NZ First leader Winston Peters took aim at Hipkins over this, saying Labour\u2019s policy was a \u201ctry-hard Temu mail-order rip-off\u201d. <\/p>\n
Labour Leader Chris Hipkins has revealed his party’s first major economic policy. Photo \/ Anna Heath<\/p>\n
Under Labour\u2019s plan, the dividends of a selected group of assets, such as state-owned enterprises, would be pooled and then reinvested into New Zealand businesses. An initial $200m capital contribution from the Crown would help get the ball rolling. <\/p>\n
The political party believes designing the fund like this will allow for a \u201csteady revenue stream through dividends, an asset base to leverage, and the ability to invest for long-term national benefit\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cReturns will be both financial and social,\u201d a policy document says. \u201cSome investments may not deliver the fast profits of global markets, but they will create lasting national value \u2013 stronger communities, lower costs, more resilient industries, and opportunities to keep talent and ideas in New Zealand.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThat might include backing community renewable energy or high-tech start-ups. Each investment will help create secure jobs, lower costs over time, and keep skills, ideas and profits here at home.\u201d <\/p>\n
The fund would be independently governed by the Guardians of the Super Fund and have the Minister of Finance as the sole shareholder. While the minister would outline the fund\u2019s objectives, they would not have any power to direct what investments should be made. <\/p>\n
The Crown assets chosen would be protected by legislation to ensure they cannot be sold off and remain in public ownership. <\/p>\n
Labour leader Chris Hipkins and finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
Labour is trying to position the policy in contrast to what it says is a reliance by the current coalition Government on overseas investment<\/a>. It says while New Zealand has talent, it lacks domestic backing, leading Kiwis and their ideas to head offshore. <\/p>\n \u201cNew Zealanders have a clear choice: an economy going backwards because of National\u2019s short-term thinking, or one built by New Zealanders, for New Zealanders. Labour is backing a future made in New Zealand,\u201d Hipkins said. <\/p>\n The party\u2019s finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds said the fund would \u201cturn innovation into real businesses and real jobs here at home\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cThe Future Fund is how we back ourselves as a country \u2013 so jobs, opportunity, and wealth is made here and stays here,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cThe fund will invest in New Zealand for the benefit of everyone, building infrastructure and backing innovative businesses to create secure, well-paid jobs and grow wealth in every region.\u201d <\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear what scale of investment is expected from this fund, but Labour has pointed to other countries which it says have \u201cbuilt wealth by backing their own potential\u201d and \u201cNew Zealand must do the same\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cSingapore\u2019s Temasek began modestly in 1974 with S$354 million. Today it is worth more than S$434 billion. Australia\u2019s superannuation has grown to A$4.2 trillion, helping drive investment in its people and industries. They succeeded because they set direction, took the long view, and were willing to invest.\u201d <\/p>\n Labour said while New Zealand\u2019s Super Fund is worth $85 billion, only 11% of that is invested in New Zealand. <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s part of the problem: too little of our own capital backs our own ideas. The result is low productivity, flat wages, and missed opportunities.\u201d <\/p>\n At a press conference, Hipkins said Labour was deliberately not specifying what assets would be included as there are \u201cpotential market sensitivities\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have said that on the list would be some of our State-Owned Enterprises, potentially Mixed Ownership Model companies and so on. There\u2019s obviously a process that we would need to go through in Government before we could publicly name those.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked whether a $200 million capital contribution was enough, Edmonds said as with other funds, this one had to start somewhere. More detail would come with the party\u2019s fiscal plan before the election.<\/p>\n There was no timeline given for establishing the fund and when jobs would start being created as a result of it. But Edmonds said she would be ready on day one in Government to give her officials instructions.<\/p>\n Luxon, speaking at his post-Cabinet press conference, said it was \u201cclassic Labour\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI think three of the 12 pages [of the policy document] I saw were pictures. Just a whole bunch of buzzwords and jargon and no detail on it, can\u2019t list the companies for commercial reasons apparently, market sensitivities, what a load of rubbish.\u201d <\/p>\n The Prime Minister said for the past three years, there had been between $600 to $800 million worth of dividends. That comes from adding up the total dividends from Mixed Ownership Model companies – the gentailers and Air New Zealand – and Transpower.<\/p>\n While Labour hasn\u2019t said what entities would be included, its policy document said it would be a \u201csmall number of Crown-owned assets that have both a commercial and public good purpose\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThat money is actually used to pay for health and education,\u201d Luxon said. \u201cSo where is that going to come from? What is the costing of that?\u201d<\/p>\n Act\u2019s David Seymour called the Labour policy a \u201cboondoggle proposal\u201d and warned that when politicians \u201cengage in fiscal fantasies, they can\u2019t fix what matters\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cThey take their eye off the health, education and infrastructure balls, and we all fall further behind. All Labour have planted today is the seeds of another clean-up job for the Government after them, if they ever get to kick off this disaster-in-a-can.\u201d<\/p>\n Seymour was critical of Labour not providing costings, arguing \u201cthat would be too honest\u201d for the party.<\/p>\n \u201cNew Zealanders could see just how badly the Government books would be hit, and just how much extra tax we\u2019ll all have to pay,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey won\u2019t tell us what the investment \u2018objectives\u2019 of the fund will be, other than that the returns will be \u2018social\u2019. In other words, bureaucrats will pick winners based on what\u2019s fashionable, not based on what can actually turn a profit.\u201d<\/p>\n He said previous initiatives like the Green Investment Fund showed politicians \u201cdon\u2019t make good investment decisions\u201d. Labour\u2019s policy though, would see the Guardians of the Super Fund make such choices around where the money went.<\/p>\n The Labour policy is similar in name to NZ First\u2019s policy announced at its party conference last year. NZ First\u2019s proposal didn\u2019t have details around the source of funds, but said investments would be made \u201cin our national interest\u201d.<\/p>\n Peters said on Monday: [Hipkins] even has the temerity to name their cheap knock-off the same exact thing we did”. <\/p>\n \u201cThey say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery but this is just getting ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n When Hipkins was asked about the similarities to NZ First\u2019s policy, the Labour leader said the proposal had \u201cskipped my attention\u201d as Peters had spent most of the conference \u201cslagging us off instead\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI did go back and have a look at what scant detail is available about that,\u201d Hipkins said. <\/p>\n \u201cIt would appear to me that\u2019s more about creating a fund for investment in infrastructure that has overseas investors investing in it. That is not what this is about.\u201d<\/p>\n While this is Labour\u2019s first major economic policy of the 2026 election campaign, it\u2019s likely to be overshadowed shortly by the party revealing its highly anticipated tax proposal<\/a>. <\/p>\n Notably, the policy document released today says, \u201ctax can\u2019t be the Government\u2019s only source of income\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s time to build new ways of generating national wealth for the benefit of everyone. The Future Fund will do exactly that \u2013 keeping opportunities in New Zealand by investing in our people, our ideas and our industries.\u201d <\/p>\n Recently, Labour has been putting a focus on the number of New Zealanders heading offshore, claiming it to be a \u201cdirect result of a Government with no plan and no vision\u201d. <\/p>\n‘The Future Fund is how we back ourselves as a country,’ says Barbara Edmonds. Photo \/ Anna Heath<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was critical of the lack of costings. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n