Election 2023: National leader Christopher Luxon takes leaf out of Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s book, declares war on road cones and speed limits

National leader Christopher Luxon added a twist of Wayne Brown to his campaign on Sunday, saying there were far too many road cones in the country and National would get rid of some of them.

Luxon spent the day campaigning in PM Chris Hipkins’ electorate of Remutaka before travelling over to Greytown for his announcement of the day, restoring 100km/h speed limits across many state highways and restricting speed limit reductions in urban centres to around schools.

The policy would set a 110km/h limit on recent expressways, including the Puhoi-to-Warkworth motorway, if a review under way found that was safe.

And National has also promised to require contractors to reduce the use of road cones, remove them quickly after a project is finished and to limit temporary speed restrictions at roadworks where they were not warranted – such as after road workers had clocked off.

That announcement met with short shrift from Labour leader Chris Hipkins, who said it was similar to what Labour was already doing. Hipkins had backtracked on the speed limit reductions on all but the most unsafe roads as part of his bonfire of policies early in the year.

“[National is] packaging up stuff that’s already happening now and trying to make it look like it’s their own.”

National made the announcement on the side of SH2 in the Wairarapa, where the reduction of the speed limit to 80km/h is a hot local topic. The seat is currently held by Labour MP Kieran McAnulty -National hopes to win it back with its candidate Mike Butterick.

Luxon took a jab at McAnulty, saying McAnulty was not a fan of the 80km/h limit in the electorate but had failed to stop it. “He couldn’t get it done. I guarantee you, Mike Butterick can get it done,” Luxon said.

Luxon later spoke to the local party faithful, where he echoed Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s campaign crusade against road cones and added them to the list of baddies, along with speed limits and potholes.

“We’ve got to do a hell of a lot of work on making sure we reduce cones, because we are the world’s best at putting out cones.” He went on to say that managing temporary speed limits should be done differently: “So actually, when there’s no one working, you know, at nighttime, why on earth are we going at that speed?”

He then joked that somebody could set up a good business setting out road cones around the world.

Speed limits have become one of the election issues bubbling away on the sidelines, along with potholes, as National has sought to make electoral gain out of the things annoying voters in their daily lives.

Neither Luxon nor transport spokesman Simeon Brown could answer what the impact of the changes would be on the number of road fatalities or accidents – the main driver behind Labour’s initial move to lower the limits. In 2022, the cost to ACC of road-related injuries was almost $610 million.

Luxon said National was committed to safe roads, but that had to be done by building roads rather than making unilateral decisions which do not always make sense.

Labour has backed Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency’s Road to Zero campaign, which aims to reduce deaths and injuries by 40 per cent by 2030.

However, Brown accused Labour of using road safety as an excuse for an “anti-car ideology”.

He said roads should be built to be safer, rather than there being blanket speed limit reductions even on safe roads. He said that had flow-on economic effects as it took longer for people and goods to get to their destinations.

The speed limit along the predominantly straight and flat State Highway 2 through the Wairarapa dropped from 100km/h to 80km/h early this year – and National is clearly relying on riled voters appreciating a return to 100km/h.

As Luxon and Brown announced the policy, there were honks and toots from a number of passing cars and utes.

National Party leader Christopher Luxon tries his hand pulling at pint at the White Swan Country Hotel in Greytown. Photo / Claire Trevett

Earlier in the day, Luxon had visited the markets at Brewtown in Upper Hutt – and Treasury might want to start to add Luxon’s shopping habits to its list of inflationary impacts.

He was clearly one of those people who feels obliged to buy from any stall he stopped at.

He bought some honey, a date cider vinegar tonic and a packet of biltong in quick succession after chatting with the stall holders about their backgrounds. He resisted the temptation to buy slices – but did make MP Chris Bishop buy some.

At one stage, he noted to a staffer that he might have to get a trolley.

His final purchase was a blue beanie, which he later said had a looser weave than he’d expected so might not provide the warmth he’d hoped for. He did manage to resist buying from another stall holder who asked him what he would do for the hemp industry. When he asked what she sold, she replied: “Drugs.” He’d gone by the time she admitted she’d been joking, and she actually sold healing crystals.

He got a warm reception from stall holders and attendees, including one woman telling him they had always voted Labour but would be switching to National this time round.

Luxon ended his campaigning by expanding his skill set further in Greytown at the White Swan Country Hotel, where he learned how to pour a pint. As with his earlier efforts at milking goats, Luxon would not give up until he got it right. That took him three goes – his second effort was particularly abysmal on the froth front. The hospitality manager Jaime Smylie later admitted she’d started him on the Heineken because it was trickier to pour than the other beers: “It’s good to test them.”

However, she judged his final effort not too bad for a teetotaller.