Chris Hipkins said Labour has a chance to make the coalition a one-term government. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
A one-term government, funding for cancer medications and the quality of TVNZ's broadcasting were hot topics of discussion at Labour's lower North Island regional conference in Porirua.
During his keynote speech, leader Chris Hipkins told party faithfuls that Labour had a chance to make the coalition a one-term government.
He told them National's tax cuts were the wrong choice when the government had to borrow to fund them. Cancer was also high on his list of concerns.
"I think one of the most reprehensible things that this government have done is extend a promise to those New Zealanders suffering with cancer, and then not deliver on that promise. It was the wrong promise to make in the first place."
He said decisions around what medications get funded should not be the subject of political promises on the campaign trail.
Labour had three goals ahead of the next election, Hipkins said.
"The first is we need to be a very effective opposition."
The second was to have new ideas and policies that would "capture the imaginations of New Zealanders" when the election did roll round.
Then the third was to rebuild and broaden the Labour movement.
RNZ/TVNZ merger still off the table
During a question-and-answer session afterwards, Hipkins was asked if he regretted cancelling the proposed RNZ/TVNZ merger.
With the media facing a turbulent few months, a number of job losses have come from the state-owned enterprise.
But Hipkins was still not convinced the merger was the answer.
The two media outlets functioned very differently, with TVNZ operating under a "commercial culture" and RNZ a "quality public broadcasting culture", he said.
"There's no question we need to have quality public broadcasting in New Zealand. I'm sad to say I think Television New Zealand stopped being a quality public broadcaster decades ago, and I think we need to be very careful about making sure that whatever we do, we don't destroy the quality public broadcasting culture that exists within RNZ now."