Chris Hipkins plans fish and chips, lawn-mowing and a rare full night’s sleep on election day

After weeks of campaigning, Chris Hipkins says his election-day plans are refreshingly ordinary: a meal from the local fish-and-chip shop, a chance to mow the lawn and, if all goes well, his first proper sleep in more than six weeks. The Labour Party leader told The Front Page he has a particular standard for the meal. He enjoys fish, might choose a crab stick, and especially values hand-cut chips. “The quality of the chip is really important,” he said, describing a low-key way to spend the day as votes come in. Hipkins also looked back on a campaign he said he had enjoyed, including the televised leaders’ debates and conversations that drew less attention. He recalled speaking with apprentices at a building site and helping spread mulch around strawberry plants. Meeting people and hearing what was happening in their lives, he said, made the campaign meaningful, even as the cost of living remained a major concern for many. One conversation in Tauranga stayed with him. Hipkins recalled approaching his car when an emergency department nurse challenged his description of the hospital as being in crisis. Her point, he said, was that the emergency department was under pressure all the time, not only during dramatic incidents. He said the exchange kept him thinking about the demands placed on health workers and the need to address them. With campaigning due to end before election day, Hipkins said politicians had little scheduled to do on Saturday. His immediate ambition was modest: sleep continuously through the night. Campaign stress had left him waking in the early hours, thinking about the next day’s commitments or replaying what he might have done differently. He also hoped the weather would cooperate for a morning of mowing. His lawn, he joked, was not looking great. For a leader at the end of a long campaign, fish and chips, garden work and some uninterrupted rest sounded like an appealing change of pace.