Labour leader Chris Hipkins says it is too soon in the electoral cycle to announce new policies. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Labour leader Chris Hipkins says the party wants to offer "positive change" in 2026, as voters have not got the change they voted for.
But policies related to that change are still a long way off.
Nearly eight months after the election, Labour is still soul-searching, and undertaking a "listening exercise".
Of Labour's 34 MPs, 30 spent two days in Auckland this week, travelling the length and breadth of the region to visit businesses, NGOs, community organisations and iwi to learn about what matters to them. (Of the four remaining, three were overseas, and another was unwell.)
In doing so, Labour hoped to understand why Aucklanders turned their backs on the party at last year's election, and how to regain that support.
"We're preparing to win the next election. That's the goal," Hipkins said.
Labour MPs said when in opposition there was more opportunity to get out of Wellington and build - or rebuild - relationships.
"The longer you're in government, the more some of those in-person relationships do tend to fade away ... And opposition is an opportunity to build those back again," Hipkins said.
"When you're in the hustle and bustle in government for the past six years, sometimes you miss some of those key messages from our communities," said list MP Peeni Henare, who narrowly lost the Māori electorate seat of Tāmaki Makaurau to Te Pati Māori's Takutai Tarsh Kemp.
"There's always the opportunity to do more, and one of the special opportunities you have in opposition is that you can go anywhere in the country. People are very generous with their time and their views, and that's the opportunity we have now," said former Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall.
On Thursday, the caucus gathered for an all-day session to share what they had learned from those conversations, and to see some green-shoots of policy development.
"I've been having lots of conversations, and listening heaps to many in the transport sector here in Auckland, and that's only going to inform me and colleagues as we move forward," said Labour's transport spokesperson Tangi Utikere.
Its economic development spokesperson Glen Bennett said he wanted to find out how to connect the dots.
"People are doing such amazing work, being so innovative, but often doing it in isolation, in silos. So how do we, as a Labour Party, connect those dots to take New Zealand forward?" he said.
The caucus had also heard from local iwi Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and Auckland mayor Wayne Brown.
The mayor's presentation was "frank", Hipkins said, telling Labour what he thought they would need to do to win back the support of Aucklanders.
Brown had been up-front in telling Labour that in government it had focused on what it thought was big and important, instead of what actually mattered to communities, Henare said.
"We've got no time to muck around here. Two and a half years sounds like a long time away, but it's not.
"We've got a really big job of actually coming together with policies that our communities do want, and not just ones that Labour [is] passionate about."
In contrast, Hipkins was in no rush to announce any policy, saying opposition parties do not tend to announce anything this early in the electoral cycle.
"The policy development process is going to take a wee while. But we're doing that simultaneously alongside the listening exercise that we have been doing as well. And that's very much informing the policy development work that we're doing," he said.
But Hipkins indicated that when policy did come, it would not simply repeal the current coalition's actions.
Labour would need to offer something new, Hipkins said.
"The issues that New Zealanders are focused on in 2026 are likely to be different to the issues that they were focused on 2023.
"I think those who try and repeat their previous campaigns, and refine them, and improve them generally don't tend to do well.
"Those who realise that times move on, issues move on, are the ones who are more likely to be successful."
At Waitangi, Labour was told not to lick its wounds for too long after the electoral defeat; instead, it was urged to regroup and come up with a strategy to oppose the coalition.
That strategy was three-pronged, Hipkins said: to be a good opposition, to do a good policy process, and to rebuild the Labour movement.
Labour was making progress on all three, but at this point of the electoral cycle the focus remained on scrutinising the government, he said.
"It's always going to be the case the government will be more likely to be setting the agenda than the party that just lost. But I think we've been doing a good job of critiquing the decisions they're taking."
Hipkins also batted away questions over whether the caucus needed a refresh.
Many of Labour's portfolio spokespeople in opposition held those ministerial roles before being voted out.
But such continuity had its advantages, Hipkins said, especially at this part of the political cycle.
"I think the people who are most familiar with those portfolios in many cases are the people who are in the right position to do that because they will be able to read the Budget documents and figure out what's changed, they will be able to recall the advice that they received as ministers on the strengths and weaknesses of the decisions that the government are taking."
One of those MPs was Carmel Sepuloni, who had continued in the social development role. There were many reasons for MPs sticking with their roles, she said.
"Because there's unfinished business that they want to continue with, there's still that passion burning for that particular area. I think in opposition it can be quite helpful because you've got those relationships with stakeholders that you've built up over many years," she said.
