Michael Wood among familiar faces to win Labour election, as party mulls tax discussion

Labour members appear to have sent the party a message that they want a discussion about revenue policy, voting an economist-heavy cohort of candidates to the party’s policy council in elections held at the end of last year.

CTU chief economist Craig Renney and Toby Moore, both former advisers to former Finance Minister Grant Robertson were elected to the council, as was former MP and Minister Michael Wood, potentially signalling a comeback. Former Hamilton West candidate Georgie Dansey won a place, as did Labour member Jo Spratt. They won the five member-elected seats on the council. Members of the Parliamentary caucus and the party’s subgroups occupy the other places.

The vote potentially signals a return to discussing a wealth tax, a policy the party contemplated implementing in 2023, but backed away from at the last minute. Leader Chris Hipkins ruled out implementing such a tax, however he reversed that position following the election loss, giving the party a clean slate when it comes to revenue.

The policy council plays a key role in developing party policy that is passed up from individual members and branches, and getting it ready for debate by the wider party. As with many parties, policy developed by the wider party does not automatically find its way into that party’s election manifesto, meaning that the preferences of the policy council and members do not always become policy for a general election.

A video of a candidates debate from December, posted to Phil Twyford’s Youtube channel, shows a discussion of tax reform.

In that video, Wood said that the party needed to more obviously champion the rights of working people.

“Tax is not the only part of that [helping working people], but we’ve tripped over it several times in the last 10 years, and until we settle our position on tax, and until we have a progressive policy on tax, in my view, that deals with the inequalities that we have built up in our society, it will be difficult to motivate our activists and our broader membership to really fight it out and win government,” Wood said.

Renney also spoke about tax in the video.

“We just had an election campaign devoted to why you need a tax cut. We’re not over-taxed in New Zealand, but income is over-taxed in comparison to capital and in comparison to wealth and we’re not going to change any of the fundamental economic settings in New Zealand unless we change that,” Renney said.

The discussion was not all about tax. Dansey spoke about the cost of living.

Labour Party President Jill Day said the party would be “very well served by this Policy Council”.

“The process from here is for members to debate and discuss all manner of policies. This is an internal process where members have their say on policy before elections.

“The Policy Council lead the development of all policy within the party and this work is under way,” she said.

Day said Hipkins had “already indicated a fresh look at revenue policy is on the table and I know Labour members are looking forward to these debates”.

Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.