Barry Soper: ZB senior political correspondent on Chris Hipkins' determination to lead Labour and win the next election

Chris Hipkins is adamant he's staying on as Labour's leader - and he'd put money on leading the party to victory in 2026.

A new poll says 75 percent of voters want Hipkins to stay on and lead Labour - despite the recent 1News-Verian poll showing Hipkins is down three points to 15 percent in the preferred Prime Minister stakes.

In an earlier interview, Hipkins told ZB's Nick Mills that he's absolutely put money on himself winning the next election - but senior political correspondent Barry Soper isn't convinced.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Barry so pre senior political correspondence with US. Now, hey, Barry, So,
what is this about the teaching of marty being compulsory
in some schools.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Well, it's really interesting because one of our listeners was
concerned that he had a student in a school in Wellington,
just out of Wellington in fact, it's called Amesbury School,
and he basically felt that his daughter was falling behind
in mathematics. So he went to the school and she

(00:29):
found that she was learning to write Maldy and tikkanga
and he felt that, well, hang on, what's more important
Is it Maldy language or is it maths? And so
he complained to the school but he was told and
I've seen an email that he got today from the
principle and I've got to say I talked to the principal,

(00:50):
Urshley Cunningham, who was very forthright. She said that she
had talked with the advisor she's got at the Ministry
of Education regarding this, and this would have been over
the past twenty four hours, and she said she's been
advised around the requisites for school curriculum local school curriculum.
Any school can adopt a curriculum and if it includes

(01:14):
to Rail Maldy. The parents aren't consulted. The school goes
ahead and teaches it. And apparently it's taught quite widely
in Wellington, and I would imagine across the country as well. Now,
just a couple of years ago, Calvin Davis was saying that, look,
Maldi language, we're not ready for it to be compulsory
in schools, but it is compulsory because that child has

(01:38):
no way out of having to learn it. So Maldy,
to all intents and purposes, is compulsory the language to
be learned in schools.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Well, in some schools obviously the well those.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Who choose the curriculum, well, that would include it, indeed.
And they've got to abide by the Act. And the
Act says that have got to if you listen to
Urshlar Cunningham, the school has to abide by the Act
and that's to take into account the Treaty of Whitehungy.

(02:09):
And she said as a result, Tea Kanga and turo
Maori are part of that. Okay.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Are we talking primary or secondary here?

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Primary here?

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Okay? And so what's if the parent has a problem
with this, why don't they just move the child to
a school that doesn't make.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
It's a bit of a big thing moving a child
from a school, as you'd probably appreciate. But you know,
I think that it should be surely over to parents
to decide whether they're children learn Mary or not to
learn Mary. They should be able to learn what the
parent sees more appropriate.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
But parents must play the devil's advocate. He appearents don't
get to choose whether the child learns maths or not.
So why should they get to choose whether the child
learns Maria.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Well, Mary is English, yes, because we are an English
speaking country. Mary is aultural thing, and it's good to
know about a cult language. But then why do we
have to learn the language.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
We don't have to the school you do, it's an
official language. Okay. Anyway, Chris Hopkins has he actually put real,
real dollars on him becoming the next prime minister?

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Dead he has, And you'll be aware of the poll
out last night, and of course you are that if
you look at the personal ratings, Chris Hopkins was down.
But nevertheless he says that he will be the prime
minister after the next election. Now, he was challenged about
that on News Talk z B by Nick Mills and Wellington,

(03:40):
and he said that he would put money on it,
and he said, let's go for a thousand bucks, said Nick,
let's place the bet. Yeah, now, let's do it. Well,
he said, would go to their favorite charity. And Chris
Sipkins says, yes, absolutely, I'm a good as gold. So

(04:02):
he won't only lose the next election if he's still
runs the thousand bucks right. The fact is that it's
it's very difficult for the Labor Party at the moment
because they've got well, I better off to stick with
Chris Hipkins because chances are they will lose the next election.
I would say I'd put money on that myself, but

(04:22):
you know, they really haven't got any candidates that you
could readily identify in the Labor Party at the moment.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Hey, the Greens, this meeting that they're having about kicking
Darleen out tomorrow night. Are they doing it online? Are
they doing it in person?

Speaker 2 (04:36):
No, they're doing it. It's a zoom meeting and they'll
have the requisite number there as I understand it that
some other members of the party that are pretty hot
on the walker jumping legislation, they'll be able to have
a say. But that'll be limited, very limited and strictly
adhered to.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Oh, this is outside of the side of.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
The delegates years and once they've can cl at that meeting.
I've been told from talking around the Greens today that
the Walker Junk Junk jumping legislation will be put in force,
which means the Greens would write to the Speaker. Now,
the Speaker won't be able to take any action on

(05:18):
it before next Tuesday because Thursday night Parliament goes into
recess for the weekend. So the next time they're back,
that's when it will be invoked and he will declare
that a seat is vacant and it will be the
seat of Darhli in Tana.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
Interesting. Hey, thank you, Barry, appreciate it. Barry Soper, Senior
Political Correspondence. For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen
live to news Talks it'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.