John MacDonald: Can someone please tell Chris Hipkins he's dreaming?

Chris Hipkins  was talking tough at the Labour Party’s annual conference in Christchurch yesterday, saying he is determined to make the current Government a one-term government.  

 And sounding like he reckons he’s the guy to topple them. Saying the party’s internal polling shows it slightly ahead of National and putting him slightly ahead of Christopher Luxon as preferred Prime Minister.  

You’ve got to be confident, especially in politics. But, if Hipkins thinks he can be the next Prime Minister, then he’s dreaming. 

I reckon there is only one person capable of winning the election for Labour. Which I'll get to.  

But you might have heard Hipkins talking on Newstalk ZB this morning. Banging-on about the current government. 

And this is where, in my opinion, Hipkins is getting it all completely wrong and it's why I think he’s deluded if he thinks he can lead Labour to victory.

He goes on all the time about people wanting change at the last election. But he only pays lip service to the idea of the Labour Party, itself, changing. Let alone he himself changing his tune in any way. 

And he won’t be the next Prime Minister, especially if he keeps this up, without saying anything about how he’s going to change. And he won't be the next Prime Minister if he doesn't show more humility about where things went wrong when he was in government. 

Yes, the leader of the Opposition needs to criticise and point out cock ups and all of that. 

But an Opposition leader who got a thrashing at the last election and who is despised by so many people because of the whole COVID thing, then that someone who has their work cut out for them. 

And, a year down the track since losing the election last year, Chris Hipkins is showing no signs of changing and no signs of taking any personal responsibility for what happened. 

Which is why I’m convinced that Labour can forget about making the current government a one-term government and can forget about winning an election in two years time if it keeps Hipkins in the top job. 

Which brings me to the only person I think has any hope in hell of turning things around for the party. 

It’s the Labour MP who, whenever he turns up on the Mike Hosking Breakfast filling in for Ginny Andersen, you get National voters texting in saying they want him on their side. 

No prizes for guessing who it is I’m talking about. It’s Kieran McAnulty. He is everything Christopher Luxon isn’t. He’s also the type of person that commentators around the world say all left-leaning parties need to align themselves closer to if they want to win elections. 

He’s not a chardonnay or a champagne socialist. The way he talks, he sounds like your average Joe in the street.  

He’s taken on the job of campaign manager for Labour at the next election. But they’ve given him the wrong job, as far as I’m concerned.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB about Chris Hopkins.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Ah. He was talking tough at the Labour Party's annual
conference in christ Church yesterday, saying he is determined to
make the current government a one term government and sounding
like he reckons he's the guy to toddle them, saying
the party's internal polling shows it slightly ahead of National
and him slightly ahead of Christa Luxen as preferred prime minister.

(00:35):
And you've got to be confident, especially in politics, got
to be confident in everything. But if Hapkins thinks he
can be the next prime minister, then he's dreaming. I reckon,
there is only one person capable of taking Labor to
victory or leading Labor to victory. And I'll get to
that in a second. But you might have heard Hopkins

(00:56):
talking to Mike this morning. He started off raving about
the Isaac Theatre Royal, which is where Labor had its
conference at the weekend, and of course you'd rave about
the Isaac Theatre. He was also banging on though about
the current government, as he said yesterday he wants National
to serve just one term, which that will be the
first time in the party's history apparently, but that's two

(01:18):
years away. And this is where, in my opinion, Hipkins
is getting it all completely wrong, and it's why I
think he's deluded if he thinks he can lead Labor
to victory. He goes on all the time, doesn't he
about people? Yes, people want to change at the last election,
but he only pays lip service to the idea of

(01:38):
the Labor Party itself changing. Here's a little bit from
his interview this morning with Mike.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
The decisions that this government have taken have contributed to
the economic situation that we're in at the moment. I
mean they've been in government for a year now. I
know they want to including through a whole budget cycle
another one to continue to blame the previous government for
everything that's been happening. But actually they need to start
accepting responsibility for the decisions that they have taken. They
are the government, they've been in government for every year. Ah.

(02:05):
And it goes on the current government say, now, oh,
there's a whole of the international factors that are contributing
to New Zealand's economy being in the position that it's in.
When just a year ago before the election, and they
were saying, Oh, it's all labor's fault and none of
this is to do with international factors. Well, I don't
think things have changed that much in the last year
to be frank.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Oh, now you might be thinking, oh, what's wrong with
all that. He's just doing what the leader of the
opposition needs to do, you know, rip it into the
government at every opportunity. Well, if that's what you're thinking,
then you're wrong. If you're listening to Politics Friday a
couple of weeks back, when one of Chris Hopkins MP's
Reuben Davidson, was on, you would have heard me stop

(02:44):
him and tell him that it's relentless winging about the
government at every opportunity was boring and pointless and not
doing him any favors. And that's where Chris Hipkins is
getting it wrong too. And he won't be the next
prime minister if he keeps this up without saying anything
about how he's going to change. And he won't be

(03:05):
the next prime if he doesn't show more humility about
where things went wrong when he was in government. Yes,
the leader of the Opposition needs to criticize and point
out cock ups that the government's making all of that.
But an opposition leader who got a thrashing at the
last election, and let's face it, is despised by many
people because of the whole COVID thing, then that's someone

(03:29):
has their work cut out for them. And a year
on the track since losing the election last year, Chris Hipkins,
he is showing no signs of changing, no signs of
saying yep, I got it wrong, and no signs of
taking any personal responsibility for what happened. A leader does.
He's not doing that, which is why I'm convinced that

(03:50):
Labour can forget about making this a one term government
and can forget about winning an election in two years
time if it keeps Hipkins in the top job, which
brings me to the only person I think has any
hope in hell of turning things around for the party.
It's the Labor MP who whenever he turns up on
Mike's show filling in Virginny Anderson. And this happens, you

(04:12):
get national voters texting in saying, Cheapes, can we get
this guy over to our side? He's brilliant. No prize
is for guessing who I'm talking about. It's Karen macinaughty. Now,
he is everything Christah Luxan isn't, and he's also the
type of person that commentators around the world say all
left leaning parties need to align themselves closer to if

(04:35):
they want to win elections. Karen macinaughty is not a
Chardonnay or a Champagne socialist, and the way he talks,
he sounds like your average Joe in the street. You
might have picked up that he's taken on the job
of campaign manager for Labor at the next election. This
was announced by Chris Hopkins in his speech yesterday. I'll

(04:55):
tell you what, as far as I'm concerned, they have
given Karen macinnaughty the wrong job. He needs to be
the leader instead of Chris Hipkins. If Labor is to
have any can you hope inhell of winning the next election.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
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