Chris Hipkins: Labour leader on the new political poll predicting a hung Parliament ahead of the 2026 election

The race for Election 2026 is on a knife-edge, with this morning's new poll revealing it could go either way.

The new Taxpayers’ Union-Curia Poll projects a hung Parliament, at 61 seats each for the the left and right blocs.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins says the party aims to focus on the issues that matter to Kiwis ahead of the next election 

"I think New Zealanders want a Government of stability and I think Labour can deliver a Government of stability."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Ever do for Zea Island.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Yes, another pole has National behind Labor the Taxpayer's Union.
Curier Pole has National sitting on thirty two, Labour on
thirty four. Chris Hopkins is the leader of the Labour Party. Hey, Chris,
good a, Heather looks good, but you know you're not
going to win a Oh.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Look, there's a lot of water to flow under the bridge. Yet.
I said at the beginning of the year that we
need to focus on the issues that New Zealand dos
want us focused on, jobs, health, homes, cost of living. Yeah,
that's what we've been focused on. And I think they
can see the current government.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
You've still got Chloe saying she wants to be Finance minister.
As long as you've got loopy people next door that
you have to get into bed with, it's not going
to happen.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Well, Christoph Luxan surrounded by loopy people, and you know,
I think New Zealanders want a government of stability, and
I think Labor can deliver a government of stability.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
You've also got the problem, Chippy, that you were part
of the last lot that ran us into this economic
funk that we're an eight Have you read that Treasury report.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yet I've seen parts of the Treasury report. I do
notice that the fact that the Treasury found that this
government have no credible.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Wing none never mind never I'm dealing with this government.
Let's deal with you. You guys were warned multiple times by
Treasury to stop the spending. So why didn't you?

Speaker 1 (01:10):
We chose to focus on saving people's lives.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Much that you went way and they point out that
about half of the spending has got nothing to do
with COVID, it's just random stuff you liked.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
The first announcement Kristo of Fluxen made when he became
leader of the National Party was that he wanted the
government to spend more money on the COVID.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Oh look, don't you worry. I'm pretty upset with them
about that. But what about you guys. You have got
no economic credibility now, have you.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Well? The current government are spending more money and borrowing
more money than we ever did.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Are you going to demote Willow Jane at the next reshuffle?

Speaker 1 (01:42):
No? I think Willow Jean should have replied to Erica
Stanford to tell her that, you know, she was going
out to consult with the sector before she wanted to
meet with her. I think Willow has absolutely admitted herself
that she could have handled that situation better.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Ken, You've got to explain something here, Chippy. Either Willow
Gene is just i Q impaired and couldn't see that
this might be a good idea to take this meeting,
or she just couldn't be bothered because she's lazy. So
which of the two is it?

Speaker 1 (02:07):
No? I totally reject that. When I tried to meet
with Nikki Kay when she was the National Party Education
and I was the Ministry of Education, it took several
months for us to organize that meeting as well. We
got there in the end and that was a good thing.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
So why didn't Willo Jin take up the opportunity? What
was it?

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Ohish she should have and I think she has admitted
that she should have. It wasn't that she wasn't intending to.
I just think she didn't communicate whether at the Stanford
what she was doing.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Now, where are you on the matter of a Palestinian state?
Do we recognize it or not?

Speaker 1 (02:37):
It's well in truly time for New Zealand to recognize
a Palestinian state. It's the right thing to do.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
And do we do it in September.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
I think we do it as soon as we can.
Other countries are doing it. New Zealand has always been
independent in these things. We shouldn't wait for the rest
of the world to do it so that we can
follow along behind. We should show some leadership and do
it now.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Okay, thanks very much, shop, we appreciated Chris Hopkins's leader
of the Labor Party.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
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