‘Borderline homeless’: Labour voter challenges Hipkins over jobs

At Wesley Market, where shoppers can buy coriander for $1 or $2 a bunch and three cucumbers for $5, Chris Hipkins heard first-hand how hard the job market had become.

The Labour leader was on a campaign walkabout in the Mt Albert electorate this morning, flanked by supporters, security and local MP Helen White, who is in a neck-and-neck race to retain the seat.

Thara Jaelene-Carpio told Hipkins she and her partner had been made redundant and she had twice withdrawn money from her KiwiSaver account to keep paying rent.

“It took me six months to find just a part-time job,” she told Hipkins.

“What will you guys do for someone like me? Because I also live with my partner and he got made redundant in May as well.”

Hipkins nodded furiously and asked what she did for work.

She said she worked in retail and was studying social media marketing as well.

“Obviously it’s been such a struggle,” she said. “And I really want to buy a house one day.”

Hipkins said he wanted to get the labour market “moving again” and rattled off a list of policies his party was promising to deal with the cost of living, from cheaper public transport to cheaper doctor’s visits.

“We’ve lost about 48,000 jobs over the last three years, so we want to get the economy moving, so we’re creating jobs again.”

• Watch: Labour to require NZTA to potentially give up spare land for petrol stations
• National attack ads against Labour use crime footage from Government's own term
• Labour wants independent education body to oversee curriculum, assessment
• Chris Hipkins says Labour will outlaw price gouging if elected

Jaelene-Carpio said she’d applied for over 100 jobs and barely had any interviews until she got her current part-time role.

“I’m just very lucky to even have had that interview and got that job, I literally had to take what I could.

“My partner is still struggling to find a job and even just full-time, just anything, even customer service. I’ve been in retail for like, you know, 9 years, that’s all I know.”

She told the Herald she lost her job in February and it took her until September to get her role.

She and her partner had worked as store managers, but she said retail was now a tough sector.

She received accommodation support, but it didn’t cover half her rent.

“Even when my partner was working, he was only getting like $45 as extra help, we were like borderline homeless at that point.”

Asked how she felt the retail sector was going, she said it was “looking pretty sad out there”.

“I work in the city now, it’s a little bit reassuring to see these businesses are starting to pick up now, with half the roadworks gone and the CRL.

“It’s pretty cool but I definitely think it’s going to take a lot for it to pick back up, to get moving.”

Asked why she stopped Hipkins, she said she wanted to hear his thoughts in person.

Did Hipkins’ response reassure her?

“Yeah, no, well a lot more than the other side.”

Although her family had always voted Labour, Jaelene-Carpio said she was leaning towards the Greens this election.

White held the Mt Albert electorate – once a Labour stronghold – by just 18 votes at the 2023 election. It looks to be close again, but Hipkins and White were confident they’ll retain the seat.

“I think this is a really important race, and I am very hopeful, but obviously I’m taking nothing for granted,” White told media.

“You can see this amazing place,” she added, pointing at the markets.

“It needs someone who’s their local champion.”

Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong is also standing in Mt Albert.

A recent Spinoff/Curia poll had Wong fourth, behind White, National’s Melissa Lee and the Greens Ricardo Menendez-March.

“It was the first time I’d seen it, and I would have thought she was 3rd, but she was actually 4th,” White said.

“So, obviously, it’s more about the split of that vote than it is, about anything else. She seems a very nice woman, but I’ve lived in this place for 40 years, and I am a hardworking local MP and I want to represent this place.”

White said based on all polls, Opportunity would enter Parliament via the 5% threshold anyway.

Katie Bradford is a senior correspondent at the Herald. She has been a broadcast journalist for more than 20 years and was based in the press gallery for 10 years. She specialises in politics, business and Auckland issues.