughlan.

While Labour’s polling has been on the slide, Coughlan notes that there isn’t a clear correlation between these ministerial issues and the party’s performance in the polls.

“National will be asking questions about itself and why it hasn’t been able to capitalise more on the fact that the Labour Party is in such disarray,” says Coughlan.

“Vast numbers of New Zealanders think the country is on the wrong track, but those New Zealanders are not swinging towards National, potentially because they do not like what National has got on offer.”

• So, will this scandal be the one that finally rocks Labour’s polling?
• Will Hipkins have enough time to steady the ship before the election?
• Do voters even care about ministerial mishaps as much as we think they do?
• And are we doing enough to assist MPs struggling with their mental health?

Listen to the full episode of The Front Page podcast to hear the full story.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. It is presented by Damien Venuto, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in business reporting who joined the Herald in 2017.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.