Giles
Dexter Political reporter
Labour
leader Chris Hipkins has finally and officially ruled out
working with New Zealand First in any government he
leads.
The announcement had long been expected, with
the relationship between the former coalition partners
seemingly beyond repair.
New Zealand First leader
Winston Peters had already ruled out working with
Labour
Hipkins had previously said it was “highly
unlikely” his party would work with New Zealand First again,
and had already ruled out working with Peters as foreign
affairs minister.
But on Monday afternoon, he
confirmed there had been further internal conversations with
his caucus, and he was finally ruling the party out
altogether.
“Winston Peters has ruled us out. I’m
happy to rule him out. It’s clearly not going to
happen.”
Asked why he could not have said so sooner,
Hipkins said New Zealand First’s “pattern of behaviour” had
escalated.
“I’m not going to put up with overt racism
in any government that I lead, as that’s the sort of
behaviour that Winston Peters and New Zealand First are
indulging in. They won’t have any role in a government that
I lead.”
Hipkins said there was “not a single person”
in Labour who thought the party should be open to working
with New Zealand First.
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“I think everybody has been, I
guess, wanting to just see how things shake down. But
clearly, Winston Peters’ recent behaviour has now made that
completely unacceptable.”
In a post on X, Peters said
Hipkins had “severe learning difficulties.”
“Why the
media aren’t lambasting him for “ruling NZFirst out” after
we ruled him out four years ago, then again twelve months
ago, and repeatedly done so every month when answering the
same stupid questions, is beyond a joke.”
The
definitive rule-out comes off the back of a poll which
showed a 3.7
point slump for Labour, and a more difficult path back
to power.
The Taxpayers Union-Curia poll, released
last Friday, had Labour on 27.8 percent.
The poll had
the current coalition parties able to form a government, on
61 seats if the poll was replicated on election
day.
The opposition – including the Opportunity Party,
which National has already ruled out working with – would
have just 59 seats – not enough to govern.
Hipkins,
who had previously described the poll as “rogue”, was
sticking to his guns, saying Labour’s polling had otherwise
been steadily increasing since the election.
“It’s a
real outlier. A rogue poll basically means an outlier, and
it is an outlier when compared to the other publicly
available
polls.”
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