Chris Hipkins needs to call a snap election

• Author: COMMENT Richard Prebble Richard Prebble is a former leader of the Act Party and a former member of the Labour Party.
• Published date: 26 January 2023
• Publication title: Daily Post, The (Rotorua, New Zealand)

New leaders usually get a bounce in the polls. I would expect Hipkins to get a bounce

The reason he has to go early is because he does not have a mandate to change policies.

If he has solutions for crime, the cost of living, the failing health system and the unworkability of co-governance he needs to set them out and then seek a mandate for this new direction.

National would be wise not to underestimate Hipkins.

Hipkins says the reason he is able to get things done is because he knows politics. He has not just been an MP since 2008 and then a minister but before that he worked in the Beehive for Trevor Mallard and then Helen Clark.

Hipkins says this has given him an advantage over MPs who have come into Parliament from a different career.

It is my own observation that what Hipkins says is true. It is claimed any complex skill takes 10,000 hours of practice to master. Politics is the ultimate complex task. It requires at least 10 years of practice to master.

Hipkins is a proven campaigner. He has massively increased his majority. He knows how to portray himself as an ordinary Kiwi. “It’s a big day for a boy from the Hutt.”

But also, Hipkins is Mallard-trained and he has a ruthless streak.

Jacinda Ardern would never claim three women were sex workers and had used false information to leave the Auckland lockdown. Hipkins has never apologised.

My advice to Hipkins is being Prime Minister does require him to be prime ministerial. Leave the civilians alone. Never personally attack people outside of politics. Politics is a bear pit.

Hipkins is about to take full advantage of National leader Christopher Luxon’s struggle to explain why he is in politics. Hipkins is about to define Luxon. The latter needs to rapidly lift his game and explain clearly what he is for and — just as important — what he is against.

Hipkins is going to have no difficulty in doing just that.

I hope Hipkins — who apparently was tipped off by Ardern before Christmas — has taken time to reflect. The best politics is results.

Hipkins was a vigorous minister in charge of the COVID response but with a bit more...