Luxon snaps back: 'I'm not taking any any lectures from frickin Chris Hipkins'

By Craig McCulloch of RNZ

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has challenged Labour to front up with any policy at all as he comes under pressure over National's struggling childcare support scheme.

The comment was made after Labour revealed just 153 families had received the maximum FamilyBoost rebate - well short of National's pre-election promise that 21,000 families would be eligible for the full amount.

Speaking on his way into a caucus meeting this morning, Luxon rejected Labour's characterisation of the policy as a failure.

"I'm not taking any any lectures from frickin' Chris Hipkins or the Labour Party," he told reporters. "They have no idea what to do. They put us in this mess.

"You can stand on the other side and criticise as much as you like, but I don't see any policy from Labour."

Luxon said 60,000 families had received some support from the FamilyBoost policy and another 20,000 would soon be eligible due to recent tweaks to the eligibility settings.

"Isn't that great? We have put a programme in place which Labour didn't support, didn't vote, don't back, because they don't back low-and-middle-income working New Zealanders."

The former Labour government extended cheaper childcare to parents of two-year-olds, giving them access to 20 hours a week of free early childhood education.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon (left) and Labour leader Chris Hipkins. Photos: RNZ

On taking office, the coalition reversed that policy and instead rolled out its more targeted FamilyBoost scheme - a weekly rebate on childcare costs.

'Absolute flop'

Responding to Luxon's comments, Labour leader Chris Hipkins said National's refusal to admit the FamilyBoost scheme was "an absolute flop" showed it was completely out of touch.

"They're getting really desperate. On a daily basis, they're attacking me and attacking the Labour Party rather than talking about their own track record."

He defended Labour's lack of public policy, saying that would all be laid out in full before next year's general election.

"We're not even close to an election campaign at the moment," Hipkins said. "But unlike him, when we go into the election campaign next year, I will make sure that the policies that we have add up."

Labour wanted to see the government's next Budget before it outlined significant policies which would cost money, he said, and suggested a lot of policy work was under way in the background.

"The National Party desperately wants to talk about the Labour Party's policy at the moment because their own policies are turning into an absolute disaster zone."

National also came under criticism when it was in opposition for a paucity of policy heading into the 2023 election year, but it had released elements of its tax plan and several discussion documents indicating a direction of travel.