Christopher Luxon speaks to the media from the national caucus retreat. Video / Paul Taylor
National leader Christopher Luxon says his party is “refreshed and renewed” and promised to “get things done” ahead of an election year.
Luxon, speaking at the National Party annual conference in Napier, said New Zealand was the best country in the world but was heading in the wrong direction under Labour.
“My team will spend 2023 demonstrating how National will deliver the change New Zealand needs to realise its great potential,” he said.
“New Zealand needs an alternative to Labour’s wasteful spending and inability to deliver. National is that alternative. National will get things done.”
On rising demand for food support, Luxon said it came back to the underlying causes of rising food prices.
He said the Government had not changed any of its economic settings despite the situation getting worse.
On Act’s call for a referendum on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its meaning, Luxon said he wasn’t in favour and thought that would be divisive.
Responding to Cameron Slater and Simon Lusk allegations of “dirty politics” around a Hawke’s Bay candidate selection, Luxon said the pair did not have a place with the party.
“That era of dirty politics is behind the National Party,” he said.
Luxon said any move to expel Lusk, who remains a member of the party, was a question for the party itself.
Luxon promoted former leaders Judith Collins and Todd Muller in his first National reshuffle of the year earlier today.
The reshuffle was based on talent and contribution, Luxon said. He said Collins had worked “incredibly hard” and deserved her place.
National leader Christopher Luxon speaks at the party conference in Napier. Photo / Paul Taylor
National's Judith Collins at the party conference in Napier. Photo / Paul Taylor
Collins, who was sitting at 19, near the bottom of the shadow Cabinet ranks before, has soared to number 10 on the list, and Muller, who was unranked, now sits at number 12.
“My team will spend 2023 demonstrating how National will deliver the change New Zealand needs to realise its great potential,” Luxon said.
Chris Bishop picks up urban development and RMA Reform portfolio. However, he has lost the shadow leader of the House portfolio to Michael Woodhouse, who held it when Collins was leader.
Collins has taken on the new roles of Foreign Direct Investment and Digitising Government. Muller has been given the agriculture portfolio, which he had held in an acting capacity.
He has taken climate change from Scott Simpson. Muller held both portfolios under Simon Bridges’ leadership and was charged with negotiating National’s support of the Zero Carbon Act.
However, back then Muller held the portfolios one after the other - climate change first, followed by agriculture. This time, he will hold both portfolios concurrently.
Other changes include Louise Upston adding family violence prevention to her portfolios of social development & employment child poverty reduction
Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis at the National Party conference in Napier. Photo / Paul Taylor
Simeon Brown has been given the new portfolio of Auckland issues.
Todd McClay has been given the new hunting and fishing portfolio. Penny Simmonds takes on the new portfolio of Workforce Planning.
New Hamilton West MP Tama Potaka has been given the Māori Development and Associate Housing portfolios, with a focus on social housing.
Barbara Kuriger - who resigned all of her portfolios last year - has been given Conservation, but she remains outside the shadow Cabinet. At Luxon’s first reshuffle, she was given a relatively high ranking of 10.
National leader Christopher Luxon speaks at the party conference in Napier on January 19, 2023. Photo / Paul Taylor
Luxon said it was up to Kuriger to show she could be an effective spokesperson in conservation. She was unranked in the reshuffle at the moment. He said it was up to her to demonstrate she had the judgment to become a potential minister.
Other portfolio allocations remain unchanged from Luxon’s existing line-up, which was announced in December 2021, a week after Luxon assumed the leadership of the party.
National has adopted a new policy of not ranking MPs beyond the shadow Cabinet, which includes the top 20 MPs.
