New Zealand PM warns of ‘missed opportunity’ for trans-Tasman relations

Nine months after Ms Ardern’s shock resignation, her replacement and his centre-left Labour government are facing defeat at Saturday’s election. Thousands of voters are expected to vent their frustrations over a cost-of-living crisis, languishing infrastructure and increased crime.

Former Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon’s centre-right National Party are in the box seat, though polls suggest it is increasingly likely they will need support from more conservative minor parties to form government.

While Mr Luxon has shown a keen interest in accepting money from China’s Belt and Road Initiative to bankroll part of a promised $NZ24 billion ($22.5 billion) infrastructure spend, Mr Hipkins said that wasn’t in New Zealand’s long-term interest.

Mr Hipkins said working with Mr Albanese in a Labour-Labor tandem was a rare opportunity, and if re-elected at the weekend would prioritise more military, naval and airforce interoperability between the two countries, as well as improving international travel.

“I do think international travel is probably the low-hanging fruit there; how can we make the border as seamless an experience as possible,” he said.

“I certainly think we can keep the momentum going if there is a continuation of the Labour government.”

He added that a Labour government would want to work with Australia to synchronise regulatory frameworks for businesses on either side of the Tasman.

Despite polls showing Labour’s primary party at under 28 per cent, Mr Hipkins said the National campaign was faltering in the final straight, and predicted a closer result than expected.

“I think the election is going to be a very different result to the one that people might have been anticipating a week ago,” he said, before referencing Paul Keating’s shock, come-from-behind victory in 1993.

While cost of living issues have dominated the election campaign, conservative parties have also tapped into voter concerns with the Ardern-Hipkins government’s co-governance reforms, which have given Maori people more representation on boards for key government services.

ACT party and its libertarian leader David Seymour, as well as New Zealand First’s Winston Peters, have garnered support by promising to wind back what they say is a divisive, two-tiered and elite system that prioritises Maori people.

Asked whether he saw any similarities between the New Zealand campaign against co-governance and opposition to Australia’s Voice referendum, Mr Hipkins said the Australian reforms weren’t at all radical.

“I’m always very reluctant to comment on this issue because it is a question for Australians, but what strikes me about the Australian debate around the Voice is just how moderate the commitments that are on the table are,” he said.

“I think those who use race in an attempt to divide people really need to take a long hard look at themselves.”

He said the reforms proposed under the Voice were modest, and “not particularly radical”. “They’re hardly revolutionary,” he said.

Mr Hipkins also all but ruled out New Zealand from joining the AUKUS alliance, and also pointed out it had received no invitation anyway.

He questioned what his country could draw from AUKUS that it wasn’t getting from its Five Eyes partnership with Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.