In a wide-ranging Webfit News election interview, Labour candidate Dan Scott defended his party's record, faced questions on wages, tax and immigration, and made a commitment that...
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In a wide-ranging Webfit News election interview, Labour candidate Dan Scott defended his party's record, faced questions on wages, tax and immigration, and made a commitment that Hawke's Bay voters could measure him against.
By Webfit News | Election 2026 | 21 October 2026
At 22, Dan Scott is asking the people of Tukituki to put their trust in someone who has never served in Parliament — and in a Labour Party that spent six years in government before losing office.
It is a difficult political proposition, particularly for voters still concerned about healthcare access, household costs and job security.
But Scott, a weather forecaster and Labour's candidate for the Hawke's Bay electorate, believes his age and professional background offer a different perspective on the region's challenges.
In an interview with Webfit News, Scott was questioned about Labour's previous record, whether higher wages could hurt small businesses, the proposed capital gains tax, immigration, young New Zealanders moving to Australia and what he would actually deliver if elected.
One commitment stood out: Scott said voters should judge his first three years on whether Hawke's Bay gains the healthcare workers it needs and hospital waiting times improve.
Scott's professional background is unusual for a parliamentary candidate.
As a weather forecaster, he works in a field where evidence, changing conditions and uncertainty matter.
His motivation for entering politics, he explained, was closely connected to Hawke's Bay's experience of extreme weather.
He pointed to the Napier flooding in 2020 and Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 as events that demonstrated the region's vulnerability.
For Scott, the recovery should be about more than rebuilding damaged infrastructure.
He wants to see improvements in healthcare, community connections and employment opportunities.
He argued that Hawke's Bay had been moving sideways rather than taking advantage of the opportunity to build a stronger region.
Webfit News put one of the central election questions directly to Scott.
Labour had six years in power. Housing affordability remained difficult, healthcare access was under pressure and the cost of living increased.
Why should New Zealanders trust Labour again?
Scott largely defended the previous Labour government's performance.
He acknowledged that many households experienced significant hardship but argued that the global COVID-19 pandemic and international inflationary pressures were essential context.
He pointed to New Zealand's pandemic-era employment and mortality outcomes as reasons he considered Labour's record strong.
However, the interview exposed an important distinction between defending past decisions and acknowledging where a government could have done better.
Scott did not identify a specific major policy failure from Labour's previous six years when initially asked what the party had got wrong.
Instead, he emphasised the difficult international circumstances in which the government had operated.
For voters seeking an admission of mistakes, that distinction may matter.
Asked what Labour should be judged on if it returned to government, Scott identified the cost of living.
His argument was that household affordability requires action on both sides of the equation: reducing essential costs while increasing wages.
He outlined several approaches he supported, including measures against excessive pricing, greater supermarket competition, improved access to rooftop solar energy, pay equity and fair pay agreements.
Scott said he regularly encountered people struggling with household costs while campaigning in Tukituki.
But the effectiveness of these proposals would depend on their detailed design, implementation and economic consequences.
For example, stronger supermarket competition could benefit consumers, but structural changes would not automatically guarantee immediate reductions in grocery bills.
Similarly, improving access to solar power may reduce electricity costs for some households, but affordability, installation costs and suitability remain practical considerations.
Scott's position was clear: Labour should be measured by whether everyday New Zealanders become better off.
Webfit News challenged Scott on a question that often divides workers and employers.
If a small café owner says another minimum-wage increase would force them to reduce staff hours, what should Labour tell that business owner?
Scott defended higher wages, arguing that better household incomes could benefit the wider economy.
He also suggested that other policies, including lower energy costs and improved access to wholesale food supplies, could help offset increased labour expenses.
However, that response leaves a practical question unanswered.
What happens to a small business whose wage costs rise immediately, while any savings from other policies take months or years to materialise?
Scott's answer emphasised the broader economic benefits he expects from Labour's approach rather than a specific short-term protection for businesses facing that situation.
It is a question likely to remain relevant as parties compete for both worker and small-business support.
Asked whether he would support reducing income tax for low- and middle-income workers, even if that required delaying some Labour spending commitments, Scott did not offer support for such cuts.
Instead, he argued that government resources should be directed towards public services and reducing essential household expenses.
He criticised the current government's fiscal choices and infrastructure decisions.
Scott also supported Labour's proposed capital gains tax on investment property, arguing that it could encourage investment in productive businesses rather than housing.
He said Labour would oppose a proposed fuel-tax increase.
The underlying political choice is significant.
Rather than promising broad income-tax reductions, Scott presented Labour's approach as using government policy and expenditure to reduce household costs and support public services.
Whether that approach delivers greater financial relief than direct tax cuts is a question voters will have to weigh.
The interview also examined whether New Zealand should reduce immigration when local workers are struggling to find employment.
Scott rejected the idea that immigration and job opportunities must necessarily come at each other's expense.
He argued that the larger issue was weak business confidence and employers' limited ability to hire.
According to Scott, the answer is to create more jobs and apprenticeships rather than blame migrants for labour-market problems.
He expressed support for immigration and described the contribution migrants can make through employment, business creation and taxation.
When asked about Labour's 2021 residency programme, Scott acknowledged that he was not familiar with its details.
After the programme was described to him, he expressed general support for the principle of providing migrants with opportunities to build their futures in New Zealand.
