Michael Wood (left) was stood down from the transport portfolio by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins after failing to sell shares he owns in Auckland Airport. Photo / Michael Craig.
The Labour Party has endured a challenging six months since Chris Hipkins took over as Prime Minister.
NZ Herald deputy political editor and host of the On The Tiles podcast, Thomas Coughlan tells The Front Page that Hipkins has now stood down a minister every six and half weeks since he took office.
This has happened amid a series of Ministerial mishaps that have all attracted negative headlines, some more serious than others.
Transport Minister Michael Wood, Education Minister Jan Tinetti, Police Minister Stuart Nash and Justice Minister Kiri Allan are just some of the Labour Ministers to have caused headaches for the Prime Minister recently. And on top of this, he’d also had the defection of Meka Whaitiri to Te Pāti Māori.
“It certainly looks bad,” says Coughlan.
“It looks like a government that needs a holiday or one that needs to pass around the bottle at halftime. It certainly doesn’t look like a government that’s ready to fight an election.”
The question now is whether the Labour Government can pull things together to show the public that it still has enough stamina left to push through the election, and more importantly, another term in power.
Of particular concern is the misjudgment made by Wood, who has long been tipped as a future leader of the Labour Party – largely due to his competence.
“Wood has got a lot of people scratching their heads,” says Coughlan.
“He is a competent minister, he is beloved in the Labour Party and he’s seen as a bastion of traditional Labour values.”
He has also worked hard across his portfolios, championing fair pay agreements (as Workplace Relations Minister) and working hard to reduce emissions through his transport responsibilities.
“He is a rising star, and certainly if Labour loses the election, he would be one of the people tipped to take over the party. I think he’ll be kicking himself because this isn’t an issue over which he probably did deserve to be suspended but it’s an issue that could very easily have been avoided.”
So will Wood be able to weather this storm? Is Labour in danger of losing the election? And are there growing signs that some ministers are burnt out?
Listen to the full episode of The Front Page Podcast to hear more on this issue.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am.
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