Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has confirmed his first official overseas visit since taking office will be to Australia to meet with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday.
Luxon began his briefing by saying everywhere you looked, Labour had left a mess in the economy, with "wasteful spending that shows a cavalier attitude to taxpayers' money and poor management of the government's own books".
In relation to the Kāinga Ora review announced today, Luxon said: "We all use public services but some New Zealanders have higher needs than others and one place where that is obvious is in social housing. You're all familiar with the story of higher rents - up over $180 a week under Labour, pushing more people onto the waiting list for social housing.
"There is a lot of complexity in housing, some of the most vulnerable New Zealanders depend on Kāinga Ora and it's important to understand what's going on there."
He says the government is concerned about the governance and management of an asset which is socially and economically important to New Zealand.
"With $45 billion worth of property - roughly around 8 percent of Crown assets - it's important for the Crown's balance sheet too and its debt trajectory is frankly quite concerning."
He says it's a familiar story of Labour hiring more people to produce worse results.
The review is one of the items on the government's 100-day plan.
Housing Minister Chris Bishop who also attended the briefing says it's essential that the government has a high degree of confidence in the operation of Kāinga Ora.
He says the level of debt is "obviously a worry" and he's also deeply concerned about the operating deficit, which is forecast to continue to increase.
"This deficit has a direct impact on OBEGAL and continues to put pressure on the return to OBEGAL surplus."
Bishop says Treasury provided additional advice about Kāinga Ora but the government will look to release as much as they can as the review gets finalised.
"Bearing in mind Kāinga Ora is a $45b entity, it has significant private borrowings, and so there is some information that is commercially sensitive but as much as we can make public we will."
He says he's advised Kāinga Ora is solvent, but "I'm also advised that there are worrying trends in the financial performance".
Bishop points to an increase in back-office staff which "has not necessarily flowed through to better outcomes, both in terms of construction of houses but also tenancy management."
"Kāinga Ora no longer borrows in its own right ... but it is true to say that over the last few years they've had significant private borrowings. That will be one of the issues canvassed by the review team."
Trip to Sydney
Luxon's trip this week will include a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Sydney, with Australia's federal Parliament in Canberra already risen for the summer break.
"New Zealand as you all know has no better friend and no closer ally than Australia and it is right that my first official visit is across the Tasman," he told the briefing.
"Prime Minister Albanese and I have met before the election and also in my former life, but it is important to both of us to get together informally before Christmas so we can reach some understandings on how our governments can even work more closely together."
He says he is determined to bring "new urgency, new intensity to our international engagements and relationships and that starts with Australia".
"It is a relationship that I don't want to ever take for granted.
"Speaking of that relationship our emergency services stand ready to help following the devastating flooding in Queensland. As far as I'm aware there has been no request from Australia for assistance but we have offered because that's what friends do."
Luxon says he used to catch up with Albanese for lunch and meetings when he would go to Australia in his previous capacity and he always found him someone good to spend time with, and Luxon introduced Albanese to the 2017 government when he then visited Auckland.
He says the help offered to Australia for the Queensland floods could be New Zealanders "physically going over there and actually assisting if they need more arms and legs on the ground".
"That's been our offer of help. Whatever form they request of need we're happy to make available our resources and our people to support them."
Luxon says it will be clear tomorrow whether they will be travelling on the Defence Force's 757 plane or a P-8 or a commercial flight.
He had promised when in opposition not to fly with the Defence Force, but now says "coming this close before Christmas, actually a desire to get to Australia beforehand and actually wanting to take media with us, it was the convenient option to do so".
"But as you've seen in recent weeks, the reliability of that fleet is challenged and again it raises into question what is our long-term solution to all of that."
Luxon said Albanese was one of the first international leaders he spoke with after the election, and he was looking forward to ongoing discussions throughout his term.
"The coalition government will be engaging internationally with new urgency and intensity, to invest in relationships, increase prosperity and enhance our security.
"That starts with Australia, New Zealand's most important partner and only ally. We are deeply connected on every level and on every issue and have strong people-to-people ties.
"There'll be lots to talk about on Wednesday, and I look forward to deepening the relationship with the prime minister."
Luxon said he and Albanese would discuss the two countries' close security and defence partnership. He was also planning to meet with investors in New Zealand, saying there needed to be greater focus on improving the business environment on both sides of the Tasman.
During the election campaign, Luxon had pledged to make Australia his first official trip.
His predecessor, Chris Hipkins, made a similar commitment, taking a day trip to Canberra in February shortly after becoming prime minister.
Luxon was unable to attend the Pacific Islands Forum in the Cook Islands, as well as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, due to the coalition negotiations.
Luxon and Albansese have met before, when Albanese visited Wellington in July and spoke with Luxon as then-leader of the Opposition. The two also met a few times when Luxon was Air New Zealand CEO and Albanese was Australia's transport minister.
Te reo controversy
Luxon has been under fire today after it was revealed that taxpayers paid for his te reo Māori lessons, despite criticising spending on te reo Māori lessons for public servants.
He says it is not hypocritical for him to have used taxpayer money to learn te reo Māori when he was threatening to scrap incentives for public servants who do the same.
"I think that would make me a better prime minister or better leader of the opposition by actually doing that and so using those funds for those purposes I think was a good use of that investment and I would encourage, frankly, anyone to invest in that professional development here at Parliament.
"If it helps them represent more New Zealanders and be politicians for all New Zealanders that's important."
He says the party would certainly support people learning the language if that was critical to their job, "but what we're talking about here is something quite different, we're talking about bonuses on top of remuneration".
"There is a difference here."
He says it's a "key part of my job, I felt, so that's why I feel like learning te reo was a good thing and I'll continue to do that going forward".
"We think if you've got a need to learn and upskill in it, you should get supported doing that if that's part of your job, that's great."
Asked if the public has received a good outcome for the investment in him, he says "as I said to you, I found it really difficult ... it can be intimidating trying to learn a new language from scratch at an older stage.
"I think they have, they've got a prime minister who's keen to learn te reo, and wants to get better at it and actually wants to improve my skills in it because I think it's important because I want to be a prime minister that governs for all New Zealanders."
Luxon was speaking at the post-Cabinet media briefing after announcing more repeals of the former government's policies.
The latest project to go is Let's Get Wellington Moving, with the new government instead opting to fund a second Mount Victoria tunnel and upgrade the Basin Reserve.
It will also be releasing a "mini, mini, mini Budget" on Wednesday, which is set to coincide with the Treasury's latest economic update.
