Kieran McAnulty, responsible for housing, infrastructure and public investment, scores 2.87/5.
Beyond them, ratings fall away sharply. Even Labour leader and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins falls well behind with 2.28/5. Next is Ginny Andersen (police) on 2.17/5, Megan Woods (energy) on 2.16/5, Ayesha Verrall (health) on 2.07/5, and Carmel Sepuloni ( Auckland issues) on 2.04/5.
Hipkins has sought to reset Labour since its 2023 defeat with a deliberately lower profile, allowing the focus to be on discontent with the Government’s performance.
While in some ways this has worked – Hipkins has polled close to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon this year and is now leading him in some recent preferred leader surveys – many CEOS say the strategy risks being perceived as too quiet and too often absent from the policy debate.
“Apart from the Opposition leader, most are invisible, pending policy development,” says New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency chairman Craig Stobo. Chairman of Scales Corporation, Mike Petersen, adds: “Difficult to rate highly given lack of visibility on any key policy or issues.”
“Not as coordinated on communications as they need to be, especially between Chris and Barbara,” notes a legal firm CEO. “Need to demonstrate greater clarity, strength and energy. We need a stronger opposition and option – and fast!”
Patience is wearing thin. “The Opposition should be holding the Government to account but right now they feel missing in action. To quote the Aussie tourism campaign – where the bloody hell are ya?” quips one CEO.
Polling suggests Labour cannot govern alone, but many fear that power-sharing with the Greens and Te Pāti Māori could hand influence to more activist policy positions.
Hipkins has sought to allay this by stressing “jobs, homes and health” as Labour’s core priorities, while keeping up regular engagement through business roundtables and economic briefings. But doubts persist.
“Chris Hipkins has done a good job keeping his head down and seeking to keep engaging with business. But he needs to reassure people he’ll not be dictated to by the Greens and the Māori Party on tax. I doubt he can actually give that reassurance,” says a tourism chairperson.
The survey reflects those doubts. Most of the frontbench are rated closer to “not impressive” than “impressive”, with business leaders repeatedly citing a lack of depth, direction and coordination.
The bottom-ranked three of Labour’s front bench all score below 2/5: Willie Jackson (Māori development) rates 1.78/5, Jan Tinetti (workplace relations) 1.76/5, and Willow-Jean Prime (education; children) on just 1.53/5.
The harshest comments are uncompromising. “Hopeless,” from one; “Sigh – disappointing bunch,” from another. “I believe they are hopelessly incompetent in the context of potentially leading our country,” says the CEO of a large agribusiness firm.
There are also structural worries. “Very few are in command of their portfolios or give a clear sense of strategic direction,” says a recruitment boss. Others argue Labour has “lost any fight and leadership” and remains “largely anonymous and impossible to understand what their policies might be.”
Even those more sympathetic emphasise the need for urgency. “I hope the Labour Party is biding its time and doing some serious policy work behind the scenes a year before elections,” suggests Auckland Business Chamber CEO Simon Bridges. “Regardless of what the outcome may be, New Zealand deserves an opposition that is keeping things competitive.”
