The second term of the Sixth Labour Government of New Zealand lasted between 2020 and 2023. It was formed following the Labour Party's landslide victory in the 2020 New Zealand general election. In mid-January 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern resigned and was succeeded by Chris Hipkins. During the 2023 New Zealand general election held on 14 October, Labour lost its majority to the opposition National Party. The Government remained in a caretaker capacity until the new National–led coalition government was sworn in on 27 November 2023.
2020 On 17 October, Labour won the 2020 general election in a landslide, winning 50% of the vote and 65 seats in the House, the first time under the current MMP system that any party won enough seats to govern without a coalition or a confidence and supply agreement.
On 20 October, Newshub reported that Ardern was not intending to forge a formal coalition with the Green Party but was exploring the possibility of a lower-level support arrangement due to Labour's large parliamentary majority. During the 2020 election campaign on 14 October, Ardern had ruled out the Green's wealth tax policy.
Following prolonged negotiations, the Green Party agreed to enter into a cooperation agreement with the Labour Party on 31 October. Under this governing arrangement, co-leader James Shaw would remain Minister for Climate Change and become Associate Environment Minister while fellow co-leader Marama Davidson would become Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence and Associate Minister of Housing. During a Zoom call, 85% of the 150 Green Party delegates voted to accept this cooperation agreement with Labour.
On 18 November, the Tourism Minister Stuart Nash announced that the Government would introduce legislation to ban tourists from hiring vans that are not self-contained in order to reduce the waster problems associated with freedom camping. He also announced that Tourism New Zealand would be redirecting marketing to focus on "super wealthy" tourists from Europe, North America, and parts of Asia. That same day, Ardern and Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced a marketing campaign to encourage young people particularly women to enter vocational education and the trades.
On 18 November, Foreign Minister Mahuta joined her Australian, Canadian, British and United States counterparts in condemning the disqualification of pro-democracy Hong Kong legislators as a breach of Hong Kong's autonomy and rights under the Sino-British Joint Declaration. In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Zhao Lijian warned the Five Eyes countries, stating that "No matter if they have five eyes or 10 eyes, if they dare to harm China's sovereignty, security and development interests, they should beware of their eyes being poked and blinded." In response, Mahuta defended New Zealand's commitment to free speech, free media, and democracy.
On 26 November, the Government confirmed during its Speech from the Throne that the COVID-19 vaccine would be made free as part of its goal of keeping New Zealanders safe from COVID-19. Other key issues and promises addressed within the speech included building 18,000 public homes, raising the minimum wage, replacing the Resource Management Act 1991 and promoting economic recovery from COVID-19 through infrastructure investment and training incentives.
On 2 December 2020, Ardern declared a climate change emergency in New Zealand and pledged that the Government would be carbon neutral by 2025 through a parliamentary motion. As part of this commitment towards carbon neutrality under the framework of the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act, the public sector will be required to buy only electric or hybrid vehicles, government buildings will have to meet new building standards, and all 200 coal-fired boilers in public service buildings will be phased out. This motion was supported by the Labour, Green, and Māori parties but was opposed by the opposition National and ACT parties, which described the motion as "virtue signaling."
In mid-December, Ardern announced that New Zealand would be establishing travel bubbles with the Cook Islands and Australia the following year, facilitating two-way quarantine travel between these countries. On 17 December, Ardern also announced that the Government had purchased two more vaccines from the pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and Novavax for New Zealand, Tokelau, the Cook Islands, Niue and its Pacific partners Samoa, Tonga, and Tuvalu.
On 21 December, Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi announced a six-month extension for employer-assisted work and working holiday visa holders along with their partners and children in order to address New Zealand's labour shortage. In addition, a 12-month stand-down period for low-paid Essential Skills visa holders working in New Zealand for three years was also suspended until January 2022.
2021 On 3 January 2021, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announced that travelers entering New Zealand from the United Kingdom and United States would be required to take pre-departure tests from 15 January 2021. From 26 January, the pre-departure test requirement was extended to all international travelers with the exception of those coming from Australia, Antarctica, and most Pacific Island states including Fiji, Samoa, Tokelau, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. On 15 January, Ardern announced the establishment of a one-way travel bubble for Cook Islanders traveling to New Zealand.
On 1 February 2021, the Minister of Local Government Nanaia Mahuta announced that the Government would pass legislation upholding local council's decisions to establish Māori wards and constituencies. This new law would also abolish an existing law allowing local referendums to veto decisions by councils to establish Māori wards. The Government intends to pass it into law before the scheduled 2022 local body elections.
