BLAMING IT ALL ON CHRIS HIPKINS

The decision of Chris Hipkins to rule out both a wealth tax and a capital gains tax maintains the position of his predecessor. So why the outrage from the Labour left? Perhaps it's a way of avoiding some uncomfortable truths about the Labour Party.

IT IS CURIOUS that some of Labour's more liberal supporters are aghast that leader Chris Hipkins has ruled out both a capital gains tax and a wealth tax, even though he is simply maintaining the position laid down by his predecessor. 

Shortly before the 2020 election Jacinda Ardern ruled out the wealth tax being campaigned for by the Green Party:

'I have made my position and the Labour Party position absolutely clear. We have ruled it out. This is not up for discussion. It's not in play. There is no need for the hypothetical. It won't happen...I won't allow it to happen while I am Prime Minister.'

In April 2019 Ardern also rejected the Tax Working Group’s recommendation for a capital gains tax. 

The response of Labour supporters to Arden's announcements was certainly not as vociferously negative as the response to the so-called 'captain's call' of Chris Hipkins. Indeed, support for Ardern carried on apace. And the Green's managed to 'overcome' its dispute with Ardern and proceed to signing an electoral agreement with Labour, with its co-leaders made ministers outside of cabinet. 

In contrast Hipkins is being accused of selling out. This is in despite of Hipkins, like Ardern, also being a determinedly cautious and centrist politician. Perhaps that why Ardern reportedly shoulder-tapped him to be her replacement; she recognised that he would not rock the boat.

Nevertheless, an admirer of Jacinda Ardern like commentator Chris Trotter has not been slow to criticise Hipkins:

'Labour will go into the election with very few achievements to boast of, and with next to no policies bold enough to persuade the electorate to overlook its many failures. Hipkins’ refusal to risk his own and his party’s future on a policy platform that would’ve helped to make New Zealand a fairer and more hopeful country, coupled with his refusal to let the Greens and Te Pati Maori make the same promises with any credibility, have made the victory of fear and greed a near certainty.'

Trotter's view though is restrained compared to that of The Daily Blog editor Martyn Bradbury, another admirer of Jacinda Ardern. Bizarrely, he has suggested that the future of the Labour left lies in supporting the anti-left John Tamihere of the Maori Party. Bradbury once said that the Labour left's future lay with Kim Dotcom's Internet Party. His late conversion to the cause of Tamihere and the Maori Party bears the hallmarks of yet another failure.

Perhaps focusing on the political transgressions of Chris Hipkins avoids Labour supporters having to finally admit that the Labour Party, as a vehicle for progressive economic policies, is a spent force. It's been this way for over three decades but, even now, diehard Labour supporters prefer taking the big stick to its leader rather than confront the truth about the Labour Party.