In the Loop: Te Puke to Hawaii and Luxon's social media faux-pas that gets us all

Te Puke or Hawaii? Photo / 123RF

We're all guilty of posting a cheeky throwback on social media.

You know the snaps from your girls trip to Bali three years ago that you're still squeezing mileage out of? Yeah, those ones.

Now it turns out politicians are just like us, except presumably without the six-bed shared dorm room and the $1 Bintangs on the beach.

Today on the Herald's In the loop podcast, hosts Katie Harris and Cheree Kinnear unpack how National leader Chris Luxon found himself under a lot of heat, and not just the figurative kind.

Earlier this week, Luxon admitted he was in Hawaii during Parliament's winter recess - while posts on his Facebook page made it look as though he was visiting regional New Zealand.

The posts, on his official social media accounts, suggested Luxon was spending the recess connecting with parts of heartland New Zealand like Te Puke.

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New Zealand Herald senior political reporter Thomas Coughlan told the podcast that in politics, people say it's "usually cock up not conspiracy" and this was probably more of a "cock up".

"When politicians go on holiday they tend not to take pictures of their holidays, because it's just seen as a wee bit skitey."

Coughlan said the issue was that it seemed the posts were labelled in a way that appeared that he was not on holiday and was working throughout the break.

On July 21, a post on Luxon's Facebook page showed him saying "provincial towns like Te Puke" were "the backbone of New Zealand" and discussing issues like skill shortages that were taking the region and the country backwards.

"I love getting out into the regions to explore places like Te Puke," the Facebook post read.

While the text of the post did not say Luxon was in Te Puke on that particular day, the video attached to the text said that Luxon was.

"Today I'm in Te Puke, the heart of kiwifruit country," Luxon told viewers.

The National leader has since said the situation was a genuine mistake.

Also on the show, the NRL controversy over pride jerseys, the TVNZ-Santamaria saga continues and why people are angry at Instagram.

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In the Loop is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes come out every Friday morning.

You can find more New Zealand Herald podcasts at nzherald.co.nz/podcasts or on iHeartRadio.