Labour unveils first policy: ‘Future Fund’ to invest in NZ, built off existing assets
Monday, 20 October 2025
Labour has released its first policy - a proposal to create a ‘Future Fund’ to invest in infrastructure and innovative Kiwi businesses.
The fund would be run not by politicians but by the people who run the New Zealand Super Fund, and would be funded with a mix of new capital, the dividends of existing state-owned enterprises, and new borrowing leveraged from these assets.
The party’s proposed fund would invest solely in New Zealand infrastructure and businesses that create jobs, lift productivity and “serve the public good”.
Leader Chris Hipkins announced the policy in Auckland, which largely turned away from Labour at the last election, and said his party had changed.
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Fund built on existing crown assets
The fund would be established with a foundation of existing government assets and an initial $200m capital contribution from the Government. Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds did not rule out further contributions.
It would be governed independently by the Guardians of the Super Fund, with the minister of finance as sole shareholder.
Finance ministers would be able to write annual letters of expectation with “broad objective” but not to direct specific investments. Whether companies’ returns will be required to be more than the cost of capital, for example, will be up to the fund’s guardians.
It would sit alongside - and separate from - the New Zealand Super Fund, which was established by former Finance Minister Michael Cullen under the fifth Labour Government.
The Super Fund’s rules means it must maximise returns without undue risk and currently has about 11% of its investments in New Zealand assets.
“This has a different purpose. This is about maximizing the public good,” said Hipkins.
“We’ll set all of that out very clearly, both in the legislation and in the letter of expectation. The fund will be able to buy and sell assets, but in terms of the seed assets that go into it, particularly given their strategic importance, potentially, there'll be different restrictions around the potential to sell those.”
Read the full policy document at the bottom of this article
Labour did stress that it would legislate so that the assets put into the fund would not be able to be sold off to raise funds for new investment.
“The Future Fund will be seeded with a small number of Crown-owned assets that have both a commercial and public good purpose. This will provide a steady revenue stream through dividends, an asset base to leverage, and the ability to invest for long-term national benefit.”
“Returns will be both financial and social. Some investments may not deliver the fast profits of global markets, but they will create lasting national value - stronger communities, lower costs, more resilient industries, and opportunities that keep talent and ideas in New Zealand.”
Hipkins and Edmonds refused to say what the assets would be for commercial sensitivity reasons, but the Crown owns stakes in a variety of assets such as the electricity generators and TVNZ.
“That is a key difference between our approach and the approach of the current government. They are looking at what they can sell of what little we have left. We're not interested in that conversation,” said Hipkins.
Edmomds said she wanted to have the policy ready to be worked on from her first day in office, but wasn’t able to say how long it would take to get up and running or how soon New Zealand would see returns.
Labour drew comparisons to Singapore’s Temasek, which began modestly in 1974 with S$354 million but is worth more than S$34b today.
The party is not the first to propose an investment fund - NZ First also decided last year to investigate a $100b independent ‘future fund’.
Posting on X, NZ First leader Winston Peters called the Labour leader “Chris ‘Temu’ Hipkins” after the policy announcement, saying: “After two whole years since the last election, and after Hipkins’ bonfire of policy the best he can come up with is a try-hard Temu mail-order rip-off of a policy that NZFirst announced details of last year.
“He even has the temerity to name their cheap knock-off the same exact thing we did.”
Peters referred to the expression that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery - but said Labour’s policy “is just getting ridiculous”.
“What a joke.”
‘On the right track’
Infrastructure New Zealand welcomed the policy and said it would secure Aotearoa’s future and was a positive step towards long-term infrastructure planning.
Chief executive Nick Leggett said the policy could de-politicise key aspects of the funding process, which was long overdue.
“A Future Fund as Labour has proposed has the potential to bring scale, certainty and domestic capital into the system to fund much needed infrastructure.”
However, Legget said there needed to be clear criteria for how the fund will prioritise infrastructure investment and work alongside other funding streams and investment tools, like PPPs (public-private partnerships).
‘We’ve changed’
Labour is also promising it’s “heard the lesson of last term” in which it did “too much, too fast - not enough finished”.
“People heard the promises - and often supported the intent - but sometimes didn’t see them translate into their pay packets, bills, or public services.”
“The next Labour Government will be different,” the party promised in its policy document.
Hipkins was highly critical of Christopher Luxon, saying he had “no plan for the economy” and was relying on house prices, the Reserve Bank and foreign investors.
“New Zealanders have a clear choice – an economy going backwards because of National’s short-term thinking, or one built by New Zealanders, for New Zealanders. Labour is backing a future made in New Zealand,” Hipkins said.
Labour’s first policy document also reveals how the party plans to campaign despite having largely the same team which led it to its historic drubbing two years ago: a promise that it has learned and changed.
“Labour will reset how government, business, iwi and communities work together.”
It says, if elected, it would support small, innovative businesses and entrepreneurs who create jobs and take risks. The party is promising to make decisions with people, communities and businesses “not for them”.
Labour hints at tax reform
The policy document hints at more policy to come, including reforming the tax system so that it “rewards work and productive investment over speculation” in an effort to make and keep more wealth in New Zealand.
The policy document refers to “speculation” five times.
It says it will “shift investment away from property” and instead direct it towards businesses, research, skills and new technology.
Other focuses of its first term would be:
clean and affordable energy which would be provided by accelerating new generation, storage and upgrading the grid.
“turbo-charging” apprenticeships and mid-career up-skilling
build technological capacity in health, education and local services
build infrastructure to connect regions and unlock growth.
The party is promising fast, meaningful and visible change which would make a difference in people’s day-to-day lives.
It says in its first term it will choose a focused set of targeted structural reforms in the areas that holds New Zealand back most then “go hard at them, and show progress quickly”.
“No endless reviews, no relitigating everything. If something works, we will back it. If it doesn’t, we will change it.”