Cameron Luxton spoke to Local Focus during the 2023 election campaign about the Bay of Plenty's top issues.
Pāpāmoa builder Cameron Luxton is at Parliament learning the ropes of being an MP after preliminary election results delivered him a seat via the Act party list.
The Bay of Plenty electorate candidate, who previously farmed in Galatea, spoke to the Bay of Plenty Times from Wellington yesterdayon his first day of a three-week induction programme for new MPs, saying he was “keen to get stuck in”.
He lost the Bay of Plenty electorate race to National Party newcomer Tom Rutherford but Luxton’s 11th-place ranking on Act’s list was enough to bring him into Parliament, based on preliminary results giving Act two electorate and nine list MP seats.
National and Act had enough seats to form a government by a narrow margin, with more than 500,000 special votes still being counted and official results due on November 3.
Luxton said he spent election night at Act’s celebrations in Auckland before attending his first caucus meeting with party leader David Seymour on Sunday.
The construction business owner, who is married with two children, spent seven years farming in Galatea before moving back to Pāpāmoa, where he was raised, and embarking on a political career.
He stood for Act in Tauranga in the 2020 general election and 2023 byelection — races won by National’s Simon Bridges then Sam Uffindell.
Even with that experience, Luxton said he was still a “bit nervous” waiting for the election results to be announced, knowing he would either “come back as a builder or an MP”.
Candidates Andrew Hoggard (left) and Cameron Luxton at the Act election-night celebrations in Auckland. Photo / Jason Oxenham
He said, however, he had “trusted the people of New Zealand wanted real change” to get the country moving in the right direction.
“I’m so grateful to all those who placed their trust in me with their votes and I intend to be a strong advocate for them in Parliament.
“I’m humbled by their trust and I want to work hard to help make New Zealand a more productive, more educated, safer and more united place for everyone to live and work and to do business.”
He said there was always a possibility he could lose the seat after special votes were counted, but he believed this was unlikely because as results rolled in on election night, Act was between 11 and 12 seats, so the 11th seat was based on a high margin of votes.
In the electorate seats, party leader Seymour won Epsom comfortably and deputy leader Brooke van Velden had a 4575-vote margin over National’s Simon O’Connor in Tāmaki.
Luxton said he expected to return home to his family for a few days on Thursday before heading back to Parliament to resume his induction training.
“It’s great to be here and I have a lot to learn of course. But I want to get up to speed very quickly as I’m really keen to get stuck in as part of the Act Party team to get started on our work programme.
“There are a lot of things in this country that need to be sorted out, including tackling the rising cost of living and fixing our economy.”
Luxton said Bay of Plenty faced lots of big challenges and one of his priorities was to push for the region’s crucial infrastructural plans and projects to get delivered.
“We cannot afford to leave it to the next generation to sort out. The people of the Bay of Plenty also deserved to see a better delivery of quality public services, including improved health services. We need to get stuff done and built that doesn’t cost the earth,” he said.
Seymour said he was “thrilled” to have Luxton joining them in Parliament.
“He’ll make an outstanding MP and with his background in farming, building, and owning a business he brings great experience to our caucus.
“Cameron is going to make a great contribution to our team for real change,” Seymour said.
The Electoral Commission said yesterday that the official count was under way and it planned to release the official results on November 3.
These would include the estimated 567,000 special declaration votes currently being counted, of which there were about 80,000 overseas and dictation votes.
In 2020 there were 504,621 special votes including 62,787 overseas and dictation votes.
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.
