Summarised by Centrist
Bryce Edwards argues Labour’s 2025 conference real headline act was finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds, not Chris Hipkins.
Delegates were repeatedly told, “We can’t say yes to everything.” Edwards says this is Labour managing expectations “downward at industrial scale”.
Commentators agree the shift is unmistakable. Luke Malpass noted Edmonds pledged to grow the economy rather than redistribute it, which Edwards describes as “a conservative talking point dressed in a red rosette”.
Bernard Hickey says Labour has adopted a “low target strategy”. Hickey argues the numbers do not add up. Restoring pay equity and meeting climate obligations could cost “at least fifteen billion dollars” before Labour does anything else, yet the party refuses to lift taxes or debt.
What Labour avoided saying was equally telling. Tim Murphy notes Hipkins’ main speech contained nothing on climate change, nothing on Te Tiriti, nothing on child poverty, nothing on law and order.
The new pitch is deliberately narrow: “jobs, health, homes”. Hipkins sidestepped questions on Māori sovereignty by reframing it as universal “self-determination”, a move Murphy calls dilution by definition.
Edwards says Labour can diagnose what is wrong with the country, but has no appetite for the solutions that would fix it. “The economy is not working. Jobs do not pay enough. Everything is too expensive.”
Labour blames regulatory capture and corporate influence, but offers no structural plan beyond modest, targeted tweaks.
The merchandise summed it up. Delegates waved tea towels featuring Savage and Lange, not Jacinda Ardern.
