Mike's Minute: Two obvious tips for Chris Hipkins

Chris Hipkins came undone yesterday, twice. 

You would hope, given there is literally no pressure on him right now and he basically gets to spend his days bagging the Government, he might want to sharpen up, given next year is a whole different kettle of fish. 

Mistake number 1: He attempted to gain points on Palestine by suggesting David Seymour was holding the Government to some sort of ransom and if it wasn’t for the veto they would have declared support for statehood by now. 

What Seymour said was Hamas would need to be demilitarised. 

Now, apart from the fact that’s not radical, new, or an already widely held view by many who want to recognise Palestine – what is it Hipkins is saying? 

He doesn’t mind Hamas or Hamas being a terror group? Would he be happy with the two state solution, with Hamas at the control panel? If he does, no problem, just say so. 

Mistake number 2: For reasons best known to himself he got trapped in a discussion about his tax policy. What tax policy, you ask? Exactly. 

But he somehow managed to suggest that even though there isn't a tax policy, what there is, is broad agreement around a wealth tax and a capital gains tax. 

And then the bullet in the foot – he couldn’t rule in, or out, the possibility that the family home was part of that tax capture. 

Tip number 1: Drop the Middle East. No vote is moved in this country on a place that has been a disaster zone for decades and the more you look like you tolerate terrorists the more you put middle New Zealand off you. 

Tip number 2: If you are stupid enough to even hint that a family home could be part of a new tax, give up right now because you are toast. 

As history shows, a CGT with the family home exempt has been trialled and rejected multiple times by his own party. The irony of ironies being it was Hipkins himself with a captain's call that dropped it last time. 

So not only is he clearly not committed or convinced, he seemingly may have been hijacked by some left-leaning radicals inside his own camp to get the family home involved. 

So, a party that can tolerate Hamas and tax your family home. 

What could possibly go wrong? 

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