Politics Central

Labour have used their recent Wellington Congress to show voters what to expect at the election.

Hipkins has promised to make the currently temporary Apprenticeship Boost programme permanent, keep the Winter Energy Payment and ensure the superannuation age stays at 65.

Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni is standing by her party's decision not to raise the superannuation age.

"Superannuation is such a tollner for New Zealand. It's universal, it's simple and it is something New Zealanders expect. So it's important that we highlight that we have no plans at all to get rid of it."

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The Prime Minister's promising Labour will soon unveil some new, fresh policies.

It comes as the party's told delegates at their Wellington Congress this afternoon that if re-elected, it would make the currently temporary Apprenticeship Boost scheme permanent.

And yesterday, Labour announced it would not be increasing the retirement age and would continue the Winter Energy Payment.

Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls says there will be more to talk about in the coming months when Labour reveals their election manifesto.

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Jason Walls joins the Weekend Collective from Wellington to unpack the Labour Party election year congress.

Later, Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni shares how important their apprentice boost policy is, and Chris Bishop details why the Nats backed out of their bi-partisan policy around housing density. 

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Former Finance Minister Steven Joyce joined the Weekend Collective to talk about Budget 2023 and what he would have done differently.

Later, Climate Change Minister James Shaw joined the show to talk about the Government's biggest carbon emissions project.

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Nicola Willis joins the Weekend Collective to unpack Budget 2023 ahead of Labour's announcement this coming week, and where she thinks money needs to be spent.

Later, Robert Patman joins the show to discuss Germany's $3 billion relief fund for Ukraine.

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The National Party says growers and horticulturalists appear to have been left out of the Government's pre-budget cyclone recovery announcement.

A $1 billion support package will go to flood stricken regions, with the aim of rebuilding roads, railways and schools.

National's Deputy Leader Nicola Willis says if growing in the region doesn't get up and running again, it'll have repercussions.

"That's a lot of jobs at stake, that's a lot of people at stake. It'll end up costing the taxpayer a lot more. So I'm sure they'll be wanting a bit more detail from the Government."

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This week on Politics Central, Matthew Hooton joined the show to discuss the merits of MMP in New Zealand and its flaws.

Later- constitutional law expert Ed Willis unpacked the process of waka-jumping.

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The ACT Party plans to expand its Epsom outreach into the neighbouring Tāmaki seat.

Deputy leader Brooke van Velden will contest the Auckland electorate, up against National's Simon O'Connor.

ACT have made it clear that O'Connor's conservative views on social issues, including euthanasia and abortion were factors in this choice.

Brooke van Velden says she's been asked to stand by many in the Tāmaki electorate over the past year because they need a stronger voice to push back against Wellington.

"With all of those concerns, I've decided that I want to represent the people. But importantly I want to listen to them, because I genuinely believe this beautiful part of Auckland deserves someone to be their voice."

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The Labour Party says the National Party's plan to bring back no cause evictions won't do anything to solve the housing crisis.

Currently, landlords can terminate a tenancy only for justifiable reasons, such as anti-social behaviour or being three weeks behind on rent.

National's housing spokesperson Chris Bishop claims the plan will help tenants by making it easier for a landlord to open up properties for rent.

Housing Minister Megan Woods says  we need to move beyond the headlines.

"What we've seen in National's policy that was released this week is nothing short of sentences cobbled together to sounds like policy."

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On this week's Politics Central, we had ACT deputy leader Brooke van Velden talking about about her announcement to contest for the Tamaki electorate in the upcoming election.

Housing Minister Megan Woods also joined Politics Central to discuss her thoughts on National's announcement at scrapping the current policy that protects tenants from being evicted without notice.

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