Kris Faafoi: Election will be a political drag race to the centre

Tuesday, 14 March 2023

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins during a policy cull announcement.

Kris Faafoi is a government and public relations specialist; a former Labour member of Parliament and a former Cabinet minister (including Minister of Civil Defence); and a former Press Gallery journalist. He is a regular opinion contributor to Stuff.

OPINION: The lead up to a drag race is a noisy, smoky, alpha kind of affair.

And this week Chris Hipkins put the foot down and tested a new motor in some bold pre-race manoeuvring.

The PM essentially stepped into the Beehive theatrette on Monday and said: “Here are all the things I’m stripping off the car, I need speed to win.”

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And he’s stripped off a lot, leaving a good old-fashioned drag race to the centre on election day.

By doing this, two things are clear.

First, the PM wants every Kiwi to know that ‘bread and butter’ and ‘a rebuild’ are his laser-like focus. And secondly, he will cast an eye over anything to give him more power and speed as he lines up for this, well kind of, straight-line race.

In a handful of weeks Hipkins has established that he is in the driver's seat and in sporting language, wants to “get the W”.

I don’t imagine the Cabinet table or caucus discussions were all plain sailing, but he has created the ability to make the big calls he and his team have calculated are necessary to win. Sounds easy, generally it’s not.

Some of the policies that were administered the last rites have been issues that have been tricky to manage behind the scenes so will be farewelled with glee, others have, and will, require what they call in Wellington “enhanced stakeholder management”.

Some have already made their displeasure known. But this would have been calculated and ministers and others will no doubt be dispatched with reassuring messages to those who need reassurance.

Either way, a PM's gotta do what a PM's gotta do. John Key's ruthlessness was best manifested when he took to refreshing his Cabinet table. Chris Hipkins has shown a similar ruthlessness to policy. And hey, when the bonfire has worked the first time, why not have another.

The cull, bonfire, scrapping, call it what you will, allows the Government to have a fuller conversation with voters that I scribed about a fortnight ago. (More talk about bread and butter and rebuilding.)

Already superannuitants, those on benefits and students have been told there is more support coming. That will be a welcome relief to those who are doing it the hardest, but it’s what else that might be possible that will be watched very closely.

Will it mean for instance that fuel and public transport subsidies will continue? What other levers is the Government prepared to pull to cater for the needs of Kiwi families feeling the pressure of the cost of living? What more can be done for the communities facing a massive rebuild?

Bar anything else left-field (this is a message to you Mother Nature), all of this sets up a very narrow election campaign. As I say, it’s now a drag race to the centre.

The pace of this year’s politics has been frenetic. Last week alone we had firings, resignations, retirements, childcare policy announcements, cracks at consultants, a proposed crack at banks, and even a hunt for the PM's favourite pie joint. Did I mention there was some polling and proposed strike action too?

I reckon the revving and smoking engines are going to reach fever pitch much earlier than in normal election cycles, and I can sense the parliamentary press gallery fizzing to cover a high-octane campaign.

Budget Day now takes on a different shape. It was already shaping up as an election year Budget to rival others because of the multitude of challenges that are on the agenda at the moment.

We are also seeing the real Chris Hipkins in the bonfire, part II. He is a calm, focussed, deliberate, systematic and calculating individual. He will be watching taxpayer money as closely as he watches his own.

It’s ruthless, but probably a breath of fresh air for people wondering what if any help might be forthcoming from the Beehive. Again this is Hipkins stamping his personal mark on the Government. He is Labour to his core. It was deliberate that he came straight out of the blocks on Monday and sent a clear message to those who find the economic conditions most challenging.

The upshot there is that it will give his Government the ability to get more value out of the fiscal headroom he has created.

All eyes are now on what he has in store next. Watching too is an Opposition that was showing some good early pace and is desperate for a “W” too.

Political petrolheads will be amped at the mere sniff of policy or polls in the air.

The engines have started.