John MacDonald: This was Hipkins' chance to sell the sizzle

Chris Hipkins spent two hours with Mike Hosking this morning and did nothing to convince me to vote Labour.

He’s had a political week from hell. Just when he probably thought Labour’s gang connections were so 2023, MPs and candidates from Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori have been caught hanging out with gang members during the current campaign.

Mike asked him if it had blown his chances. Not surprisingly, he said it hadn’t, saying he had handled the situation “decisively”.

He would say that, of course. But I agree with him. Sort of.

I don’t think it’s going to be enough to put people off voting Labour if they had already been thinking of voting for Labour.

But anyone undecided may be thinking twice. Especially given the defiant way the Greens and Te Pāti Māori have dealt with it. And given the reputation Labour had last time it was in Government, rightly or wrongly, that it was sympathetic to gangs.

Which is why the biggest job for Chris Hipkins is to convince voters that Labour is worth another shot.

Hipkins said this morning that it is. Because he’s not going to over-promise, acknowledging that that’s what Labour did last term, and isn’t going to bite off more than the party can chew.

And good on him for admitting that. I also think that’s something every Government can be accused of.

But that, right there, is also the problem with Chris Hipkins and Labour this election.

It’s not selling the sizzle.

None of the parties are, to be fair. But this morning was Chris Hipkins’ chance to do it. But all he told us was that his top priority, if he forms the next Government, is to stay on top of the workload.

Would you ever have heard that kind of talk from Barack Obama or John F. Kennedy? Or, even, David Lange?

He was never going to get away with Covid not coming up for discussion. He said he had fully co-operated with the inquiry into the Covid response.

Saying several times that he did actually turn up to the inquiry. It’s just that the cameras weren’t necessarily there.

And he said he didn’t think he could have done any more. Yes, he did.

The question now, though, is whether Hipkins has done enough to convince you that Labour is worth your vote.

He hasn’t convinced me. What about you?

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