Chris Hipkins delivers his first major election pitch of the year.

It is a yearly tradition for leaders to appear in front of some of the country’s foremost business figures. This time it was Labour’s turn. 

There were a few key themes: the brain drain of young Kiwis going overseas, affordability, climate change, and the promise of a ‘more focused’ Labour. 

Hipkins fixated heavily on worrying about the future for young people and how to fix it. 

“Like many of you, I have kids whose futures keep me up at night … I see young New Zealanders - smart, hardworking, full of potential - making calculations that no young person should have to do.”

“We can choose a country where young people build their futures here. Or three more years of watching 2,000 New Zealanders leave every single week.”

He also named affordability as his number one priority, and said it will be ‘at the heart of all decisions that I make as Prime Minister.’

Hipkins focused on three key areas - which are the party’s ‘foundations’ for its campaign - jobs, health and homes. 

This refreshed focus on the economy comes after what appears to be some soul-searching by the party following its loss in 2023 and a highly charged last term. 

“I know Labour didn’t get everything right last time - and some of you don’t hold back in telling me. We tried to do too much, too fast, and we lost our focus.”

There was no movement in terms of policy announcements, but he did remind the audience of the party's existing promises - three free doctor's visits, a targeted capital gains tax, and the ‘New Zealand Future Fund’ for business investment. 

However, he did promise two things that are of interest recently. He said if Labour were in power before the deal to get an LNG import terminal into Taranaki, they would stop it. 

“The Government's proposed gas import terminal is exactly the wrong call. It will add costs to every power bill in this country for decades to come.”

Along with that, Hipkins also pledged not to add a toll to Auckland’s Harbour Bridge to pay for a new crossing. He said they support a second route, but "won’t penalise people using the one that already exists."

Aside from those two pieces, it seems the party is holding off on any policy announcements, saying they would be ‘later in the year’.

National has already taken full advantage of that. Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis claimed afterwards that the opposition is ‘devoid of any new ideas’ and the speech was ‘just a lot of words that amount to nothing.’

However, both parties have some work to do. The latest 1News Verian Poll showed both of them declining, National by two points to 34%, and Labour by three to 32%. 

Hipkins and National’s Christopher Luxon were neck-and-neck in the preferred Prime Minister rankings at 20% apiece.