Labour leader Chris Hipkins has used his State of the Nation speech to argue New Zealand is losing ground on living costs, productivity, and climate resilience, warning that \u201cpeople are working harder than ever and falling further behind.\u201d Speaking to the Auckland Business Chamber, he said nearly 240,000 New Zealanders have left the country in two years, calling it \u201ctalent we can\u2019t afford to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hipkins outlined Labour\u2019s election-year focus on jobs, health, and homes<\/strong>, including three free GP visits annually<\/strong>, major investment in renewable energy, and a targeted capital gains tax on investment and commercial properties. He said too much capital is tied up in speculation rather than productive industries, promising a New Zealand Future Fund to back local innovation and infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n National\u2019s Finance Spokesperson Nicola Willis dismissed the speech as empty and repetitive, saying Labour has \u201cnot a single new idea for New Zealand.\u201d She argued Hipkins is recycling old policies and doubling down on \u201cspend more, tax more, borrow more,\u201d warning that a Labour\u2013Greens\u2013Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori government would be \u201can economic wrecking ball.\u201d Willis said National has spent two years \u201cundoing the damage Labour did to the economy\u201d and challenged Hipkins to answer \u201cbasic questions\u201d about how his proposals would avoid jeopardising the recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the political debate over economic direction intensified, the Government also moved to highlight progress on public safety in Auckland\u2019s CBD. Auckland Minister Simeon Brown announced new move\u2011on powers<\/strong> for Police, calling them \u201can important tool to address antisocial behaviour that makes people feel unsafe.\u201d Brown said the measures build on the city centre action plan, noting reductions in crime victimisations and 146 people placed into housing since November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAuckland\u2019s city centre is a vital part of New Zealand\u2019s economy,\u201d Brown said, adding that improved lighting, CCTV upgrades, and a stronger Police presence are helping restore confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The contrasting messages \u2014 Labour\u2019s focus on affordability and opportunity, National\u2019s warnings about economic risk, and the Government\u2019s emphasis on CBD safety \u2014 signal an election year where competing visions for New Zealand\u2019s future are already sharply defined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Labour leader Chris Hipkins has used his State of the Nation speech to argue New Zealand is losing ground on living costs, productivity, and climate resilience, warning that \u201cpeople are working harder than ever and falling further behind.\u201d Speaking to the Auckland Business Chamber, he said nearly 240,000 New Zealanders have left the country in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[226,223,113,541],"coauthors":[361],"class_list":{"0":"post-10254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-chris-hipkins","9":"tag-election","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-nicola-willis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10254"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10293,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10254\/revisions\/10293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10254"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=10254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}