“And I think if we’re honest … probably [that] person was a little bit lacking when we were there.
“So what we’ve got to make sure the lesson is, it’s a whole team approach.”
Labour’s Greg O’Connor is the Ōhāriu MP.
Wigram MP Dr Megan Woods, a former Housing Minister and Energy Minister in the previous Government, said she disagreed with O’Connor.
“Look, I think that we did a lot in the last Government.
“I don’t agree with Greg on that, I think we had an amazing team of staffers.”
List MP Ginny Andersen, a former Police Minister and Justice Minister, also felt differently.
“I did not agree with that statement, I thought we were incredibly well supported,” Andersen said.
“I was a Cabinet minister during that Government and I thought we had excellent staff working who did very long hours.”
Andersen said she had “never heard that said by other members of the caucus“.
O’Connor has been approached for comment.
Ginny Andersen was a Cabinet minister under the last Labour Government. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Yesterday, Hipkins said he believed Labour had been “very, very well-served” by its staff while in Government.
He wouldn’t make reflections on O’Connor as members were currently deciding upon the list ranking of the Labour Party.
“Greg O’Connor is still a member of our team, and I back him in the fact that he’s a member of our team, but I disagreed with what he said at the meeting.”
Asked if he wanted to see O’Connor returned to Parliament, Hipkins said: “Look, I’d love to have a bigger team in Parliament.
“I’d love to have all of our existing MPs back and a whole lot more on top of it … If Greg is re-elected to Parliament, he will be welcomed back.”
The leaked audio included MPs discussing how they would respond if they were asked whether they would rather fight “100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck”.
Labour’s finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds responded by saying: “Every week I have to stand up in the House and ask a duck-faced horse – did I get that right – questions every single week, and I have the glory of being able to question her, or debate her in debates and to talk through media.”
Edmonds, who was likely referring to Finance Minister Nicola Willis, had since apologised for any offence taken and said she had “got the question muddled”.
Andersen acknowledged the leak was “frustrating” but indicated it wasn’t worth attempting to determine who the leaker was.
“It might be quite difficult to do that, I think.
“It’s important to look at where you tighten areas up, I know that we’ve always been open [to] people coming to attend and being part of things and also having it available online … so maybe the party wants to reconsider some of those things.”
The Labour Party did not comment when asked by the Herald whether it was taking any action following the leak.
Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.