He also took shot at National's new KiwiSaver policy, welcoming the boost to savings but noting the party, in government, has made cuts to the scheme in other places.
Hipkins was speaking to media after attending a roundtable with leaders from the business community as well as a delegation from the Chinese province of Shandong.
A recent Ipsos Issues Monitor poll showed the government falling to a rating of 3.9 out of 10 among respondents, while the 1004 people polled rated Labour as best to handle more issues.
Future coalition possibilities
With an election year on the horizon and two of the three coalition parties currently in government sniping at each other, Hipkins was asked about potential Labour-led coalition arrangements that could potentially take power. The party has previously worked in government previously with Peters' New Zealand First, but never Act NZ.
Hipkins was adamant he would not be ruling any other party in or out at this stage. Polls have suggested Labour would like need the support of Te Pāti Māori to govern, but Hipkins said Labour would not be cutting any Epsom-style seat deals.
"I mean, I've seen political parties have their internal disagreements, but this is next level," he said, referring to the party's headlines-making schism.
"It's unclear whether there is even a Māori Party left or whether there are multiple different factions now doing their own thing
"I think one of the messages here is that identity alone is not enough. If you want to be in politics, you have to stand for something. You have to have a coherent philosophy around how you'd govern. You have to have a coherent set of views on the economy, on the role of government, and we haven't seen that from Te Pāti Māori."
Peters last week vowed to repeal the Regulatory Standards Bill, just days after voting for it to pass into law. Act leader David Seymour suggested this was a sign Peters was eyeing up a deal with Labour after the next election.
Peters called the bill "not fit for a modern democracy" and said his party did its best to "fix" the bill up, but had to vote for it as part of the coalition arrangement.
"I think it's staggering that Winston Peters voted for this law change less than two weeks ago and is now condemning it and criticising it. If he had felt that way all along, as he claims, why didn't he vote against it? … It's a reminder that if you vote for Winston Peters, you never know from one day to the next what you might be voting for."
But like Te Pāti Māori, Hipkins would not rule out seeking Peters' help should Labour need it next year.
"I'm not doing the rule in, rule out, or will we work with this person, or will we rule with that person," Hipkins said, adding that Labour's views would be clear "closer to the election".
Hipkins said the newly rebranded Opportunity Party was "not really a consideration" based on their low polling.
KiwiSaver and economy
Hipkins welcomed National's "road to Damascus" moment on KiwiSaver, saying boosting Kiwis' retirement savings "would be great for New Zealand".
The plan involves slowly raising the default worker and employer contributions over time.
"But I am concerned the National Party haven't done their homework here. They haven't worked out a transition plan. They haven't worked out how to support people on low incomes. And they are the government right now, so they could have worked through all of these details already… and actually be taking positive proactive action.
"The fact that they're not doing that suggests that this is just a panicked 'we need to announce something, come up with something on the hoof' rather than a considered policy."
He said Labour's KiwiSaver policy would be released in time, and noted the government's prior cuts to the scheme.
"They've made two major cuts to it. They cut the government contributions in half under the Key-English government. They then cut them in half again under the Luxon-Willis government.
"I'm pleased that they've now recognised the value of KiwiSaver, but cutting government contributions really sent the opposite signal."
New candidates
Labour at the weekend announced high-profile Council of Trade Unions economist Craig Renney would be a candidate in 2026, but Barbara Edmonds would retain the finance portfolio "100 percent".
"I welcome Craig Renney as a candidate, but like all new candidates, he's got to focus on getting himself elected," Hipkins said, refusing to speculate on who else Labour might have lined up.
"There are going to be a range of very, very strong candidates that we're going to be announcing over the next few weeks and months, some of which are going to surprise people, and I'm very excited to have them on board. It shows the level of interest there is in the Labour Party. It shows a great degree of confidence that we're going to win the next election."
Former health minister Ayesha Verrall was selected to stand for Labour in the new Wellington North seat, ahead of longtime local MP Greg O'Connor, whose Ohariu seat is being disestablished.
O'Connor told NZME he was contemplating what to do next, having always stood in a seat and not on the party list. Hipkins said he had spoken to O'Connor since the vote in favour of Verrall.
"Greg has been a very valuable member of our team. He's contributed as a deputy speaker, currently as assistant speaker in the House. He brings a different perspective."
Hipkins noted O'Connor beat Finance Minister Nicola Willis to the seat in 2023.
"Obviously his seat got disestablished. That's a fairly unique, you know, situation to find yourself in. But, you know, we'll talk to Greg about where he might fit into the future."
As for Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Hipkins said he was "not surprised that there's talk about whether he should continue in the job because he's failed to live up to the expectations he himself created".
"Christopher Luxon has failed to deliver on his promises to New Zealand. He promised to fix the economy, he's made it worse. He promised to get New Zealanders back to work, he's put more people out of work, promised to fix the cost of living, it's got worse."
Luxon beat Hipkins to the top job in 2023, but has struggled in the preferred prime minister polls since.
