National leader Christopher Luxon at the party conference in Christchurch. Photo / George Heard
National leader Christopher Luxon at the party conference in Christchurch. Photo / George Heard
National Party members and delegates waking up in Christchurch after the first day of their party's annual conference this morning might be scratching their heads, trying to remember what happened the day before.
This may not be due to any alcohol drunk on Saturday night, but simply because the previous day's proceedings were decidedly uneventful compared to recent years.
For the first time in recent memory, there were no sitting or former prime ministers in attendance.
Stretching back to 2018, John Key has made an appearance at the party's AGMs and conferences - and prior to that, the prime minister was the leader of the National Party.
Sunday is likely to be the more memorable day with leader Christopher Luxon announcing a social investment-style policy that looks at addressing long-term unemployment among the 18-24 age bracket. The policy will look at giving young people who are on a jobseeker benefit for an extended period of time an individualised job coach.
The most memorable incident on Saturday was outgoing president Peter Goodfellow's brush with fate when he precariously positioned a gifted Chinese vase on the edge of a one-legged coffee table - the audience of 650 gasped as it looked like Goodfellow might accidentally knock the vase to the ground.
But the vase remained firmly on the table, and the first day of the conference went off mainly without a hitch, despite an absence of former prime ministers.
Unlike last year, the leader was not humiliated by their own members protesting the party's conversion therapy ban, and Goodfellow gave a straight-down-the-line speech, unlike his 2020 effort that railed against the "temporary tyranny" of lockdowns and Jacinda Ardern's "tele-vangelical" 1pm press conferences.
Luxon even attempted a walkabout - one of the most high-risk political setpieces - taking a wander with the media along Christchurch's Avon River to the Riverside Market. National members might shudder, remembering Judith Collins' infamous wander along Ponsonby Rd during the 2020 election campaign, but Luxon's 2022 attempt went off mostly without a hitch.
Nearly everyone Luxon met was happy to see him. Luxon playfully asked whether a bald diner at a cafe could remove his cap so they might bond over their mutual baldness. The man happily complied, but quickly put his cap back on when the press pack trained their lenses on him, saying he didn't want to be on the news. Luxon, realising the stunt might go wrong, quickly moved the pack along.
Christopher and Amanda Luxon walk through Christchurch. Photo / George Heard
Likewise two groups of people heckled Luxon about his anti-abortion stuff. Luxon ignored it, and the pack moved him on. Walkabouts are high-risk events. He handled the road bumps well.
He's certainly managed to drag National from the depths of 2020 and 2021 - that's a start, but it's not yet clear that he'll be able to snatch power from Labour in 2023. The mood in the conference was positive, but not barnstorming, the people encountered on the walkabout were also positive (one woman stopped her car to howl support from her window), but Jacindamania this ain't.
Yes, he met supporters, but he wasn't mobbed.
The conference concludes Sunday with a speech from Luxon and the announcement of the party's new president, widely expected to be Sylvia Wood.
