National Party leader in Tauranga: Christopher Luxon visits foodbank, Seeka packhouse, university

Rising living costs, “emerging” crime issues and a city going without “desperately” needed infrastructure.

Those are the top three issues for Tauranga described by National Party leader Christopher Luxon during a visit today.

Hosted by the Tauranga Business Chamber, Luxon spoke to a group at the University of Waikato’s Tauranga campus about how living costs, law and order and delivering better health and education would be his main priorities if elected.

He was joined by Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell and National’s newly selected Bay of Plenty electorate candidate Tom Rutherford.

The trio spent the morning at Tauranga Community Foodbank then headed to Seeka’s Mount Maunganui kiwifruit packhouse.

Luxon said his visit to the foodbank highlighted that Tauranga residents were “wrestling with the cost of living crisis” like many other communities.

People with “good jobs on average incomes” were now “incredibly squeezed” and reaching out to foodbanks for support, he said.

Other major issues facing the region included “emerging and challenging issues around crime”, as well as infrastructure not keeping up with population growth.

“Those are themes that are consistent across New Zealand but they are certainly felt here very strongly.”

Luxon said Uffindell and Rutherford had been “pushing us really hard” to consider certain infrastructure projects, such as the Takitimu Northern Link highway build.

In his speech, Luxon said being in Tauranga “you can see what was a town - now our fifth largest city - not having the infrastructure it desperately needs”.

Central and local governments needed to partner and look at what infrastructure would “make the most amount of difference to the most amount of people in the fastest amount of time”, he said.

“What you observe in New Zealand is a road starts under one Government, it gets turned off at the next one and turned back on with the other one. It goes on forever and ever …”

He told the crowd National would soon share exactly how it planned to tackle these issues.

National's Sam Uffindell, Tom Rutherford and Christopher Luxon during the media stand-up. Photo / Alex Cairns

On local representation, Luxon told the Bay of Plenty Times Uffindell advocated “incredibly strongly for the people of the Bay” outlining needs and challenges.

“Both those lads [Uffindell and Rutherford] are not afraid of telling us what they think.”

Asked to address the lack of diversity in the party’s local representation, Luxon said: “What I have been wanting to do under my leadership is build back across the country to make sure we are a National Party that is representing and able to talk to all communities.”

“I think you will see us go to the election with a really diverse set of candidates.

“At the end of the day, it’s a decision for local electorates to make as to who best can represent them.”

Uffindell said the top four candidates shortlisted for the position Rutherford won included a woman, a Māori candidate and a “middle-aged white male”.

Speaking to media, Luxon said tackling crime in New Zealand was front of mind after a crime spree in Christchurch overnight and a Mongrel Mob incident outside a Palmerston North cafe last week.

Banning gang patchers, giving police warrantless search powers and military academies for young offenders were some of the ways National would address crime in New Zealand, Luxon said.

On the cost of the military academies, Luxon said: “If you can secure better results that cause less financial harm, but also less social harm it pays back very quickly.”