Summary
A significant controversy unfolds in New Zealand politics as Labour grapples with accusations of dishonesty and ties to gang culture. The party's reputation suffers after revelations about its funding connections to gangs, particularly the Mongrel Mob. Leader Chris Hipkins faces mounting pressure as he attempts to distance the party from these associations, asserting that none of their members would hold justice or police portfolios. However, his efforts are undermined when a party member is found to have campaigned alongside gang members and subsequently lied about it.
The situation escalates as Labour's perceived failure on law and order issues becomes a focal point in the current political climate. Law and order emerges as a top concern for voters, and Labour's previous opposition to a gang patch ban is now seen as a significant misstep. The party's credibility is further challenged as it struggles to navigate its connections to radical elements within the gang space, leaving it vulnerable to criticism from both opponents and the public.
As the political landscape shifts, the implications of these revelations could have lasting effects on Labour's standing with voters, particularly in light of the strong negative sentiment surrounding gang culture. The party's association with criminality and dishonesty may prove fatal as it seeks to regain the trust of middle New Zealand.
Show Notes
What do they say about the truth always coming out? By Friday morning Kerrin Leoni was gone. She lied and she got caught with the photo and the video. Not only didn’t it pass the pub test, it didn’t pass the truth test. Campaigns almost always have things in them you never saw coming. For Labour it was a combination of dishonesty and their past. Law and order was not part of the vote of 2026, until it was. It was very much a part of 2023 because Labour was perceived to have failed abysmally on the subject. Law and order was, if not the number one issue, certainly in the top three and a major part of the law-and-order story was the perceived weakness Labour had around gangs. They ruled the streets, they paraded the patches, they sold the drugs and they abused the women. Labour opposed the new Government's gang patch ban, until they didn’t. Labour has been hoisted by their own petard. This started as a Greens/Māori Party mess that infected a third party. The initial issue was reputational. Could Labour be seen to be alongside a couple of radical operators in the gang space? An embattled Chris Hipkins did his best by saying none of their people would hold justice/police, or law-type portfolios. Then he said funding gangs was wrong. Then when asked why his party had funded the Mongrel Mob, he said it was a mistake and, in doing so, threw his former leader under the bus. It was a miserable ten days and a story that he couldn’t shake. But then it got worse, disastrously worse, after one of his own turned out not only to hang with gangs and campaign with gangs, but then when sprung, lied. The only thing he can do now is hope this fades, which it will. But what won't fade is the simple truth that all three parties in the left bloc now, in some way, shape or form, associate with the gang culture, like and support the gang culture, or are not averse to funding the gang culture. All three share the same broad ideology towards gangs. Given that it makes them so far removed from middle New Zealand, it's fatal. Other issues could be forgiven or looked past, but gangs are in a league of their own. Criminality and dishonesty might have been the singular event that caught all three. And blew it for all three. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
More from Election 2026
Chris Hipkins spent two hours with Mike Hosking this morning and did nothing to convince me to vote Labour. He’s had a political week from hell. Just when he probably thought Labour’s gang connections were so 2023, MPs and candidates from Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori have been caught hanging out with gang members during the current campaign. Mike asked him if it had blown his chances. Not surprisingly, he said it hadn’t, saying he had handled the situation “decisively”. He would say that, of course. But I agree with him. Sort of. I don’t think it’s going to be enough to put people off voting Labour if they had already been thinking of voting for Labour. But anyone undecided may be thinking twice. Especially given the defiant way the Greens and Te Pāti Māori have dealt with it. And given the reputation Labour had last time it was in Government, rightly or wrongly, that it was sympathetic to gangs. Which is why the biggest job for Chris Hipkins is to convince voters that Labour is worth another shot. Hipkins said this morning that it is. Because he’s not going to over-promise, acknowledging that that’s what Labour did last term, and isn’t going to bite off more than the party can chew. And good on him for admitting that. I also think that’s something every Government can be accused of. But that, right there, is also the problem with Chris Hipkins and Labour this election. It’s not selling