The incoming prime minister hits reset
Yesterday’s press conference from Chris Hipkins sent some very clear signals as New Zealand’s new prime minister hits the ground running this week
In today’s edition: Luxon responds to Labour leadership change; secondary school teachers to take industrial action; the rise of the super coach; but first, what Hipkins said yesterday and what he’ll do this week
Incoming prime minister and deputy prime minister, Chris Hipkins and Carmel Sepuloni (Image: RNZ/Samuel Rillstone)
Chris Hipkins, prime minister
And just like that, it was done. Well almost. The Labour party caucus confirmed Chris Hipkins as new leader of the Labour party and prime minister, and Carmel Sepuloni as deputy prime minister yesterday afternoon. On Wednesday, just six days after the resignation of Jacinda Ardern, Hipkins will be sworn in as prime minister. This morning, Toby Manhire zones in on the clear signalling during Hipkins’ first press conference and what we can expect him to focus on.
Hipkins’ street style in Napier last week got labelled bad fashion but I think it’s just a grizzly Gen X-er doing his thing. The Labour party are now auctioning off Chris Hipkins’ cap and wrap-around sunnies
The Spinoff’s Toby Morris offers up his first rendering of New Zealand’s incoming prime minister
Other matters of hygiene
Kelvin Davis will remain deputy leader of the Labour party. Hipkins will do a round of media this morning and meet with ministers in Auckland to discuss policy priority adjustments. He will lead his first caucus meeting on Wednesday and meet business and community leaders in Auckland on Thursday. Cabinet reshuffles will be announced next week, although Hipkins will resign his current roles when he is sworn in as prime minister with acting ministers put in place for his education and police portfolios. Policies will be jettisoned. The Herald’s Thomas Coughlan (paywalled) looks at what’s safe and what’s not.
Ardern’s last call as prime minister
Ardern’s last engagement as prime minister will be attending the Rātana celebrations tomorrow. Hipkins will also attend. Ardern will remain the MP for Mount Albert until April. Andrew Geddis explains the in and outs of that situation to Newsroom’s Bonnie Harrison. It’s not quite as neat and tidy as the seamless transition to new leadership we’ve just witnessed. As Newsroom’s Marc Daalder writes, we’ve seen none of the drama we've come to associate with leadership changes.
What we’ve lost with the undoing of Ardern
There are two pieces about Ardern that I’d like to highlight. One is by Simon Wilson (paywalled) who questions what we've lost with the undoing of Jacinda Ardern. The other is by Duncan Greive. Read it all but the last two paragraphs underscore something that I think needs further untangling. Hipkins spoke about his family in yesterday’s press conference and the toll his role in the Covid response had taken. I am wishing on a star here, but my sincere hope is that while the news rushes on, we all hit a reset button on our toleration for the way those in the public eye are spoken about. As it stands, political scientist and former intelligence worker Paul Buchanan thinks Ardern will need more ongoing security and protection than any former prime minister.
"New leader, same story"
National party leader Christopher Luxon responded to the news of Labour’s leadership change by saying that the new prime minister has been part of a government which has not delivered. Speaking to media yesterday, Luxon said he sent his congratulations to the new PM by text. "There is not change, it is just more of the same and that's because it's essentially the same team," he said. Te Pāti Māori responded to the news by saying “The Labour Party passed on a tangata whenua prime minister and a tangata whenua deputy prime minister. They are telling Māori that, despite having the largest Māori caucus ever in government, we still are not good enough.”
Teachers to take industrial action
As RNZ’s John Gerritsen reports, members of the secondary school teachers' union are poised to take industrial action from next week. Pay talks with the Ministry of Education have stalled and Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) president Melanie Webber confirmed that unless there was improvement, union members would refuse to cover for absent colleagues when classes resumed between 30 January and 7 February.
On The Spinoff Podcast Network: A reality TV star in our midst
Jane, Alex and Duncan are back. In this week’s Real Pod they discuss their big news from the summer break – Jane is on the verge of TV stardom, Alex moved cities and Duncan… went camping. Plus, they look at the enormous buffet of reality TV New Zealand will be devouring in 2023.
Click and collect
Inflation expected to have become more domestically driven (paywalled) ahead of CPI figures out this Wednesday
How iwi, DOC and a community trust buried the hatchet for the sake of Motutapu
Jacinda Ardern’s mixed legacy with The Christchurch Call and social media (paywalled)
Google parent (Alphabet) cuts 12,000 jobs
Waiheke's sausage mystery
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The rise of the super coach
“What Jones reappointment reinforces is the idea, perpetuated by a coterie of coaches themselves, that you have to have coached international rugby to coach international rugby. It does not take a genius to decipher the circularity and self-interest of that theory.”
Dylan Cleaver from
on the rise and rise of super coaches in rugby.“I want my brain back”
Last year’s Voyager media awards reporter of the year, Kirsty Johnston, writes honestly and with great vulnerability about her road to recovery after suffering a concussion. As someone who frequently panics about any kind of injury that might not allow me to write anymore, I really identified.
