Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is shrugging off criticism by business leaders he's performing poorly.
The New Zealand Herald's Mood of the Boardroom has been released, with both the Prime Minister and Finance Minister out of the top-10 Cabinet ratings.
The survey is made up of responses from 150 chief executives and business leaders.
Luxon was ranked the 15th best minister in his own Cabinet. Finance Minister Nicola Willis ranked 13th.
At a media briefing at Auckland Airport on Wednesday, Luxon also defended his record of engaging with business leaders, after some claimed he didn't take constructive feedback well.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
The Prime Minister says he won't stand down.
"We're going through a very difficult recovery, and there'll be a range of opinions across all of our society around that," Luxon said.
He also rejected the idea he wasn't engaging enough with business leaders. He said he came from a corporate background as a chiefe executive, and he tried to listen to those views as best he could.
"But my job as Prime Minister of New Zealand is to to create the conditions for growth and to actually think about the 5 million people that are in this country, not just the 150 that are filling in the survey."
Asked why Erica Stanford was ranked at number one in the survey, Luxon responded "we're actually a team", and spoke of rebuilding the National party after "our period of dysfunction".
After the "disaster" of 2020, he said, the party decided they would "play as a team." He was "captain" but he couldn't be the "winger or the prop as well".
"My job as the Prime Minister and as the leader of the team is to make sure I've got the right people in the right positions on the team at the right time, with enough clarity and support to go off and do the task they need to do."
He said he was proud of all the National Ministers performing "exceptionally well" and proud of the fact they'd made a "coalition work" and given "strong and stable government" to New Zealand.
He told reporters the country was going through a tough economic recovery, and people want it to happen faster. His said the government needed to create the right conditions for growth, but it was also up to businesses to create that growth.
The PM was attending the opening of Auckland Airport's international airfield expansion, which is part of its 10-year, $10-billion upgrade plan announced in 2023.
Earlier, Willis told an audience she was the "face of finance and economic growth" and until that recovery was broadly felt and sustained she expected people to challenge her, "as they should".
"We're having an ugly recovery, and people are feeling it."
She was also asked whether Luxon was "safe" in his role, responding he was "completely safe."
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
"The thing that really struck me when I read the report was how invisible it is to many the coalition management that he deftly does behind the scenes to create stability out of three quite different parties," Willis said.
"He's doing that extremely well."
She also said it was underestimated how he had put the "right talent in the right places" in Cabinet, and had backed those people to succeed, referencing Minsiters Mark Mitchell, Simeon Brown and Erica Stanford.
'Resentment can grow'
Barbara Edmonds Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
Labour's finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds told businesses she's worried people are losing hope.
Edmonds was Labour's top performer in the Herald's Mood of the Boardroom survey, with an average score of 3.2 out of 5.
She said people were doing everything right by turning up to work, working long hours, and running their businesses, but it was still not enough.
"When that happens resentment can grow and when people lose hope they stop imagining a better future.
"They drift away from their communities, from the instituitions, fro the clubs, even their democracy.
"Our jobs as leaders in this room are to rebuild those connections."
Edmonds said Labour will not rely on overseas investors or house prices to solve the economy's problems, and wants to see more use of New Zealand's talent, savings, and capital.
Last week, Luxon attended the opening of Air New Zealand's Hangar 4, its huge new maintenance base at Auckland Airport which can house a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and two Airbus A320 or A321s at the same time.
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