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Election 2023: Labour heavyweights endorse Chris Hipkins staying on as leader
Senior Labour MPs Willie Jackson and Megan Woods are getting in behind leader Chris Hipkins as the party regroups after a shattering election defeat.
The preliminary election results showed its share of the vote had collapsed to just under 27 percent – with brutal consequences for Labour’s caucus.
Twenty-one of the party’s MPs lost their jobs on Saturday night – including former ministers Michael Wood and Nanaia Mahuta, who had been in parliament for 27 years.
The Hauraki-Waikato electorate was one of 27 the party lost on Saturday – including Labour strongholds Mount Roskill, New Lynn and West Coast-Tasman.
All 14 of the safe National seats Labour flipped red in 2020 have gone back blue.
Hipkins told supporters on Saturday that when the tide came in, it was in a big way but the reverse also applied.
Speaking to media after his address, the emotional leader refused to speculate on what the future held for him. “That’s a question for another day,” he said.
However, senior MPs including Jackson and campaign manager Woods expressed the hope on Monday that he would stay on.
“We’ve gotta find out what Chippy wants to do, and hopefully he wants to stay,” Jackson said.
Woods said the leadership decision had not yet come up but constitutionally the party would need to vote on the leadership within the next three months.
“But I have no doubt in my mind that Chris will get that confidence vote.
“Everybody thinks Chris did a fantastic job. There’s no question about the fact people have faith in Chris.”
Chris Hipkins retains the confidence of his MPs, Megan Woods says. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Carmel Sepuloni, who was deputy prime minister in the last government, said the caucus would need to sit down and “regroup and reset”.
Asked if she was feeling optimistic about the chances of Hipkins staying on as leader, she replied in the affirmative but said: “That will be a decision for Chris”.
Former Education minister Jan Tinetti said there was a process to be followed, including farewelling some members and it was too soon to be thinking of the leadership.
She said “hand on heart” she had not heard any whispers of other candidates putting themselves forward for the leadership.
Asked if anyone blamed Hipkins for the party’s poor results, she said every message she had seen since Saturday night was congratulating him for the way he performed during the election campaign.
Tinetti added stability was important for the party at present as members adjusted to playing their part in the opposition.
Jan Tinetti says the party needs stability. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
However, another former minister David Parker did not want to comment on Hipkins’ leadership or his own future when he arrived in Wellington today.
“We’ve now got a process to go through … We’re still in the business of governing as a caretaker government at the moment and we’ll do that dutifully. We won’t take any contentious decisions but in the weeks to come we’ll see what has to be done.”
He said he has left Hipkins a telephone message but has not managed to speak to him.
Labour’s outgoing MP for Ilam Sarah Pallett told RNZ on Sunday it was too early to say if Hipkins would continue in his role.
Pallett lost her seat in Christchurch’s Ilam electorate to National Party’s Hamish Campbell by 7847 votes.
“It’s far too early for me to have taken part in any of those conversations.
“I think we’re all just dealing with our own individual news. I’m not thinking about the the bigger future right now for the party is not on my radar at the moment.”
VIA RNZ
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
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