the sizzle. None of the parties are, to be fair. But this morning was Chris Hipkins’ chance to do it. But all he told us was that his top priority, if he forms the next Government, is to stay on top of the workload. Would you ever have heard that kind of talk from Barack Obama or John F. Kennedy? Or, even, David Lange? He was never going to get away with Covid not coming up for discussion. He said he had fully co-operated with the inquiry into the Covid response. Saying several times that he did actually turn up to the inquiry. It’s just that the cameras weren’t necessarily there. And he said he didn’t think he could have done any more. Yes, he did. The question now, though, is whether Hipkins has done enough to convince you that Labour is worth your vote. He hasn’t convinced me. What about you? LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Most voters have not realised how difficult New Zealand's fiscal predicament is, says a think tank boss. New Zealand Initiative executive director Oliver Hartwich said the ACT Party's manifesto shows it is the "most radical" about getting government spending to 2017 levels. Released yesterday, the manifesto pledged to cut "wasteful spending" by $22 billion over four years, getting debt $12.4b lower by 2031 than currently forecast. Hartwich told Ryan Bridge that the plan was different from what other parties were offering. Nine years ago, 28.5% of GDP was spent by the Government, but currently the figure sits at nearly 33%, he said. "I think that a lot of this extra government spending has not resulted in actually making us feel better, in actually delivering better services for Kiwis, and therefore it is right to ask whether we couldn't achieve better results with lower spending." Although that message is landing with some of the electorate, most people do not realise how problematic the fiscal situation is, Hartwich said. "We all know that our population is going to age over the coming years, and Treasury told us that by 2065 if we don't change our way, we'll face 200% debt to GDP, which would really mean that we would be bankrupt. These are the levels that we last saw, for example, for Greece in the middle of the Euro crisis." He said New Zealand ranks "relatively low" on government spending compared to European nations, but they are "all approaching bankruptcy", he said. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chris Hipkins has confirmed the Finance portfolio's off the table for any potential coalition partners, as well as Police and Justice for Greens and Te Pāti Māori MPs. The Labour leader says everything else is up for discussion after the election. Hipkins told Mike Hosking on the Leaders Breakfast he wouldn't agree to increasing the size of Cabinet beyond the 20 Ministers it has now. He says he wouldn't want a Cabinet that's disproportionate towards the smaller parties. The Labour Leader is also spelling out the differences between his current lineup of potential ministers and his last government. Senior members of the party include Kieran McAnulty, Barbara Edmonds, and Ayesha Verrall. Hipkins told Hosking there's only about half a dozen in his party who were ministers when they became government in 2017. He says most weren't ministers until the very end of the last Labour Government. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chris Hipkins says he has no regret over his level of involvement with the Covid inquiry. The Labour leader was criticised for not appearing at the public hearing when the Royal Commission was gathering evidence. Hipkins told Mike Hosking on the Leaders Breakfast he answered every question thrown at him. He also says the reviews of the Reserve Bank’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic were “largely fair”. An independent review of the bank’s response found that stimulus was kept in place for too long as the economy recovered, contributing to the wave of inflation that shook the economy after the pandemic. Hipkins says the reviews were in line with reviews of other central banks’ responses to the pandemic, but you could argue they got that a bit wrong.
Labour Leader Chris Hipkins admits his party wasn't totally ready to govern in 2017. National won the largest share of the result in that election, but New Zealand First chose to go into government with Jacinda Ardern's Labour instead. Hipkins told Mike Hosking on the Leader's Breakfast because of the nature of the election, they weren't as ready as they could've been. He says he went home on election night thinking they'd be in Opposition, not expecting the coalition negotiations to go the way they did. But he says the party is tangibly different now, as they're much more focused in what they're promising in this election. Hipkins says one of the biggest criticism of the previous Labour Government was that they were trying to do too many things and thus weren't delivering them well. He told Hosking this election they're only promising things he knows he and the system can deliver on. The Labour Leader says they're more pragmatic than they used to be. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.