- Leader Chris Hipkins is set to speak at 2pm. The speech will be live-streamed at the top of this story.
- Labour members have gathered in Christchurch for their annual conference.
- The party is debating a “captain’s call” ban and Aukus.
Leader Chris Hipkins will address Labour Party members at his party’s annual conference in Christchurch, as the party inches closer to campaigning on a wealth tax or capital gains tax at the next election.
The speech is scheduled to begin at 2pm today – the Herald will be live-streaming it at the top of this story.
Early in the day, Labour’s deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni told members the coalition Government needs a “nana, tinā or kuia” to keep its three leaders together.
Sepuloni adhered to the time-honoured tradition in speeches made by deputy leaders of winding up the coalition Government, saying the fact she’d recently become a grandparent had given her the idea the coalition itself needed a grandparent in the room.
A kuia, Sepuloni said, would have stopped Prime Minister Christopher Luxon from giving David Seymour a chance to introduce the Treaty Principles Bill to Parliament or allowing NZ First to take the reins of the Government’s Smokefree strategy.
“David wants all the toys,” Seuponi said.
“This nanny has a few pearls of wisdom for that Government. Just stop. Give up. We’ll take the tough stuff off your hands,” she said.
Labour members appeared to enjoy the notion, laughing at the gags and interjecting “shame” at mentions of some of the coalition’s more controversial policies.
Hipkins will wrap up the conference and attempt to imbue members with a sense of enthusiasm following 2023’s historic defeat.
Labour has spent most of the day in a closed session debating proposals – often called remits. Up today is a controversial proposal on banning what are known as “captain’s calls”, a response to anxiety in the party about how Hipkins killed a wealthy tax which was meant to be in the 2023 Budget.
The idea is controversial because the Labour leadership and governing council argue “captain’s calls” are already effectively banned.
Another proposal relates to Aukus, the nuclear-propelled submarine procurement deal between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The coalition Government has picked up the last Labour government’s policy of looking at joining the non-nuclear “Pillar Two” of the deal.
Labour members will vote on a proposal that would reject joining Pillar Two, and if the current Government were to sign up, it would bar a future Labour government from withdrawing.
Were that to pass, it would be quite significant for Aukus in general. So far, Aukus enjoys bipartisan support in Australia and the United Kingdom, and it is believed the incoming Trump administration will continue US support in some form.
Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.
