Labour to rally in Wellington this weekend if storm allows it
Saturday, 27 June 2026
ANALYSIS: Labour members will be hoping Wellington’s rain and wind does not stop them from generating a perfect storm to rally the troops this weekend.
The Post understands a few hundred people are expected to walk through the doors of the capital’s convention centre, Tākina on Saturday and Sunday where Labour will hold its congress (outside of election years this event is called its conference).
It comes at a crucial moment for the party. For months it had been criticising the Government’s decisions without a policy platform to offer as an alternative besides its capital gain tax, future fund, and free cervical screenings announced late last year.
But since the Budget there has been a rolling maul of narrow yet universal policies, which was kick-started by its public transport fare cap, followed by free maternity scans and bringing back free prescriptions.
The party will be hoping the flurry of ideas translates into votes, and that this weekend’s conference can inspire volunteers to sell those policies to the nation ahead of election day.
It also comes after a 1News/Verian Poll this week which made waves. The poll suggested a plunge in support for Labour from 37% down to 32%, while Opportunity neared the 5% threshold.
While this poll still suggested Labour would be able to form a Government, it did this based on some quite heroic assumptions about Māori seats. These are not numbers anyone would feel comfortable on.
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The first day of the congress will feature speeches from Labour Party President Jill Day, finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds, deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni and a panel from Labour election candidates. Media are barred from much of the conference outside of these big speeches.
On Sunday the only bit of congress media are allowed into will be a speech from Labour leader Chris Hipkins in the afternoon, where some kind of announcement is expected.
Hipkins will be keen to excite volunteers about the campaign ahead, to celebrate Labour Party values, and cement the party’s focus on jobs, health and homes. But his true audience will be the voters who might catch a snippet of the speech on TV or their phones - and it will be whatever he announces that they get a glimpse of.
In Hipkins’ state of the nation speech earlier this year he sought to highlight how many young Kiwis were giving up on New Zealand. It is likely this will play a part in his speech on Sunday, now with a backbone of a few more policies aimed at keeping them here.
Comparisons are likely to be drawn between Hipkins’ speech and Christopher Luxon’s bombshell announcement last week that National was coming right into Labour’s turf on KiwiSaver. Whether this is just another speech by Hipkins or one that defines the whole news cycle is still to be seen.