Labour's latest soul-searching mission has landed it at the epicentre of its electoral defeat - Auckland.
The party caucus spent two days in the City of Sails talking to Aucklanders about what went wrong and how they can make it right.
"[We] all know the size of the overall job we've got ahead," leader Chris Hipkins said.
Nine months on from the election, Labour's stuck in its reflection era - still picking over the remains of obliteration.
Asked when that reflection era ended for Labour, Hipkins said: "I think we have to constantly review where we're at. We are only six, seven months in."
Labour is slowing building up to start talking about a rebuild.
"[We're] rebuilding our movement so we're a formidable force when we head into the next election," Hipkins said. "We've got a lot of work to do."
Just don't expect them to serve up any policy yet.
"The policy part of the process is going to take a while," said Hipkins. "We're doing that simultaneously alongside the listening exercise.
"I think people are hearing from us now but in terms of new policy I think it's still too early for that."
Labour had been deliberately keeping a low profile, aware the public didn't really want to hear from them for a while.
The party has been in a state of internal soul searching - this two-day trip to Auckland was about reconnecting with the public.
Auckland is where elections are won and lost - and Labour knows it.
Hipkins acknowledged Labour would need to win back a big chunk of support in Auckland if the party wanted to be back in Government in two years.
The three c's are what lost it for them; COVID-19, crime and cost of living. Hipkins had a direct ministerial hand in two of those problems - he was the Police Minister while retail crime soared.
He was also the COVID-19 Response Minister that kept Auckland locked down for three months.
Asked whether he was the right person to win back Auckland, Hipkins said: "Yeah, I am - I think I'm the right person to lead the Labour team into the next election."
He said 2026 wouldn't be a rerun of last year's election campaign and Labour would be offering different policies.
And Hipkins' Auckland MPs are backing him. The challenge now is keeping the team together until the party pops its head above the policy parapet and faces the internal turmoil over tax.
