Labour's leader is backing the Police union in claims the latest Government pay offer is insulting.
It includes a $5000 pay increase backdated to last November and two 4% salary bumps this year and next.
The Police Association has called it a kick in the teeth.
Chris Hipkins told John MacDonald that the union rejected an offer which his government put to police before the election.
He says National criticised them and said they should treat police better, and then as a new government came back with a worse offer.
Hipkins is also playing down concerns that his party is losing support at the expense of its partners.
In the latest Taxpayers' Union funded Curia poll, Labour fell 2.6 points to just over 25%.
The Greens picked up 2.3 percentage points, while Te Pati Māori also saw a small boost in support.
Hipkins told MacDonald that the left bloc needs to focus its energy on chipping votes away from the Coalition.
He says ultimately, if the left want to form a Government at the next election, it needs to get votes off National, New Zealand First and ACT rather than competing with the Greens.
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