Summarised by Centrist
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has launched his first major election policy, a “Future Fund” to grow the economy and fund infrastructure without new taxes.
But critics say the “pro-growth” plan lacks detail and smacks of election-year wishful thinking.
Hipkins, joined by finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds, said the fund would invest in New Zealand startups and infrastructure, helping the country “build and pay its bills” without relying on higher taxes.
Edmonds said the fund would begin with a one-off $200 million contribution and the transfer of some state or part-owned assets. Hipkins declined to say whether that meant companies like TVNZ, KiwiRail, or Air New Zealand.
Labour has likened its proposed Future Fund to Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, created in 1974 with a starting portfolio of about S$354 million. Over the next fifty years, Temasek grew into a global investment giant worth around S$484 billion (about NZ$600 billion). It is often cited as a model of long-term, state-led wealth building, though its success came over decades and under very different economic conditions.
National called the proposal “twelve pages of total fluff” and “a total joke.” ACT labelled it a “boondoggle,” citing past green investment misfires. NZ First’s Winston Peters claimed the idea as his own and mocked Labour’s version as a “Temu mail order rip off.” The absence of a public asset list and full costings fed the line that Labour is “all slogans, no substance.”
