Chris Hipkins today hit back at Christopher Luxon's critique of the Government's policy refocus which was announced yesterday.
It comes after National's leader said "you can't trust Labour", alleging the scrapped policies would be back on the table if the current Government is re-elected.
"Labour’s pet projects, which have already wasted tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers' money, are lurking around the corner after the election. As sure as night follows day they’ll be back on the table if Labour is re-elected in October," Luxon said.
When asked about the criticism at a media conference in Tauranga this afternoon, Hipkins didn't hold back.
Yesterday, Chris Hipkins axed unpopular policies and put others on hold in a bid to get back to basics. (Source: 1News)
"I've come to accept the National Party likes to whinge and moan about things.
"It's difficult to have a contest of ideas with them when they don't seem to have any," Hipkins said.
When pressed on whether any of the policies would be brought back, he replied: "We have been very transparent on the things which are not going to happen and the other things we will be taking a longer look at."
Luxon said the cancellation of projects by Hipkins had been a “stupendous waste of time, energy and money for New Zealand".
He said they were "mad and insane, ideological pet projects". (Source: 1News)
“It’s been quite incredible to me that actually it’s been: let’s do this [referring to Labour’s 2017 campaign slogan] and then let’s not do this.
“What has the whole six years actually been about?”
Luxon said we are seeing “very cynical election year politics. But the reality is, you can’t trust Labour”.
Luxon said Hipkins helped drive Ardern’s agenda and would “say anything and everything to get elected”.
“[It’s been] a huge amount of wasted resource and time on absolutely mad and insane ideological pet projects that actually have got absolutely nothing to do with where New Zealanders are at.”
“New Zealanders want the cost of living crisis reduced,” Luxon said.
Off the table are the income insurance scheme, the TVNZ-RNZ merger and hate speech changes. (Source: 1News)
Here's a reminder of what was announced by Hipkins yesterday:
- Public media merger to be scrapped — work on the TVNZ/RNZ public media entity will stop entirely. In its place, more funding will be provided to RNZ and NZ On Air and remaining funds will be redirected to other areas.
- Minimum wage to be hiked — starting from April 1, 2023, the minimum wage will rise in line with 7% inflation by $1.50 to $22.70, up from $21.20. The Starting-Out and Training minimum wages will rise to $18.16.
- Social insurance scheme to be delayed — Hipkins said the scheme, which would place a levy on employers and workers, paid out when someone is made redundant. The policy will not progress this term.
- Hate speech law changes to be delayed — the Human Rights (Incitement on Ground of Religious Belief) Amendment Bill will instead be referred to the Law Commission.
- Biofuels mandate to be scrapped — the mandate would have increased the sustainability of New Zealand's fuel, but also its price, something Hipkins said he's not prepared to do in the current climate.
- Changes to Three Waters to be considered soon — Hipkins said the need for reform is "unquestionable", especially given the recent flooding event n Auckland, but the policy requires careful consideration.
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