Worse though is that they now have the temerity to question National about uncosted policies.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins admits his party’s Auckland light rail and KiwiBuild policies were “undeliverable” when proposed ahead of the 2017 election.
Hipkins, speaking to Newstalk ZB this morning, made the concession amid his reflections on the 2023 election campaign in which he believed Labour struggled to resonate with voters who had “decided it was time for a change”.
The Remutaka MP joined ZB host Kerre Woodham for an hour of discussion and talkback.
Woodham pressed Hipkins on Labour’s woeful result in the last election, receiving less than 27 per cent of the vote.
Hipkins accepted now was the time to rebuild and assess whether the policies Labour took to the election needed to be revised.
Woodham questioned whether Labour’s inability to implement some of its policies during its six years in government was a primary contributor to the party’s demise.
Hipkins then admitted not all of Labour policies as proposed ahead of the 2017 election were deliverable.
“You can’t always come in with delivery-ready policies in the way that I think we thought you could,” he said.
“Auckland light rail and KiwiBuild were massive commitments, and the reality is they were too ambitious to do from Opposition. We shouldn’t have gone into the campaign promising those two things.”
NZ Herald
What an absolute cheek to admit this now. Labour spent more than $228 million on Auckland’s “undeliverable” light rail project!
“After six years and over $228 million spent on the project, not a single metre of track has been delivered and congestion has only worsened in the city.”
NZ Herald
Not even a single millimetre of track was laid and those clowns promised it would be built and completed in four years. They are liars and scoundrels.
The Labour Government allocated over $2 billion in spending for Kiwibuild. Two Billion Dollars! Two Billion Dollars for something that was “undeliverable”.
They blew the lot and delivered just 2229 homes out of the 60,000 promised to be delivered in six years, or 100,000 homes promised in ten years.
They were duplicitous in the extreme and profligate wastrels with the public purse. Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins oversaw all of this. They should be tarred and feathered, then run out of town on a rail.
It is almost criminal what they did.
They have no shame either about it. If Hipkins had any integrity he’d resign, just for this.
Trust Labour ever again? Not bloody likely.
Cam Slater is a New Zealand-based blogger, best known for his role in Dirty Politics and publishing the Whale Oil Beef Hooked blog, which operated from 2005 until it closed in 2019. Cam blogs regularly on the BFD - where this article was sourced.
5 comments:
Labour were barking up the wrong tree. It was clear right from the start and from thier policy announcements that their pie in the sky to do list was going to be unachievable. Painful and pitful to watch but also infuriating knowing that ourhard earned dollar was being passed against the wall and just for the sake of their inflated sense of self worth. What a crying shame. Why did it have to happen. NZ was such a nice place pre 2017 for a few short years. And there was one man pretty much responsible forall of that to have happened. Be aware of false prophets.
And we continue to PAY them?
Surely it is criminal, what they did.
and why can't we pay the police and other essential deserving services properly ?
The numbers above by Cam are tiny compared with things like the $1.9 Bn on mental health, COVID messages etc with absolutely zip to show for it.
Don't blame this Coalition - shaft it right back to Ardern, Robertson et al that frivolously wasted it.
And never let them near a Budget again.
Agree cam, we are just far too nice to the incompetent left, they need to pay for what they have done to this country.
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