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Welcome to Inside Politics in what may be a crucial time in Christopher Luxon’s bid to turn around New Zealand’s fortunes and his own. He began the week learning that not only did National’s own pollster have the Coalition lagging behind the centre-left bloc, but that he was no longer the preferred Prime Minister.
Today, with his trademark effervescence, he opened the Infrastructure Investment Summit in Auckland for a group of international high-flyers who have $6 trillion in management.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis spoke next about big vision stuff and the stability New Zealand offers investors amid global turmoil.
Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop scrubbed up to set out the nuts and bolts of investment here in his inimitable straight-up style.
With US President Donald Trump oblivious to the global effects of a trade war he is starting, the timing of the event couldn’t be better for New Zealand.
Deputy political editor Thomas Coughlan will bring more details over the next couple of days.
At the weekend, Luxon leaves behind exploding lunches and other domestic problems to lead a delegation to India – and everything points to trade talks starting following his meeting with Narendra Modi. Fingers crossed that the plane doesn’t break down.
We know that Luxon likes to take care in who he takes on international trips and undoubtedly who he selects as leaders, and it is a prestigious delegation designed to show India that it matters.
Air NZ and ASB board chair Dame Therese Walsh and former New Zealand cricketer Ross Taylor will lead the business delegation. Left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel is part of the community delegation.
Taylor played in the India Premier League for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils (later Delhi Capitals).
The delegation includes several ministers: Todd McClay, Louise Upston and Mark Mitchell; MPs from across the House: Andy Foster, Carlos Cheung, Priyanca Radhakrishnan and Parmjeet Parmar; and a few former MPs as well – Simon Bridges as head of the Auckland Business Chamber, Nathan Guy as chair of the Meat Industry Association, and Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi as part of the community delegation.
Some of my Press Gallery colleagues gave the Prime Minister a hard time on Monday for letting his endurance athlete and MP Andrew Bayly go trekking to Everest base camp after he lost his ministerial job (for grabbing a staffer’s arm).
It seemed a heartless response by journalists and Luxon stood his ground, saying Bayly had wanted two weeks to clear his head. He added: “He’ll be back here next week doing his electorate work as he’s expected to do.”
But it turns out he won’t be back at work until the following week – and that’s three weeks' leave, not two.
Former Beehive insider Mike Munro, who has trekked there himself, raised questions about the “two weeks” after the PM’s presser: “Base camp walk plus rest days for altitude sickness protocols, plus travel to Nepal and back, means he’ll be absent from NZ for 18 days minimum,” he texted.
Two weeks might have been okay. But three weeks is excessive – and it’s not okay to blur the facts.
My guess is that Bayly has had plenty of time to decide that he will not be standing for National in Hunua in next year’s election.
This time last week, the news broke that UK High Commissioner Phil Goff had been dismissed by Foreign Minister Winston Peters for disparaging comments about Donald Trump at a public event.
Goff has had some support from a few former Labour colleagues, but most commentators have agreed Peters' decision was justified. It is not a matter of censoring criticism of Trump, but of knowing it is the job of politicians, not diplomats, to do so. And Goff overstepped the line. Fittingly for such an important post, former Secretary of Foreign Affairs Chris Seed is replacing him for now.
It may be of little comfort to Goff, but Peters struck the right notes in his press statement paying tribute to Goff, a former adversary.
“Mr Goff has contributed significantly to the interests of our country over a long period of time,” Peters said. “As a senior Minister with a range of domestic and internationally focused portfolios, Mayor of Auckland, and then as a diplomat, Mr Goff has dedicated his professional life to serving the New Zealand people. We continue to hold him in high esteem, and we wish him well.”
The one upside to the Goff sacking is that when he returns, nothing will constrain him from adding his voice to commentary on Trump and global affairs.
Peter leaves today for the United States, where he’ll spend time first at the United Nations and then on to Washington next week for his first meeting with man of the moment Marco Rubio, who is trying to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine. See below for my preview of that meeting.
• Pun alert: Associate Agriculture Minister Andrew Hoggard told Parliament he plans to let veterinary nurses extract the teeth of cats and dogs, reversing prior restrictions by Labour, which he described as a “cat-astrophe”.
• The Cook Islands Ombudswoman, Niki Rattle, paid her own way to participate in a farewell function at Parliament on Tuesday for her highly esteemed New Zealand counterpart, Judge Peter Boshier. He has set a very high standard for John Allen to follow.
• The Herald‘s Adam Pearse, who will be covering the PM’s trip to India, distinguished himself in a media v MPs cricket game in Wellington last Sunday, retiring on 50 and claiming a wicket. The media team won by 29 runs against the MPs, who included James Meager, Andy Foster, Kieran McAnulty, Chris Bishop, Tim Costley and Greg O’Connor.
• After Libelle, one of the sub-contractors to the much-troubled Compass school lunch programme, went into liquidation this week, some lunches were flown over to New Zealand from Australian suppliers.
Christopher Luxon: “[I’ve] got huge heart for a parent whose child has been burnt through an exploding lunch like that.” No Prime Minister should ever have to utter such words over a Government lunch programme.
Who is Labour’s new education spokesperson? (Answer below.)
Goes to Andrew Bayly for taking three weeks' leave after resigning as a minister. Two weeks might have been okay. But three weeks is way too indulgent.
Goes to Labour list MP Camilla Belich for getting a bill passed into law last night making intentional theft of wages by an employer a criminal offence – and to former MP Ibrahim Omer, who originally brought the bill to Parliament in 2023.
Investment summit: Investors managing funds worth more than $6 trillion are in Auckland today for the Government’s Infrastructure Investment Summit.
DEI controversy: Winston Peters has deflected questions about whether NZ First’s candidate ranking policy counts as diversity, equity and inclusion.
DEI controversy: Public Service Minister Judith Collins wants people to stop “putting labels” on others as NZ First seeks to remove DEI rules from the public sector.
Henare hearing: Senior Labour MP Peeni Henare has told the Privileges Committee he stands by his decision to perform a haka in the House over the Treaty Principles Bill.
OPINION - US meeting: Foreign Minister Winston Peters will next week meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington DC. Audrey Young outlines what’s at stake.
Govt contracts: Finance Minister Nicola Willis is proposing changes to Government procurement rules to make it easier for local firms to win contracts.
OPINION - polls: The faces of National MPs in the House on Tuesday told the story of the party’s gloomy poll results, writes Thomas Coughlan.
Loan repayments: Student loan borrowers will find themselves forking out slightly more in repayments from May after the Government froze the student loan repayment threshold.
Bayly holiday: Embattled former minister Andrew Bayly has taken two weeks' leave from Parliament to trek to Mt Everest’s base camp in Nepal.
OPINION - public sector exodus: Barely a week goes by without a public sector leader announcing their resignation, writes Audrey Young – and some of those resignations raise questions.
Land acquisition: The Government wants to turbo-charge its already controversial fast-track regime by speeding up the process to acquire private land for major infrastructure projects.
Quiz answer: Willow-Jean Prime, who picked it up from Jan Tinetti in last week’s reshuffle.
For more political news and views, listen to On the Tiles, the Herald’s politics podcast.
Phase 1 of the project will cost up to $800 million and use a Public Private Partnership.