{"id":572420,"date":"2026-08-18T05:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T05:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/572420\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T05:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T05:48:16","slug":"labour-blames-mixed-messaging-on-streamers-levy-on-admin-oversight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/572420\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour blames mixed messaging on streamers levy on ‘admin oversight’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Labour has blamed an “administrative oversight” for mixed messaging over whether the party would introduce a new levy on streaming services like Netflix.<\/p>\n

By Craig McCulloch of RNZ<\/a><\/p>\n

Leader Chris Hipkins last night flatly ruled out introducing a streaming levy if elected in November. <\/p>\n

But the National Party was quick to point out this morning that senior Labour MP Willie Jackson had a member’s bill in the ballot which would do just that.<\/p>\n

“Chris Hipkins is a serial flip-flopper, telling Kiwis one thing, while his caucus is doing another,” National campaign chairperson Simeon Brown said on X.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters earlier this morning, Hipkins said the legislation had since been removed from the ballot.<\/p>\n

“It’s been sorted,” he said. <\/p>\n

“There was an administrative oversight. We became aware of it. It was dealt with.”<\/p>\n

Hipkins said Labour had discussed many different policy ideas this term but was now locking down its manifesto ahead of the election.<\/p>\n

“Circumstances change. Things that were a good idea 18 months, two years, three years, five years, six years ago, things change.”<\/p>\n

Asked to explain Labour’s shift-in-position on a streamers’ levy, Hipkins repeatedly refused to answer the question before finally saying he did not want to add to the cost of living.<\/p>\n

“We’re not adding a levy onto everybody’s Netflix account.”<\/p>\n

\"Netflix<\/p>\n

Netflix logo on a remote control. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Labour’s media spokesperson Reuben Davidson separately told reporters the bill had been removed from the ballot as “a bit of administrative tidying up”.<\/p>\n

Davidson denied having sent confusing messages to voters himself when he told The Post in January that Labour would look to implement a streaming levy “as early as possible” after the election.<\/p>\n

\"Willie<\/p>\n

Willie Jackson, Chris Hipkins and Reuben Davidson (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

“I don’t think it muddied the waters,” he said. <\/p>\n

“I was talking about a streamers’ levy in the context of a member’s bill. I wasn’t talking about it as being Labour Party policy.”<\/p>\n

Senior Labour MP Willie Jackson: ‘How many times do you want to hear it? How many? Oh, sorry about that.’<\/p>\n

\"Labour<\/p>\n

Labour MP Willie Jackson. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Jackson was also playing down the policy reversal, saying he lodged his bill more than a year ago while he was still the party’s media spokesperson.<\/p>\n

“You can try and make a big deal about it, but it’s an administrative thing with us,” he said.<\/p>\n

National has also taken aim at Jackson’s recent comments on Ryan Bridge’s Today programme about a potential land tax – as advocated by the Opportunity Party.<\/p>\n

Asked what percentage of a land tax Labour could accept, Jackson replied: “who knows?”<\/p>\n

Following his comments, Hipkins and Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds insisted the party would not entertain any land tax.<\/p>\n

\"Labour<\/p>\n

Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. (Source: Breakfast)<\/p>\n

Again, Jackson dismissed National’s reaction as “desperate” and “hysterical”.<\/p>\n

“I say, ‘who knows?’ Oh, huge! You know, like, come on… Ryan and I have the most crazy conversations sometimes.”<\/p>\n

After repeated questioning, Jackson finally offered an apology of sorts for his response.<\/p>\n

“I’m sorry for not getting it exactly right at the time, all right… how many times do you want to hear it? How many? Oh, sorry about that,” Jackson said.<\/p>\n

“Sorry that I said, ‘who knows?’, and you think you got the story of the century. Sorry about that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Labour has blamed an “administrative oversight” for mixed messaging over whether the party would introduce a new levy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[44152,8028,1073,11507,111,43,139,69,135],"class_list":["post-572420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-chris-hipkins","tag-labour-party","tag-media","tag-national-party","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}