His initial unfamiliarity with the policy was a notable moment in an otherwise confident discussion.
Another difficult question concerned Labour's proposed capital gains tax.
Would Scott still support the tax if it increased rents?
Scott challenged the premise, arguing that international experience did not suggest capital gains taxes necessarily produce significant rental increases.
He said rental prices were influenced more heavily by housing supply, demand and local incomes.
He also argued that increasing social and state housing could help improve affordability.
The interview did not establish whether Labour's particular tax proposal would increase, decrease or have little effect on rents.
That outcome would depend on the tax's design, housing-market conditions and landlords' responses.
Scott nevertheless made clear that he did not expect the proposed tax to produce the rental increases suggested in the question.
On parliamentary pay, Scott took a firmer position.
Asked whether MPs should receive salary increases while households face financial pressure, he said they should not.
Although parliamentary remuneration is determined through an independent process, Scott argued that elected representatives should be prepared to reject increases during difficult economic conditions.
He linked his position to concerns about pay and funding pressures affecting workers in the tertiary education sector.
Scott said parliamentary pay should be frozen while the cost-of-living crisis continues and other areas face cuts.
It was one of the interview's clearest answers.
As a 22-year-old candidate, Scott was also asked why many younger New Zealanders see Australia as offering better opportunities.
He identified two main factors: higher wages and greater job availability.
He said pay in sectors such as nursing and teaching could be considerably more attractive across the Tasman.
Scott also cited a figure suggesting more than 37% of New Zealanders aged 18 to 25 were unemployed or underemployed.
That figure was presented by Scott during the interview and has not been independently verified by Webfit News. Unemployment and underemployment are different labour-market measures, so the claim requires careful examination before being treated as an official statistic.
His broader argument was that New Zealand needed to become a higher-wage economy with stronger employment and apprenticeship opportunities.
For Hawke's Bay, Scott said young people should be able to build careers locally rather than feel compelled to move to Auckland or Australia.
Perhaps the most consequential exchange came when Webfit News asked Scott to identify one promise voters could measure after three years if he became an MP.
Scott chose healthcare staffing.
He argued that Hawke's Bay urgently needed more doctors, nurses and other health professionals.
He claimed the region had fewer nurses than two years earlier, despite population growth and increasing demand.
He also criticised what he described as unfilled and unadvertised healthcare positions caused by budget constraints.
Those staffing claims require comparison with official Health New Zealand workforce data.
But Scott's personal commitment was specific enough to establish a test of political accountability.
He said voters should assess whether he had helped secure the staffing needed and whether hospital waiting times had improved.
That gives Tukituki voters a measurable question to return to: if Dan Scott is elected, will Hawke's Bay have better healthcare staffing and shorter waits three years later?
During the rapid-fire section, Scott was asked a series of questions designed to reveal more about his political instincts.
He praised an emerging cross-party consensus on infrastructure and said he admired National MP Catherine Wedd's commitment to children and education.
Asked whether he would rather lose an election or break a promise, he chose losing the election.
He also said he would never vote against Labour, expressing confidence in the party's direction.
In a more personal admission, Scott revealed that he has a fear of public speaking, despite regularly addressing audiences and participating in debates.
He said it was something he had been working to overcome.
Scott acknowledged that his age is frequently raised by voters.
He said people sometimes begin conversations by questioning whether someone aged 22 has enough experience to represent them.
His response is that voters ultimately care about a candidate's values, commitment and willingness to fight for their community.
Scott also described his involvement with the Public Service Association and union advocacy over proposed changes to employment leave entitlements.
He argued that this work demonstrated his preference for collective action rather than political leadership built around one individual.
His early employment at a Hastings trade store also featured in the interview.
Scott said the experience taught him to respect physically demanding work, practical knowledge and the contribution of workers whose skills are not always recognised through formal qualifications.
For him, those experiences are part of the case that a young candidate can still understand the concerns of working people.
In his closing message to voters, Scott focused on three priorities.
He wants better healthcare staffing and access, stronger long-term employment opportunities and protection of Hawke's Bay's natural environment.
He argued that the region's economic future depends on both its people and the environmental conditions supporting its industries.
He also criticised the current government's economic and public-service decisions, urging voters to support a change of government.
Those criticisms were Scott's political assessments, not independently established findings of the interview.
Dan Scott's candidacy presents voters with two separate decisions.
The first is whether they believe a 22-year-old weather forecaster has the judgment, capability and leadership qualities required to represent Hawke's Bay in Parliament.
The second is whether they believe Labour deserves another opportunity to govern after its previous six years in office.
Scott offered a confident defence of Labour's past record and an ambitious picture of what he wants to achieve.
But the interview also highlighted areas where voters may want greater detail, particularly on how Labour would support small businesses facing higher costs, how proposed tax changes would affect households and what specific steps would deliver improvements in healthcare staffing.
His strongest answer was also his most testable.
He wants voters to hold him accountable for improving healthcare access in Hawke's Bay.
For Tukituki, that is where the campaign's promises meet the practical reality of political responsibility.
Whether Scott can turn those promises into results is the question voters will ultimately decide.
Interview Source: Webfit News Election 2026 interview with Dan Scott, Labour Party candidate for Tukituki.
Reporting Note: This article is based on the interview. Policy proposals, economic comparisons, workforce figures and political criticisms attributed to Scott reflect his statements during the interview and should not be interpreted as independently verified findings.
