“When you’re not in government, you have more time to get out and listen to people,” he said.
As a newly-appointed Prime Minister last year, Hipkins rejected policies such as a capital gains tax and wealth tax.
A policy review would include tax, but that was only one part of the debate, he said.
The National-led Government had lowered tax brackets to reduce the effect of fiscal drag.
“I have no problem with adjusting tax brackets, but they have to be done at the right time,” said Hipkins.
The Labour Government had faced a global pandemic and global inflation.
The brackets had not been changed in 16 years and Labour had only been in power for six of those years.
“Doing a big adjustment after 16 years is wrong.”
The coalition Government’s tax cuts would result in interest rates staying higher for longer, Hipkins said.
The biggest drivers of inflation were council rates, insurance and rentals.
He accused the Government of doing nothing to alleviate those issues.
Hipkins defended Affordable Waters (Labour’s reformed Three Waters proposal) and said, “I think we had resolved most of the concerns by the end”.
Questioned about councils being tasked with more responsibilities with limited funding, he said local government reform was required.
But for up to four decades, councils had not invested sufficiently in unseen assets such as pipes.
“In the longer term, central government will have to work with local government to figure out how to fund local government.”
Questioned about Labour’s housing record when in government, Hipkins said the Labour Government had exceeded its targets in building social housing.
But the next Labour Government would be required to build more houses.
Tangaere-Manuel said it would be difficult to find anyone on the East Coast and at Te Karaka who would say Labour failed in housing.
Hipkins said the next election was only two-and-a-half years away and the 2026 election would not be a rerun of the 2023 election.
