Luxon snaps back at 'frickin' Hipkins over FamilyBoost
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has challenged Labour to front up with any policy at all as he comes under pressure over National's struggling childcare support scheme.
The comment was made after Labour revealed just 153 families had received the maximum FamilyBoost rebate - well short of National's pre-election promise that 21,000 families would be eligible for the full amount.
Speaking on his way into a caucus meeting this morning, Luxon rejected Labour's characterisation of the policy as a failure.
"I'm not taking any any lectures from frickin' Chris Hipkins or the Labour Party," he told reporters. "They have no idea what to do. They put us in this mess.
"You can stand on the other side and criticise as much as you like, but I don't see any policy from Labour."
Luxon said 60,000 families had received some support from the FamilyBoost policy and another 20,000 would soon be eligible due to recent tweaks to the eligibility settings.
"Isn't that great? We have put a programme in place which Labour didn't support, didn't vote, don't back, because they don't back low-and-middle-income working New Zealanders."
The former Labour government extended cheaper childcare to parents of two-year-olds, giving them access to 20 hours a week of free early childhood education.
On taking office, the coalition reversed that policy and instead rolled out its more targeted FamilyBoost scheme - a weekly rebate on childcare costs. 'Absolute flop'
Responding to Luxon's comments, Labour leader Chris Hipkins said National's refusal to admit the FamilyBoost scheme was "an absolute flop" showed it was completely out of touch.
"They're getting really desperate. On a daily basis, they're attacking me and attacking the Labour Party rather than talking about their own track record."
He defended Labour's lack of public policy, saying that would all be laid out in full before next year's general election.
"We're not even close to an election campaign at the moment," Hipkins said. "But unlike him, when we go into the election campaign next year, I will make sure that the policies that we have add up."
Labour wanted to see the government's next Budget before it outlined significant policies which would cost money, he said, and suggested a lot of policy work was under way in the background.
"The National Party desperately wants to talk about the Labour Party's policy at the moment because their own policies are turning into an absolute disaster zone."
National also came under criticism when it was in opposition for a paucity of policy heading into the 2023 election year, but it had released elements of its tax plan and several discussion documents indicating a direction of travel.
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But if Māori all went on the general roll, then National – and Labour, for that matter – would actually have to compete for the Māori vote to win. The then-named Eastern Māori seat went from the Bay of Plenty all the way around the East Coast and down to Wairarapa and Wellington. This area has one of the highest Māori populations in the country and the election campaigns in the general electorate seats would look completely different if all Māori went on the general roll. Mr Rowlands didn't say this but I don't think he'd disagree – the Māori seats are acting as a passive version of what Americans call gerrymandering. That is, Māori are being electorally contained – or at least split – and thereby robbed of their actual voting power by the Māori seats. The Māori vote has been ghettoised; every Māori who goes on the Māori roll is a Māori the candidates and the elected MPs in the general seats can ignore. And they do. Back to Auckland and the present day. 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Bishop and Labour's Infrastructure spokesperson, Kieran McAnulty, will later take the conference inside the in-depth discussions on cross-party collaboration taking place, which are critical to unlocking long-term infrastructure progress. On the international front, Tan will be tomorrow by followed by former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland Leo Varadkar, who will take the stage to talk on excellence in delivery and ensuring equitable outcomes. He is billed as bringing a global perspective on how governments can deliver major infrastructure projects that not only meet performance targets but also ensure fairness and equity for communities. Leo Varadkar, former Taoiseach of Ireland Varadkar served as Taoiseach from 2017 to 2020 and from 2022 to 2024. 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'We have developed long-term concept plans and master plans for the whole island, taking a 30-40 years' timeframe down to actionable five-year timeframes,' says Tan. 'The beauty is not in the planning but having a process that allows close co-ordination across government departments along with consultations with the private sector and civil society, to the final execution of these plans. This requires trust and confidence in the process, transparency and open communications, especially in land sales/allocation, bidding for projects and their evaluation.' Andrew Tan was formerly managing director with Temasek International; a global investment firm headquartered in Singapore. He joined as an operating partner in the Enterprise Development Group, and later as managing director of the new Strategy Office.' Singapore looks after its infrastructure. Photo / 123rf Prior to joining Temasek, Tan spent nearly three decades with the Singapore Administrative Service in senior positions across key agencies across defence and foreign affairs, environment and water resources and transport. He also served in the Prime Minister's Office as the principal private secretary to Senior Minister/Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. He later became CEO of the National Environment Agency and founding director of the Centre for Liveable Cities, He was also CEO of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA). These days he holds a number or private sector roles. Tan makes the point the bulk of the funding for basic infrastructure in Singapore comes from the Government's budget. 'Over the decades, the Government has been able to generate surpluses as well as maintain healthy reserves. This allows government agencies responsible for key infrastructure as public housing, transport, schools/universities and hospitals and other social facilities to be upkept,' he explains. 'It has been a central tenet of the Government not to allow any public infrastructure to deteriorate beyond its normal lifespan. It is a reflection of the state of the country and how well it is run. Further, the upgrading of existing infrastructure, such as public housing has led to their values rising over the years for homeowners.' Andrew Tan speaking in Auckland in 2023. It has been a central tenet of the Government not to allow any public infrastructure to deteriorate beyond its normal lifespan. Andrew Tan He says in recent years, the Singaporean Government has also undertaken several private-public sector projects on a design-build-own-operate basis (DBOO) as well as leveraged on bonds to finance major infrastructure projects such as transport network and public utilities, eg desalination water plants and waste-to-energy plants. Notably, as part of Singapore's climate change and green transition efforts, the public sector will take the lead to issue green bonds of up to S$35 billion of green bonds by 2030. This will serve as a reference for the corporate green bond market, deepen market liquidity as well as attract issuers, capital and investors for green financing. Tan adds, beyond public infrastructure, through the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme, land is also sold to the private sector for various development purposes. Rather than simply outright sales of land, the GLS allows the Government to shape the developments in line with its strategic objectives based on various planning parameters and built-in incentives. 'It has been used for urban renewal after our independence, later, positioning Singapore as a tourism hub, and business and financial hub in the 2000s, as well as heritage and conservation needs. This ensures that other than receiving revenues from land sales, land is optimised for the greater well-being of the country.' Through the Long-Term Planning Review (LTPR) led by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the Singapore Government engages the private sector and civil society to define the key features of how they envision Singapore in the future. In the recent review, for example, four themes emerged from public consultations - a Singapore that is Inclusive; Adaptable and Resilient; Sustainable, and Distinctive & Endearing. This feeds into the overall long-term strategies. Tan says the URA has also partnered community and business groups to support ground-up ideas for local precincts and neighbourhoods such as for mixed-use developments involving the Singapore River Precinct, Tanjong Pagar, Marina Central and Raffles Place to create more buzz and vibrancy. 'That said, private developers are always keen to provide inputs to the plans and the Government is equally open to new ideas while balancing the greater needs of society and reconciling short versus long-term gains. It is an ongoing, open-ended dialogue with all stakeholders. The enhancements to the Government Land Sales Programme is one such example of continuous feedback and improvement.'
