Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and wife Amanda talking to university students in Fiji. Photo / Adam Pearse
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and wife Amanda talking to university students in Fiji. Photo / Adam Pearse
Behind the scenes of his first trip to the Pacific, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was on a secret mission.
A mission to avenge his beloved Crusaders who failed to make the Super Rugby playoffs for the first time in almost a decade - at the hands of the Fijian Drua.
The outcome, which followed a dismal season for the Canterbury side, was brought up regularly during Luxon’s visit to Fiji last week. Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka took great pleasure in mentioning it, even gifting Luxon a Drua shirt.
Luxon to his credit appeared magnanimous in defeat, saying the result had helped avoid a “diplomatic incident”.
However, Luxon was pinning his hopes on his Defence Force enacting some revenge, with one of the final engagements on his visit being a game of rugby sevens against a team from the Fiji military.
The Crusaders-tragic was made to wait for the opportunity, however, with a packed itinerary from his arrival on Wednesday evening from Niue to the game at midday on Friday.
Any doubt about how Luxon would be received in Fiji quickly dissipated when the New Zealand delegation drove from the airport and was greeted with an enormous billboard with Luxon’s face on it, celebrating his visit.
It turned out to be the first of three replica billboards along the route from the airport to his accommodation. Clearly Luxon’s warm welcome in Niue earlier in the week was set to be continued.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon drinking his kava at his welcome ceremony in Fiji. Photo / Meta
A traditional welcome for Luxon by Rabuka brought the Kiwi PM face-to-face with a customary serving of kava. That item on the itinerary had piqued journalists’ interest, given kava’s known relaxing effect and Luxon being tee-total.
Eagle-eyed members of the audience may have seen the Prime Minister’s expression betray a slight grimace at the point of consumption. Luxon later rebuffed any suggestion he hadn’t enjoyed his drink.
Thursday’s assortment of meetings with Fijian leaders came after a fairly corporate function at Tower Insurance’s branch in Suva where he learned of the company’s presence in Fiji.
The hundreds of Tower staff may not have appreciated the visit as much as their bosses. Even though Luxon didn’t arrive until after 8am, most staff had arrived by 6.30am and had to keep their desktop screens on the default homepage image - essentially meaning they had to twiddle their thumbs until the PM turned up.
There was a quick engagement with Fiji President Ratu Williame Katonivere before his meeting and press conference with Rabuka later in the morning. That included the gifting of the Drua shirt which Luxon immediately recognised as a not-so-subtle joke about the Crusaders.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was gifted a Fijian Drua Super Rugby jersey by Fiji PM Sitiveni Rabuka. Photo / Pool
Luxon’s gift to Rabuka was quite a success. Some were surprised to learn the Fijian PM, a former soldier and Commonwealth Games athlete, was also an amateur harmonicist. Luxon claimed he’d gifted a rare Hohner harmonica. Rabuka took it out of its case and played a few notes, much to Luxon’s delight.
The pair’s press conference progressed as expected with Luxon announcing a $2 billion trade target by 2030 and the removal of a transit visa implemented after Fiji’s 2006 coup that applied to Fijian nationals, which Luxon deemed a “major irritant”.
After a brief meeting with Pacific Islands Forum leader Baron Waqa, Luxon headed to Fiji’s police dog centre for a much-anticipated interaction with adorable police dogs in training.
Prime Ministers’ staff and security always get a bit twitchy when events like this take place. It’s an unpredictable environment where risk mitigation is limited, particularly when he’s centimetres away from animals still learning how to moderate their instinct to maul people.
Their blood pressure would have surely spiked when 18-month-old Scully leapt up at Luxon, dirtying the PM’s suit with his paws. Luxon luckily escaped with all 10 fingers still intact.
Police dog Scully jumps up on Christopher Luxon during the PM's visit to Fiji's police dog unit in Suva. Photo / Adam Pearse
A stop-off at the University of South Pacific to speak with students receiving New Zealand funding happened on the way to the airport before a 40-minute flight to Nadi, the final location of Luxon’s Pacific visit.
On Friday morning, Luxon delivered the keynote address at a joint conference for New Zealand and Fiji business representatives. This is when the rugby banter really started to ramp up with just hours until kickoff. Luxon gave the crowd of more than 100 a briefing on the situation and referenced his hope the “Defence Blacks” could make up for the Crusaders’ demise.
The Herald learned New Zealand’s efforts to get the win even extended to discussions with Fiji’s team about resting some of the home side’s more accomplished players in the hope it would even the playing field.
Luxon also revealed he’d offered his services to the Defence Force team but was “very politely denied”. New Zealand politicians have form in this area, given former Foreign Minister Murray McCully took the field during a previous visit.
Even if the team had said yes, Luxon suggested his wife Amanda may have put the kibosh on that given Luxon’s self-confessed habit of pulling hamstrings when he was more active over summer.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon hoped to get one over on Fijian PM Sitiveni Rabuka in a sevens game between the New Zealand Defence Force and the Fijian military. Photo / Adam Pearse
Luxon was probably thankful he wasn’t lacing up his boots upon arrival at the ground. A searing heat greeted the players as they ran out on to King Charles Park which had even spectators sweating.
Despite the odds against them, the Defence Blacks took a commanding lead in the early stage of the game, leading the Fijians 12-nil.
A group of local school children were surprisingly supportive of the Defence Blacks. The Herald later found out Amanda Luxon had taken a somewhat diplomatic role to advocate for New Zealand which was clearly quite effective.
Luxon, sitting next to Rabuka, wasted no time in alerting his Fijian counterpart to New Zealand’s success. Rabuka didn’t appear too worried.
The Fijian PM was vindicated shortly after when a Defence Black was temporarily sent off for a failed attempt at an intercept. Fiji used the one-man advantage to great effect, levelling up the game at halftime.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon reminds Fijian PM Sitiveni Rabuka New Zealand has just scored. Photo / Adam Pearse
The Prime Minister’s delegation then pulled their wildcard - having Luxon’s right-hand-man Jake O’Flaherty, also a regular Hurricanes game announcer, make a guest appearance with mic in hand to commentate the game for spectators.
Unfortunately for Luxon, O’Flaherty’s dulcet tones weren’t enough to combat the Fijians’ trademark flair and passing prowess, which proved too much for the Defence Blacks.
A consolation try at the death for the visitors kept the scoreline respectable, the Fijians winning 24-17 and leaving Luxon’s mission an unsuccessful one.
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
