Analysis: 1News political editor Jessica Mutch McKay says Labour needs a fast turnaround before the election in October.
It's hard to imagine Kiri Allan's car crash won't put a massive dent in Labour's polling but a lot can happen in 80 days in politics and it's not over until election day.
To turn things around Labour needs to pivot quickly. The last 48 hours have felt flat and sad around Parliament because Kiri Allan was well liked and seen as talented, but Labour don't have time to naval gaze, they have to shake it off.
Allan's arrest by police on Sunday night brought a sudden and unfortunate end to what had at one point looked like a stellar political career. And it caused a world of political pain for Prime Minister Chris Hipkins.
To get back on track, his Labour Party needs to announce some policies. They haven't done a big policy yet and people need to get excited about what a third term Labour government would look like.
Labour's tax policy has been shunted, Hipkins ruling out a wealth or capital gains tax and not committing to anything else until closer to the election.
But that would be a good one to get up and out because the party needs two or three days in a row talking about policies and ideas rather than being bucked around by crises.
Old-fashioned campaigning
Hipkins also needs to get into some good old-fashioned campaigning. He's more experienced than Christopher Luxon and he'll hope he does a better job when both leaders go to a small town to shake hands with people.
Campaigning would also allow Labour to show some new candidates and new faces because right now its line-up is looking very tired.
The reshuffle after Allan quit her portfolios on Monday was woeful.
It made Labour look like it doesn't have any depth with Ginny Anderson picking up two major portfolios that need managing to avoid conflict, and David Parker saying no thanks to revenue because his tax ideas were ruled out.
Hardly inspiring stuff. I can see why Hipkins didn't want to bring in anyone new with only a few more weeks in the debating chamber but it won't make voters feel excited.
With all this going on, two important international visitors touching down in Wellington couldn't have come at a better time for the PM.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken are both here for two days which means Hipkins can talk about trans-Tasman travel rather than the departure of his ministers.
There's 11 weeks to try and stop the bleed to other parties. Labour can't afford any more dramas if it wants to be in with a shot.
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