The comments the media focused on came from a later Q&A where he said New Zealand's challenge was "unleashing enterprise", and that "we've kind of got into a place where the public look to the Government for all their answers ... now businesses are getting soft and looking to the Government for all their answers."
There was more besides, in a later interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, where he was quoted as saying "New Zealand has become fearful, inward and negative as a result of its Covid settings".
This may be true for some New Zealanders. But how much more uplifting it would have been if he had instead focused on how successful New Zealand firms have been offshore during the pandemic.
For instance, Fonterra, Zespri, Mainfreight, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare — just some of the firms that have overcome pandemic restrictions and distance from markets to sustain their businesses, strong revenue and for the most part, increased profits.
Right across the NZ economy, many passionate Kiwis have striven to keep their businesses going and worked in essential sectors. Confidence is down as the cost of living escalates. But most are just getting on with it.
In that same interview, Luxon claimed "we haven't been out and about hustling as we would have been in the past," pointing to the trade partnerships that Australia and Britain had signed with India as an example of where New Zealand had lapsed.
This is quite misleading and does a disservice to New Zealand's trade negotiators.
The Ardern Government has just beaten Australia to the punch by signing a free trade deal with Europe.
It has notched a UK deal, signed up to the completion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and also the Comprehensive and Progressive Transpacific Partnership Agreement.
Then there was the upgrade to the bilateral FTA with China that upset some Australian critics.
It is true the Indian negotiations stalled. But that happened on the National Government's watch in 2015, which was when the last round of formal negotiations took place.
Now the Ardern Government has agreed to join the talks on the Indo-Pacific Economic framework.
Misrepresenting New Zealand offshore does not go down well.
Since he has been back, Luxon has been on the defensive, piling explanation on top of explanation.
But no one slugging their guts out back here in New Zealand, wants to hear from a potential prime minister that Kiwi business isn't cutting it and is reliant on a Government to — in the words of the cliche — "unleash it" and allow them to actually perform.
How Luxon must wish he had recalibrated his comments to flag how successful many of our top Kiwi firms have been in the face of (at times) prohibitive pandemic restrictions — praised the spirit of our business leaders and backed them for even greater successes under a future National Government.
The leaders of such companies may not have spent the bulk of their careers working within large multi-national companies such as Unilever, where Luxon rose to head their Canadian operations.
But they have succeeded by either melding rival companies together to build sufficient scale to succeed offshore or through developing innovative high-tech firms.
They know what they are about.
So did Luxon when he ran Air New Zealand and talked up the company.
If Luxon had attended the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum, he would have had the time to soak in the atmospherics, socialise with business leaders from both sides of the Tasman, listen and take note of the business talent here.
This is a skill he exhibited in his eight years running the national flag carrier, when he took part in many policy discussions and led the Prime Minister's Business Advisory Council.
He would also have been able to present himself as a PM-in-waiting by working the floor for two days while Jacinda Ardern breezed in and out.
Instead, there were photo-ops in Singapore — where he incongruously turned up without a mask, unlike his hosts.
The meetings with Ireland's development agency, where he praised their policies and seemed to pass over the very low corporate tax rate that Dublin offered, along with access to the huge EU consumer market, to persuade hi-tech firms to invest.
Timing has not proved to be the National leader's strongest suit.
As a newbie leader he allowed TV3's Jenna Lynch to stitch him up with her question: "Is abortion tantamount to murder, Yes or No?"
He replied: "That's what a pro-life position is." And ever since he has been misquoted as saying abortion is tantamount to murder.
Thus the Wade-Roe decision proved problematic.
His personal support in the latest Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll has dropped — following what the media has called his mishandling of abortion politics — although National's support remained largely steady.
Luxon polled 22.4 per cent as preferred prime minister, down 5.6 percentage points. This was just over half of Ardern's support — up 1.5 percentage points on 41.2 per cent.
His position is by no means imperiled.
He is a smart man.
But a future leader has to be very careful not to be seen to talk New Zealand down.
