Editorial: Hipkins’ bonfire of the priorities gives Labour a boost in the polls

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins during a post-Cabinet press conference at Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Editorial

EDITORIAL

It has been 526 years since supporters of Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola collected and burned thousands of objects such as cosmetics, art and books in the public square of Florence.

The idea was to destroy objects that might be enticements to sin. The falo delle vanita, or bonfire of the vanities, didn’t end well for Savonarola, whose influence drew the ire of the church. He was excommunicated, hanged on a cross, then burned to death.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins faces no more grim a fate than an electoral ballot in October but his bonfire of policies has landed one similarity in gaining a following. Monday night’s 1News-Kantar poll positioned Labour in front of National again, with personal support for Hipkins in the ascent. His preferred prime minister ratings were up four points to 27 per cent, while rival Christopher Luxon’s slipped five points to just 17 per cent.

This week, Hipkins announced the Government is ditching the $568 million clean car upgrade, narrowing its plan to nationally reduce speed limits and staggering the rollout of Auckland light rail. In an earlier blaze, Hipkins heaped the TVNZ/RNZ merger and the biofuels mandate on the pyre.

Auckland's light rail will be delayed under a Government reset.

As with Hipkins’ first policy bonfire – which included a big increase in the minimum wage - this week’s conflagration lit a $2b increase in government payments for lower- and middle-income New Zealanders.

Political commentator Bryce Edwards notes Hipkins’ moves are clearly about differentiating his Labour Government from Jacinda Ardern’s as Labour finally realising voters expect action over rhetoric. He also points out the advantage this gives the Greens: transport measures to mitigate climate change being abandoned starches up the party’s environmental credentials and support. Easing climate mitigation measures also cuts across traditional Act Party ground, leading leader David Seymour with little choice but to endorse it. National can but repeat the mantra to “stop spending and cut taxes”.

At least one commentator has called the manoeuvring solely about returning Labour to power while Herald political editor Claire Trevett called it “part of Hipkins’ attempts to show he is in tune with voters politically”.

The Prime Minister interprets the ashes as merely prioritising work programmes, re-scoping plans and amending policies. Conversely, he lauds the funding released for “bread and butter” issues as significant and making a difference. “This $1.7 billion in savings represents a clear intent of the Government to focus on the issues that matter most to New Zealanders and provide a little bit extra in support to households.”

So are these machinations about elevating Hipkins in the public eye, setting his administration apart from his predecessors, providing an extra slice of bread to the needy, cutting in on National and Act strategies - or pragmatic compromises to meet the unexpected damages from Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle? Handily, it seems to play out as all of the above.

Savonarola once warned his followers to “flee from the shores of the greedy”. Hipkins might well agree.