There are few “grown-up” moments between National and Labour in recent political history other than the 2021 bipartisan housing accord. But as political editor Jo Moir writes, it only took a whiff of a tightly contested election to unravel it.
Comment: Political parties love nothing more than to rain on their competition's parade.
National backing out of the bipartisan housing accord policy on the morning of Chris Hipkins’ speech to the Labour congress is no better or worse than Grant Robertson releasing the details of a fiscal hole in National’s election policy on the morning of its campaign launch in 2020.
Politicians get a big kick out of spoiling each other’s best-laid plans, and rest assured when National holds its election-year party conference at the end of June, Labour will have been busy in the kitchen cooking up some of its own revenge pie.
READ MORE: * Labour goes negative on National-ACT * Hipkins digs deep
On Sunday, Housing Minister Megan Woods was positioning herself as the only adult left in the room after teaming up with then-housing spokesperson Nicola Willis and then-leader Judith Collins to sign the 2021 accord.
The housing policy, designed to make up a shortfall of more than 100,000 homes and get the younger generation access to the market, would force councils to allow developers to build three-storey dwellings on all residential land in the main cities.
National is now proposing councils be able to opt out of that and instead choose to increase housing by building on farmland – called greenfield sites – in a move that would lead to city sprawl and more costly infrastructure.
To get National back at the table, Woods penned a letter to Willis, who wrote some of the original clauses in the policy, asking for a meeting to talk through the problems National now has with it.
That letter also went to leader Chris Luxon and new housing spokesperson Chris Bishop, who announced the change of heart on Q+A on Sunday morning after Luxon hinted it was coming during a public meeting in Auckland on Wednesday.
“We’re more than willing to come back to the table to have a discussion – we had a grown-up moment in New Zealand politics when we came to a bipartisan agreement around housing policy,” Woods told media on Sunday afternoon.
It means Labour’s now willing to make changes to the accord to get National across the line, but Hipkins wouldn’t be drawn on what that might look like until he’s had time to understand what is being proposed.
He said Labour had worked hard with National to “take some of the politics out of it” and if there are concerns, he’s happy to work with the Opposition to address them.
The time for adults from opposing sides sitting down and working together on a housing fix is apparently over.
Hipkins says the housing fix only works if it’s cross-party, because developers need certainty across different governments that they can push ahead with a stable regulatory environment for building new houses.
The unspoken problem in all that is National and Labour aren’t the only parties who make up governments and ACT voted against the legislation at the time and continues to oppose three-storey residential dwellings.
ACT has been stirring up support, particularly in Auckland, with those homeowners furious at the idea they’ll lose control of what can be built around them because of enforcement at a central government level.
It’s a vote-winner and National knows it is bleeding support from one of its voter bases in an election year where everything is up for play.
It’s classic election-year flip-flopping as political parties try to work out where the few extra votes are to snatch up.
Only six weeks ago Bishop was saying National still supported the housing accord, raising the question of whether the issue has become so loud in focus groups and community meetings it has pushed the party to respond.
It certainly had the desired effect of shifting Labour to talking about housing on Sunday rather than its own policy announcement.
Hipkins was in his comfort zone making permanent an apprenticeship boost that is already popular since it was introduced during the Covid pandemic.
It was the first real test for the new leader on a stage that Jacinda Ardern had always felt at home.
There were plenty of nods to her and the policies implemented in her time as leader, as well as former prime ministers, with Helen Clark receiving the biggest applause.
Hipkins showed a little bit more of his own personality in a speech he was still editing an hour before delivering.
In an attempt to look more statesman, it was a speech much more focused on policy and delivery and lacking the usual self-deprecation and humour that comes so naturally to Hipkins when speaking in public.
His announcement to continue the $500 a month payment to employers who take on apprentices for two years won’t get any real pushback or criticism from anyone.
But the future of housing stock and the impact any changes will have on both access and prices in the future is a much bigger concern for more people.
Much like Saturday where Labour deliberately announced it would keep the superannuation age at 65 to start a war of words with National, which plans to raise it to 67, this election race is increasingly becoming about the differences between the two parties rather than any common ground.
That was abundantly clear when Bishop told Newsroom on Sunday evening that National had laid out its housing policy and Labour was welcome to adopt any or all the changes. There was no intention to meet or even reply to Woods.
The time for adults from opposing sides sitting down and working together on a housing fix is apparently over.
