Week in Politics: Nash's resignation upsets Hipkins' family-friendly week

Analysis - Stuart Nash admits he "completely stuffed up" after losing the police portfolio in a debacle which Prime Minister Chris Hipkins didn't need.

The week began with Hipkins piling more policies on his bonfire as he helped pensioners and beneficiaries grapple with rising costs, and ended with the ignominious resignation of the police minister.

After ditching another tranche of policies to save $1 billion, which can be used to help ease the impact of the cost of living, the government should have sailed on through another family-friendly week.

That lasted until Wednesday, when then police minister Nash was interviewed by Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB.

In it, he criticised a judge's sentencing decision and revealed he phoned Police Commissioner Andrew Coster to discuss whether there should be an appeal, RNZ reported.

Nash's words were: "This bloke didn't have a licence, had illegal firearms, illegal ammunition… and got home detention. I think that was a terrible decision by the judge. I phoned up the police commissioner and said 'surely you're going to appeal this?'"

Most people would probably agree with Nash, but he had made two big mistakes: Ministers do not comment on judicial decisions and they certainly do not do anything that looks like interfering with the police.

Boasting about it on radio was really asking for trouble.

National and ACT went into outraged overdrive and before Parliament sat at 2pm, Nash had resigned.

Hipkins said Nash's comments were inappropriate, unwise and an error of judgment. He had accepted Nash's resignation and they had a brief conversation. Nash would keep his other portfolios of economic development, forestry, and oceans and fisheries.

Nash, a great-grandson of former prime minister Sir Walter Nash, is a law and order hardliner. He had been given the job as a counter to the strong campaigns National and ACT are running and their accusations that Labour is "soft on crime".

It seems to have been that very thing that got Nash into trouble.

"It really was a case of my tough-on-crime outrage is bigger than yours," said Stuff's political editor Luke Malpass.

"Stuart Nash's inglorious resignation delivers a very real warning about the danger of playing big-dick politics on law and order."

Malpass said Nash was not the only one doing it, and recalled ACT wanting the Defence Force called in to deal with crime and looting in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Newshub's political editor Jenna Lynch reported: "Beehive sources were in disbelief, saying the now former police minister had 'too much testosterone' and - brutally - that his actions were 'dumb as f…'."

Lynch said Nash loved the portfolio and she understood Hipkins thought that losing it was punishment enough.

Replacing Nash

Now Labour has lost its foremost law and order warrior, Hipkins must find a replacement.

He made Megan Woods acting police minister and is expected to announce a replacement for Nash next week.

Lynch suggested it could go to Kieran McAnulty, although he already had a lot to handle, or Andrew Little, who did not have any high-profile policies and police could be a good fit with his responsibility for the security agencies.

Opposition parties succeeded in calling a snap debate in Parliament, making numerous and noisy demands for Nash to be stripped of all his portfolios.

By the end of the week that had not happened and almost certainly would not, because it would look like Hipkins caving in to National and ACT.

Nash was not shy about admitting he had made a mistake.

"Absolutely, I completely stuffed up," he told RNZ when he landed in Gisborne on Thursday. "And you know what - if I was the prime minister I would have done exactly the same thing as our one did. I own it, made a mistake, and onwards and upwards."

He said Hipkins had made it very clear to him "if I stuff up like this again then I'm gone".

The Nash affair would not have any lasting impact - he is hardly the first minister to lose a portfolio because of saying something stupid.

He might even generate some sympathy among voters who feel the same way he does about light sentences.

Second tranche of scrapped, delayed policies

The big announcement that Nash turned everyone's attention away from happened on Monday, when Hipkins detailed the second tranche of scrapped or delayed policies, saying the government was "doing its bit" to help with the cost of living crisis.

He also announced pensions and benefits had been increased by the inflation rate of 7.22 percent, meaning a superannuation increase of about $100 for couples per pay and more than $60 for single people.

That was enough to make a real difference, and pensioners would soon be getting the winter energy payment as well.

It was seen as setting the stage for the election.

"Labour pitches to middle NZ" was the headline on Stuff's report, which said Hipkins had shown that improving the lot of New Zealanders was a core issue for Labour.

The Herald said Hipkins had "burned several more schemes on his policy bonfire and splashed more cash in a welfare boost as his popularity continues to increase in the latest poll".

That was a reference to the 1News Kantar poll this week that showed Hipkins rising four points to 27 percent as preferred prime minister while National's Christopher Luxon dropped five points to 17 percent.

Labour dropped two points to 36 percent while National fell three points to 34 percent. The Greens and ACT both increased their ratings to 11 percent.

Climate action

Hipkins latest policy cull came at the cost of climate change action - the $568m clean car upgrade scheme which gave grants to people who scrapped their old cars and bought more environment-friendly vehicles, and the less costly social leasing car scheme.

Public transport goals were slowed down, with Auckland Light Rail now to be delivered in phases.

The Greens didn't like that, and said so, neither did Te Pāti Māori.

Former party leader Peter Dunne, speaking on Newshub's AM Show, made an interesting point.

Would the climate policies be gone forever, or would they simply be given back to the Greens during government-forming negotiations after the election, if Labour was in a position to form a government?

The announcement was a difficult one for opposition parties to attack.

Luxon's response was "my message to Chris Hipkins is stop spending and cut taxes".

He believed that "kicking climate change into the future" was just going to make it harder to meet the targets - which Hipkins said his government was still committed to.

ACT's David Seymour said he had opposed the scrapped policies anyway, and did not seem to think it was a big deal.

Different ways to meet the targets are still to be worked out. The Herald calculated Hipkins had blown up 16 percent of the emissions reductions the government wanted to achieve by 2025.

Investigating bank profits

In Parliament, Labour members on the finance and expenditure select committee defeated an attempt by National's Nicola Willis to have the committee investigate bank profits.

That was a foregone conclusion after ministers said last week the committee was not the right place for an inquiry and indicated the Commerce Commission was better placed.

That was firmed up after the committee vote when Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Duncan Webb said he was taking advice from the commission.

"The government is giving its strongest indication yet of a Commerce Commission study into bank profits after preventing a shorter select committee inquiry," RNZ reported.

Willis said her proposal for a select committee inquiry would not have stopped the Commerce Commission from conducting one, and would have delivered quick answers.

"An open, transparent select committee inquiry would have been a pragmatic step, equipped with powers to summon witnesses and to require the production of information from banks and others," she said.

"Evidence would have been heard in public, not in the closed interview rooms of a government agency."

*Peter Wilson is a life member of Parliament's press gallery, 22 years as NZPA's political editor and seven as parliamentary bureau chief for NZ Newswire