National’s Nicola Willis doesn’t want to be “drawn into the silliness” of responding to last night’s 1News poll, while Labour’s Chris Hipkins says the result shows voters reacting to a “litany of chaos” from the Government.
On last night’s numbers, the coalition Government would be out and Labour — supported by the Greens and Te Pāti Māori — would be able to form their own coalition.
MPs were asked about their reaction to the result this morning.
National deputy leader and Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she was “very relaxed” about the poll result while refusing to comment on her party’s internal polling.
“You may be driven by what the poll last night said, but we are driven by New Zealand’s future. That’s what New Zealanders want us to be focused on,” she told media.
“I’m just not going to be drawn into this silliness, frankly, two-and-a-half years out from an election.”
Speaking on his way into Parliament, senior minister Chris Bishop said he was “not too fussed about it, to be honest”.
“Polls go up and down, we’re working hard, we’re making tough decisions in the national interest, got to get this country back on track.”
He later added: “People are getting a bit excited about this. It’s basically very similar to the election result. MMP elections are always close in New Zealand.”
Labour up despite operating ‘below the radar’ – Hipkins
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty said he was “surprised” at the poll result.
“It’s never happened before. It came as a surprise, we’ve gotta be honest,” he said.
“We’ve been out. We’ve been busy. Chippy has been talking about the things that matter — as all of us have been — but I was surprised to see the Government fall like they did.”
Meanwhile, Labour MP and the party’s former campaign chairperson Megan Woods claimed the result was “consistent with what we’re seeing in our own polling”.
Opposition leader Chris Hipkins said it showed New Zealanders were “dissatisfied” by the “day-to-day litany of chaos” despite Labour operating a “bit below the radar”.
“I think it’s a reflection that New Zealanders are dissatisfied by this Government,” he said.
“The change they’re getting is not the change that they were promised. What we’ve seen from this Government is just the day-to-day litany of chaos.”
Hipkins said Labour had been “a bit below the radar, if you like, on the ground just getting out and about and meeting people” after last year’s shattering election defeat.
“I’m being very realistic about this poll. It is a snapshot in time, and as I’ve said this morning, repeatedly. There’s two-and-a-half years to go, and we have a lot of work to do.”
Govt MPs draw attention to economy
ACT leader David Seymour said the Government was working hard to fix the economy and deal with law and order. It wouldn’t, he said, be an easy fix.
“What we’re doing here is getting back to work so we can start fixing the economy.
“I suspect people are very frustrated with the amount of economic pain out there, but our job is to fix that.”
Seymour said he, National’s Christopher Luxon and NZ First’s Winston Peters were united.
“The bad news for our opponents is we are dangerously collegial and united.”
Fixing the economy was echoed in the comments of other MPs.
“I’m really focused on the economy. That’s why we’re here,” Climate Change Minister Simon Watts said.
“And as a new Cabinet minister [I’m] focused on obviously getting our climate agenda in the right direction … absolutely focused around the economy, getting inflation back down, getting us back up on our feet.
“We are in a difficult place, we need to focus and that’s what I’m focused on.”
Penny Simmonds — who last week was one of two National MPs to have a ministerial portfolio taken away — also cited the economy.
“It’s really tough out there, it’s tough for the farmers down my way, and I think [the poll result] reflects that. We knew it was going take quite a while to turn things around.”
Former National Party leader Sir John Key also attributed the weaker polling numbers to the economy.
He told 1News the party’s slump in the polls “just reflects that the economy’s quite tough at the moment”.
“I think a lot of New Zealanders are feeling the pressure and I think that all this plays out in the polls when the economy’s feeling vulnerable,” Sir John said.
Despite the shaky polling numbers, Sir John remained confident in the current National leader.
“I think he’s doing a good job. I think he’s got the right amount of empathy — he understands the issues, but he also knows that change has to take place.
“It’s a delicate balancing position but he’s navigating that well.”