Kerre Woodham: Are Labour's promises enough to turn dissatisfied voters to their side?

The Labour Party wrapped up its conference yesterday, was a big deal because it was the first time the members had got together since losing the election last year.

And if you listen to Andrew Little and Chris Hipkins with Mike this morning, you would hear from them that the conference went very well, the party is in good heart and Chris Hipkins is going to lead the Labour Party to victory in 2026.

Will he be able to do that based on the promises he made at the conference? This was Chris Hipkins talking to Mike Hosking on the Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning:

CH: I think AUKUS ultimately is a nuclear submarine pact, if you look at Pillar 2 of AUKUS it's not something that we think is going to be in New Zealand's best interest to be involved with and you know ultimately we've made the decision that New Zealand's best interests will be best be served through our existing international arrangement, including things like the five country partnership that we have (Five Eyes) and any access to things like new technology should come through that avenue not the AUKUS arrangement.

MH: Dunedin Hospital – to what extent will you build it no matter what the bill?

CH: We said that we'll build it to the specification that we agreed to at the last election or before the last.

MH: No matter what the cost?

CH: Well, I mean, bearing in mind that the current government before the election was saying we're going to build a hospital that was even bigger than the one that we were committing to.

MH: Yeah, but forget that, this is your promise, at no matter what cost, you were, whatever it was going to be specification-wise, you will pay that bill.

CH: We will build a hospital to the spec that we had agreed to before the last election, that’s right.

So that's pretty much at whatever cost.

So, what did you make of it? If you were one of those who are middle-of-the-road voters, you'll go where the policies are, you're not absolutely tribal, you're one of the 30 percenters – you'll go if you think that there is a vision that party has, be they Labour or National. If you like the cut of the leaders jib, if you find policies that resonate with you, you can swap your vote between blue and red.

So among the promises: Labour will build the new Dunedin hospital as you heard. Pledge to keep New Zealand out of AUKUS, announced Kieran McAnulty as the party's 2026 campaign chairman. Good idea keeping him close. And promised a publicly owned InterIsland ferry connection, including some form of rail transport.

Is that enough to turn dissatisfied Labour and centrist voters away from National and NZ First and towards Labour? I wouldn't have thought so, but I would say I wouldn't have thought so yet. We all know that parties seldom give away their big policies two years before an election, so it is very early days. But there's going to have to be a little bit more forward-thinking than what they came up with at the conference.

Willie Jackson when he spoke, criticised the coalition leaders for their respective roles in the Treaty bill. But he did say that there needs to be, an appeal to middle New Zealand. He said that the Labour Party conferencegoers had to remind their friends and fellow members that Labour was not under the influence of the Māori Party. He said working-class Labour values are to work together, not just for one's own interests, but everybody's interests. He said a middle-class New Zealand would support some policies from the Greens and Te Pati Māori, but they'd never agree he said about a Māori Parliament. He said we need to have Māori and Pakeha and middle New Zealand together with us so we can be the next government. Which is remarkably conciliatory for Willie Jackson, I think you'll agree.

So they understand they need to appeal to the middle, they need to appeal to that 30 percent, those people that will switch where they see the best policies for New Zealand or for themselves where they see the most sensible and capable members of Parliament will be.  

And hopefully though, the issue of who is going to lead the Labour Party to the next election is done and dusted. Because we do not want to see a repeat of the David Shearer, David Cunliffe, Andrew Little, Jacinda Ardern shenanigans. Because it still blows me away that Chris Hipkins said, yeah, we weren't really ready for Parliament.

After nine years in opposition you're not ready to be in Parliament? What were we paying for? Why were we funding your wages? If you're going to use all of your taxpayer-funded salaries to faff around and spend the time trying to find a leader that is not money well spent, that is not a good return on investment for the taxpayer.

So if what they're going to be doing is looking at flaws in the Coalition Government's plan for New Zealand and coming up with a better alternative, if they're looking at bold, innovative ways to grow the economy, to protect vulnerable New Zealanders, to create a more robust health system, great. But if all you're doing is faffing around doing third-form schoolyard politics to choose your leader, that is not a good return on investment.

So, so far so good. Chris Hipkins said well, yes, I might be tainted by the last regime, but hey, I'm here for the long haul, I'm basically the best guy for the job, prove otherwise.

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