When asked if he told Amanda on his first date that he would be Prime Minister, Luxon said he had an interest in going into politics ultimately but wanted to do other things beforehand.
”I thought going into politics with some real-world experience would be a good thing and it’s actually been very useful,” he said.
“But I was focused on the wedding mostly.”
Luxon said, on the day, there was a Jimmy Barnes concert going on at Hagley Park and their reception was at the George Hotel.
”I remember the big issue of the day was if Jimmy Barnes would be finished before the guests arrive for our reception.”
The Prime Minister also talked about his plans for the upcoming political year.
“I’m back to work this Wednesday night, and everyone else will be back to work on Monday January 15,” he said.
“We’ve got our cabinet sub-committees, we’ve got a caucus off-site and we’ll just be rolling through our 100-day action plan.
Luxon listed the coalition’s achievements passed under urgency at the end of last year such as repealing the Resource Management Act, getting rid of Fair Pay Agreements, bringing back 90 day trials, and scrapping the Ute Tax.
“I want the cabinet ruthlessly focused on getting the 100-day action plan done, and then we’ll roll into another series of action plans as we go through the year.”
Luxon said they will be kicking off the party’s gang legislation such as banning patches, anti-consorting dispersal laws, and aggravating factors in sentencing.
“We’ve been getting advice for officials into how to bring that into legislation and Mark Mitchell will lead us through that in the first quarter of this year.”
When asked about the progress of the new promised medical school, Luxon said he wants to have a memorandum of understanding up, and have a good business case attached to it.
“There are 360 New Zealand medical students studying in Australia and the problem is not being able to expand spaces.
“So we’re expanding places both in Otago and Auckland, and we’re also going to open up a third medical school which will be post-graduate.
“We’re also going to orientate it towards rural New Zealand so you’re doing a year at Waikato and then out into the regions.”
He wants to open the new school in 2027.
The Herald also understands that former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, 43, and her TV presenter beau Clarke Gayford, 47, will wed this month.
