Prime Minister Christopher Luxon speaking at Botany Downs Secondary College with Education Minister Erica Stanford. Photo: Calvin Samuel / RNZ
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon denies the government has lost its focus, as calls intensify for the government to take action to help pull Auckland out of its economic slump.
Earlier this month Auckland Business Chamber boss Simon Bridges called on the government to do more to stimulate the economy in the supercity. The latest Stats NZ data showed Auckland's 6.1 percent unemployment rate for the June 2025 quarter was the worst of all regions, ahead of the national rate of 5.2 percent.
An article in the the Sunday Star-Times at the weekend said "many business leaders and political insiders, including those from traditional centre-right bases of support for National, are beginning to doubt whether" Luxon's coalition has an economic plan.
Heart of the City boss Viv Beck said "Rome is burning for some of our small businesses", and Newmarket Business Association head Mark Knoff-Thomas said it was "ludicrous" the government was spending its time reordering words on passport covers instead of focusing on the economy.
Mayor Wayne Brown wants a bed night levy, which the government is not keen on.
"They'll cave in. They want to be elected…. They'll cave in on this, mate. This is a third of New Zealand. This is the city that decides who's the government."
Luxon told RNZ's Morning Report the government was "not focused on passport changes" but would not be implementing a bed tax.
"We're actually focused 100 percent on actually growing this economy … We inherited the big recession. We've had a massive post-Covid hangover," he said.
We've had a lot of international challenges with respect to tariffs, and what that's done for sentiment and confidence, but I just say to you, we're also seeing a recovery in New Zealand."
Luxon said South Island primary industries were "growing strongly" but "we know we've got work to do in our cities".
He pointed to the government's fast-track scheme for big projects, capital investment write-offs for small businesses and making it easier to get things built.
"It's really tough in Auckland and also in Wellington, you know? If you're in Christchurch, it's different, as I said before, but, you know, there's no doubt about it," Luxon said
"We're open to continuing to look at what more we can do. We're pretty dynamic and agile. We keep adjusting and doing things to adjust to the circumstances that we're in."
One recent poll saw Labour surge ahead of National, and Luxon neck-and-neck with Labour's Chris Hipkins as preferred prime minister. Another had National and Labour in a statistical, ditto for Luxon and Hipkins, with just 1 percentage point separating the parties and leaders.
When Bridges led the National Party, it regularly polled in the 40s. He was rolled as leader in 2020 after a collapse in the party's support as Covid-19 spread the world.
Luxon said he would "absolutely" be leading National into the 2026 election.
"For me it's actually staying focused on what New Zealanders care about and that is actually us fixing this economy.
"I appreciate it's been difficult, you know, we've had a very difficult, you know, a poor inheritance, but, you know, our job is to fix it for New Zealanders and that's what we're going to do every day."
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