Prime Minister Chris Hipkins visits 91-year-old Nan Dixon, one of Labour's longest-living supporters, at her West Coast home.
Video / Michael Neilson/ George Heard
One of Labour’s longest-living supporters has given the party leader a shot in the arm, urging him to take down the “Tories” who have done nothing “for the working man”.
During his West Coast tour on Thursday, Chris Hipkins stopped off at the Rūnanga home of 91-year-old Nan Dixon - a bit of a pilgrimage for Labour leaders.
Dixon, from a multi-generational family of West Coast coal miners, has voted Labour all of her life and has photos of herself with Dame Jacinda Ardern, David Cunliffe and David Shearer lining the walls of her home.
The West Coast played an important role in New Zealand’s labour movement, with the 1908 miners’ strike in Blackball a foundation stone in the formation of the Labour Party in 1916.
Asked who was her favourite leader, Dixon was diplomatic: “As long as they are all Labour, that is the main thing”.
She was extremely supportive of the party, though it didn’t appear to extend to the party’s restrictions around new coal mines and plans to ban mining in conservation land, reconfirmed by Hipkins yesterday.
A roaring open coal fire greeted the guests, Dixon explaining she still got the fuel delivered to her door. The coal mines meant she and her late husband could afford the house she lived in - as with many young families in her generation.
She said they should be able to continue opening up new coal mines as the “best coal is in there”.
“But they won’t, with all the Greenies,” she said.
“No, I don’t think so,” said Hipkins with a wry smile, not quite acknowledging his party’s role in slowing down the coal industry because of climate change concerns.
Dixon put on a spread of baking for Hipkins and the travelling party, adding it was “baked by Countdown” as she had to reluctantly cut back the practice in her old age.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins visits Nan Dixon, 91, a longtime Labour support at her house in Runanga. Photo / George Heard
Hipkins too had to confess to not having baked the afghans he brought, which were in fact baked by a devoted staff member.
Dixon apologised for not having any sausage rolls, to which Hipkins replied he was quite relieved as he had been eating quite a lot of them already on the campaign.
“Now they have a shot of me eating biscuits,” he joked.
Hipkins asked Dixon what advice she had for him on the campaign.
Dixon said she didn’t have anything specific, just that she was a “bit worried” about the “other guy” - Christopher Luxon - getting in.
“I’ve never known what the Tories did for the working man.”
Longtime Labour supporter Nan Dixon has photos with past Labour leaders in her home. Photo / George Heard
Dixon spoke of conservative governments of old, even back to 1951 and their response to a miners’ strike at the time, which left young families starving and forced to sell their belongings to survive.
She said the “Tory” leader at the time would have been “thrown in the Grey River” if they turned up in the town.
Dixon is the mother of Allan Dixon, one of the 29 men who died in the Pike River mining disaster in 2010.
Police are continuing their investigation into the disaster and plan to release their findings by the end of the year.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins visits Nan Dixon in Rūnanga. Photo / George Heard
Dixon said she hoped police would finally hold someone responsible and that criminal charges would be laid.
Hipkins, now over a week into his campaigning and despite another poor poll overnight appeared energised, which was likely due to further concerns being raised about National’s tax plan.
Independent economists have released their own study that found National’s foreign buyers tax would likely net about $500 million less than National had suggested, equating to a $2 billion shortfall over the life of the wider tax policy including income tax cuts.
“I think not only is National’s tax plan completely cooked, I think the economic credibility has gone down the toilet with it as well,” Hipkins told reporters.
“If they were so confident in their numbers, they wouldn’t hesitate to release them.”
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins visiting local Pounamu Pathway in Greymouth. Photo / George Heard
Hipkins said he could “absolutely” turn polling numbers around.
Asked how, he replied: “With a good campaign”.
Luxon, meanwhile, was campaigning Christchurch on a multi-stop tour of businesses and to announce an agriculture policy that means farmers won’t need a resource consent to build water storage in most situations if National is in power.
The party was also staunchly defending its tax plan, with finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis saying she was confident in their numbers.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins with supporters in Greymouth. Photo / George Heard
Hipkins was earlier told about the massive food insecurity amid the cost-of-living crisis facing West Coast locals while visiting Kai Puku Hub Hokitika - Poutini Waiora, a food rescue organisation.
Team member Jade Winter told Hipkins since August last year they had distributed 48 tonnes of food - the equivalent of about 138,000 meals. About 20,000 people living in the area they cover.
Winter said rising living costs, particularly transport, ate away at food budgets.
West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O’Connor, who accompanied Hipkins, said he was confident about retaining his electorate seat, which he first won in 1993 and has held each election bar one in 2008 - he was briefly out of Parliament but came back on the list in 2009 after then-deputy leader Michael Cullen retired.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins at the Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki. Photo / George Heard
In 2020, O’Connor received 48.5 per cent of the vote, besting National’s Maureen Pugh on 34 per cent.
It was much closer when it came to the party vote in past elections, although in the “red tidal wave” of 2020, Labour got 47 per cent compared to National’s 25 per cent.
Indeed, it was a largely warm reception for Labour on the West Coast tour.
Hipkins was mobbed by supporters for photos and selfies at Greymouth cafe Sevenpenny, which is owned by Alan Monk - the son of Bernie Monk, whose other son Michael died in the Pike River mining tragedy.
“I’ve always been a Labour supporter,” said one, adding there had been some tough times but Labour had done well.
“Just don’t tell my husband,” she added.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins at the Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki. Photo / George Heard
Hipkins even got to sample the local delicacy, a whitebait sandwich. “Absolutely delicious,” he told reporters.
Hipkins also visited the Pounamu Pathway project, a Rūnanga-led network of storytelling centres across Te Tai Poutini, the West Coast.
Scott Mills, a Ngāi Tahu scaffolder working on the project, said it was “very important” for the coast not only for the jobs and tourism opportunities to be able to tell these stories, particularly about Māori. Growing up in the region, it was mainly European settler stories that were told and displayed and not those of Māori history, he said.
“This is excellent for the coast,” he said.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins visits the Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki. Photo / George Heard
Hipkins’ last visit was to the Punakaiki Rocks Cafe before a walk around the pancake rocks and blowholes.
It was a wild sea but the low tide meant the blowholes were not performing at their best.
Still, Hipkins took the opportunity to take a dig at the Opposition, pointing at the holes in the rocks and saying to media: “Those are just like the holes in the National Party’s tax cut plan.”
