How have the Government and Christopher Luxon performed during the first 100 days? - On the Tiles

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has had his political judgment called into question after his decisions on a housing allowance. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Today marks the 100th day of the National-led Government, and as such, the end of its 49-point 100-day plan.

The coalition has achieved the bulk of those plans, with many of the law changes or reversals of the Labour Government being passed under urgency over the past four months.

On this week’s episode of On the Tiles, the NZ Herald’s politics podcast, host and deputy political editor Thomas Coughlan is joined by Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny and Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls to dissect the first 100 days and how the Government has performed in that time.

However, a victory lap to celebrate the achievements was derailed last week by revelations Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was accepting a $52,000 accommodation allowance. The allowance is made available to MPs who live outside of Wellington when staying in the capital.

Luxon was the first Prime Minister in 34 years to claim the subsidy rather than staying at Premier House - despite the fact he lives in an apartment he owns mortgage-free when staying in Wellington.

Walls said all signs indicate Luxon was given bad advice on what to do here that led to his quick reversal after initially standing his ground.

“There were these two interesting hours, which will, I think, be the most OIA’d [applications under the Official Information Act] hours so far in this Government’s tenure, which is between the press stand up where he dug in his heels and said, ‘I am entitled to this money, I’m going to get this money, this is my money’, just basically like a political dragon.

“And then a couple of hours later, when he went on to [Newstalk] ZB with Heather du Plessis-Allan and said, ‘yeah, I’m going to pay it back’.”

Coughlan said the incident, as well as reading badly with the public, likely was felt badly inside Cabinet and the wider National Party.

“You have a massive caucus, all of them thinking, ‘hold on, I’m a first-term back bencher and I have better political judgment than the Prime Minister. It’s quite worrying that the person with some of the worst political judgment in the Parliament at the moment is the Prime Minister. When in history has that been the case, that he’s probably in the bottom 20 per cent of MPs when it comes to political judgment?”

He said this story has been bubbling away for a few months now, with multiple reporters asking the question since December, so Luxon knew it was coming and still did it anyway.

Tibshraeny said it is a sign of hypocrisy, because the Government has asked the public service to find savings of up to 7.5 per cent, but Luxon wasn’t leading from the front here.

And the financial situation is expected to get worse, as the tax take has fallen in recent months, with some economists predicting this could continue for some time. This has prompted Finance Minister Nicola Willis to drop multiple hints that getting back to surplus by 2027 may not be possible.

Listen to the full episode of the On the Tiles podcast for more discussion on the state of finances and the Government’s first 100 days, including the best-performing ministers and policies.

On the Tiles is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are available on Fridays. The podcast is hosted by NZ Herald deputy politics editor Thomas Coughlan.