Labour leader Chris Hipkins. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Labour leader Chris Hipkins is calling on his party to change, in order to win the next election.
He made the opening remarks on Friday night, following a whakatau by mana whenua kicking off the annual party conference happening this weekend in Christchurch.
Hipkins told the few hundred members, current and former MPs and media gathered that he understood "Kiwis did vote for change last year.
"We have to accept that reality as we build to win in 2026. We lost, and now we need to change as well."
He said New Zealanders did not think Labour was focused, and they had lost faith in the party's ability to deliver on promises.
"To win, we need to reconnect with a much broader range of Kiwis, and that means talking about the issues that matter to them, as well as the issues that we think should matter to them."
The party will vote on Saturday afternoon on continuing to progress work on a capital gains tax and a wealth tax, and to stop work on other taxes. The party has had a fraught history with tax.
On Friday night, Hipkins told those listening that "winning internal debates is good fun, but it isn't what matters the most.
"Winning back the hearts and minds of New Zealanders is what's going to matter the most.
"In 2026 we will be a Labour Party that has listened, that has heard and that has changed."
He also took aim at the coalition government, drawing calls of "shame" from the audience, saying the country's unity was currently being tested by a "government that seems determined to drive us apart".
He blamed Prime Minister Christopher Luxon for choosing to take New Zealand down a path of "austerity, of public service cuts, and most appallingly of all, a path of division".
"The National government made a whole lot of promises to get elected - and now we find out they're more interested in guns, tobacco and divisive culture wars than they are in helping people."
Hipkins pointed to international trends, saying Labour needed to be the party that brought people together "at a time when politics around the world seems so volatile, uncertain, and polarised.
"We need to be the ones that help people to find common ground."
He said his focus this year had been listening. Next year it would be on "renewal, on new ideas, and new plans for the future", he said, adding, "in 2026, let there be no doubt, we are in this to win it".
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