On 3 February 2021, Ardern approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in New Zealand. The initial batches of the vaccine are scheduled to arrive in late March 2021, with frontline workers and the vulnerable given priority.
On 4 February 2021 Ardern announced that a new public holiday Matariki would be introduced on 24 June 2022. This fulfilled her election pledge in September 2020 to make Matariki a public holiday if Labour was re-elected during the 2020 general election.
On 5 February, Immigration New Zealand confirmed that New Zealand's refugee resettlement programme, which had been suspended in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, would resume. The Government plans to resettled 210 refugees by 30 June 2021. Refugees will undergo a two-week stay in managed isolation.
On 9 February, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced the suspension of high-level bilateral military and political relations with Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. They joined other Western governments in refusing to recognise the new military-led government and calling for the restoration of civilian-led rule. In addition, aid projects were diverted away from the Tatmadaw and a travel ban was imposed on Myanmar's military leaders.
On 11 February, Stuff reported that the Government's New Zealand Work Scheme to address the labour shortage in the fruit-picking sector caused by COVID-19 had only attracted 54 people since its launch in late November 2020. The scheme had offered up to NZ$200 to cover accommodation costs and a NZ$1,000 incentive payment to workers who had completed jobs that lasted for six weeks or longer.
On 13 February 2020, the Government agreed to pay NZ$40 million to 212 kiwifruit orchardists and Te Puke–based post harvest operator Seeka in order to settle a class action lawsuit alleging that the Government was liable for losses caused by the incursion of the kiwifruit vine disease Pseudomonas syringae (PSA), which swept through the Bay of Plenty region in 2010. Kiwifruit orchardists had initially challenged a Court of Appeal ruling that the Government could not be held liable for the damage caused by PSA despite the Ministry of Primary Industries allowing PSA into the country through the import of kiwifruit pollen from China. As a result of the settlement, the appeal was withdrawn.
On 14 February, Ardern announced that Auckland would move into an Alert Level 3 lockdown from 11:59pm that night for a period of three days. The rest of New Zealand will move into an Alert Level 2 lockdown for the same time period. The three-day lockdown is meant for the Government to get more information about a new community outbreak in Papatoetoe, South Auckland. Under Level 3, remote work is encouraged, while schools and day care centers continue to serve the children of essential workers. Limits have also been placed on public gatherings and travel around Auckland. Under Level 2, gatherings are restricted to 100 people and travel to Auckland is restricted.
On 15 February, the Government tabled its response to the report of the Social Services and Community Committee on Matters related to Forced Adoptions. At the same time, Minister of Justice Kris Faafoi announced that the Government would pursue reform of adoption laws during the 53rd Parliament. The Government had already referred a review of surrogacy laws to the Law Commission, the adoption inquiry is therefore to be conducted by the Ministry of Justice.
On 24 February, it was reported that the Government's Progressive Home Ownership Scheme, which cost NZ$17 million, had only resettled 12 families in the last seven months. While Housing Minister Megan Woods defended the scheme's achievements, National's housing spokesperson Nicola Willis described the program as a failure.
On 25 February, the Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta's Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Act 2021, which eliminated mechanisms for holding public referendums on the establishment of Māori wards and constituencies on local bodies, passed its third reading. The Bill was supported by the Labour, Green and Māori parties but opposed by the opposition National and ACT parties. National attempted to delay the bill by mounting a twelve-hour filibuster challenging all of the Bill's ten clauses.
On 2 March, Ardern and Health Minister Andrew Little announced that the Government would be appointing a panel of experts to review the drug-purchasing agency Pharmac's timeliness and transparency of decision-making.
On 23 March, Ardern and Housing Minister Megan Woods announced a housing package to address the country's housing shortage, which includes a $3.8 billion housing acceleration fund, increases to First Home Products' income caps, changes to regional price caps, extending "bright-line tests" to ten years, eliminating the interest deductibility loophole on residential property, and extending the Apprenticeship Boost initiative to support the trades and trade training, and borrowing $2 billion to increase land acquisition in order to boost the supply of housing. The NZ Property Investors Federation President Andrew King criticised the Government's decision to eliminate interest rate tax deductions for landlords. The Government's housing package was welcomed by Green finance spokesperson Julie Anne Genter.