The strategies used by the Indigenous community policing alternative are in stark contrast to more muscular tactics pitched by the incoming government.
The rightward shift came as voters punished the party once led by Jacinda Ardern for failing to deliver the transformational change that it had promised.
Mr. Hipkins, who will be sworn in this week, has nine months to persuade voters who cooled on Jacinda Ardern’s government that he’s a fresh alternative.
Ms. Ardern maneuvered through one crisis after another but had less success confronting persistent challenges that have hobbled successive governments.