TL;DR: Chris Hipkins was voted back in as Labour leader by his caucus yesterday after he told them he wanted a ‘clean slate’ on the issue of a wealth tax for the party to take into the next election.
But can Hipkins, who ruled out a wealth tax “under a Government that I lead” credibly argue to an electorate, let alone his own caucus, that he is committed to such a tax? His caucus will repeatedly ask itself that question for the next three years, if they choose to keep him that long.
Elsewhere in the news this morning:
The Electoral Commission last night confirmed an NZ Herald article that hundreds of votes were wrongly allocated to the Leighton Baker Party and the New Conservatives Party from two booths in Pukekohe and Ilam, but the numbers didn’t change the result; Electoral Commission statement
A quirk of our constitutional arrangements that mean PM Chris Hipkins may have to be sworn in again briefly as Prime Minister if recounts delay the ‘returning of the writ’ from the election beyond this Friday; and, (Newshub, Graeme Edgeler)
PR firm Senate SHJ, which has clients throughout corporate New Zealand, worked inside the Commerce Commission on contract, RNZ’s Guyon Espiner reported yesterday.
Paying subscribers can see more detail below the paywall fold and hear more of my analysis in the podcast above.
The story ended. Now the ‘ender’ eyes a clean slate. Really?
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