Chris Hipkins

Because we had a stool last year, and actually we found that the best engagement we got was when we were around about walking around.

So having people standing behind a table waiting for people to come to you isn't the best way of getting engagement at field days. I think that's just more reflection of the fact that no one wanted to be beside the Act Party.

I think there's some real questions around that because uh not honouring our Paris Agreements uh obligations potentially actually has an impact on trade. So if you look at the European Union free trade agreement, our export industries, our farmers have really benefited from that. Not hitting our Paris Agreement uh obligations potentially compromises that. So we've got to hear a bit more from the government about okay, if they're not going to hit those targets and they're not going to buy international credits, how exactly are they going to meet the commitments that we've made internationally so that our export industries don't suffer because of our failure to do that?

Well, no, it's actually been very widely received. And the big public transport issue in rural communities is school buses. And so we've got more coming on school buses. That what the current government are doing around school buses is making a hell of a mess of it. And I think a lot of rural communities are really upset about that because getting their kids to and from school safely using school buses is incredibly important to our rural communities, and the current government are messing around with that. So my reassurance to our rural communities will be we see you and we hear you on that issue. We've got to fix the school buses.

Every three years, the government has to set out its priorities for that fund. A new GPS government policy statement is due at the end of this year. The officials then go away and work out how to fit all of the government's priorities within that fund. So this is a process that happens anyway, every every three years anyway. We're saying that one of our priorities is going to be public transport fare caps. And then, of course, everything else gets you know reassessed against that. That includes the phasing and sequencing of big roading projects.

The cost of living is by far the number one issue that New Zealanders are raising with us. They're working hard, they're playing by the rules, they're doing everything right, and yet they feel like they're going backwards. Public transport fare caps will allow them to keep more of their own money so that they can actually make more progress.

And it's actually really, I find as a politician it's also quite hard to talk.

We did agree that we would run a different process should he decide to pursue a candidacy, which is not for him to go through the full process. We're asked to show up to all the regional meetings and so on. So we would have a much shorter process for him uh that basically kicked off last week and really kicked off on Saturday when he met with the committee putting together the list. He didn't go through the other process because you know we've got to recognise when someone someone steps out of a role like this, you do have to preserve the independence. Fair enough.

Well, look, I think members of parliament are in a unique role. When people put their hands up to be members of parliament in many cases. So you're special. When someone puts their hand up to be an MP, it closes off a lot of future potential job opportunities for them. So for many people, when they put their hands up to BNPs, it will be the last job that they do.

He didn't go through the full candidate selection process because we were very mindful uh when he when we first had an informal conversation with him that if he was going to put his name forward, uh, we would need to work hard to protect the political neutrality of the police. And so he went through a very shortened process.

Uh my superannuation, uh the contributions that I make to my superannuation. Um I've used to purchase a family batch uh when my parents decided that they wanted to take their money out of it. It's as simple as that. Um it is ultimately my superannuation money that I have contributed into that scheme. So uh I I think there's a that's that's a bit misleading what you've just claimed there.

I have been very clear that under Labour, New Zealand will not be part of AUKUS, which is the nuclear-powered submarine pact that Australia's entered into, and we will not be changing our nuclear-free stance. Chris Pink has basically said out loud what this government have been thinking, which is if Australia gets nuclear submarines, they'll change the New Zealand's law so that those nuclear submarines can visit New Zealand. That's a complete violation of what has been a long-standing, very principled nuclear-free policy by New Zealand. Under Labour, that will not change.