PM Christopher Luxon defends Erica Stanford’s workload; says Act moving on social media ban

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is defending the ballooning workload of his Education and Immigration Minister, rejecting questions that she was the “only talented person in the room”, given the number of policies she is fronting.

In a wide-ranging interview with Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking, the Prime Minister said Education and Immigration Minister Erica Stanford was dealing with issues that were aligned, and it made sense to take on the new social media under-16 ban work.

“Is she the only talented person you’ve got in the room?” asked Hosking, referring to the number of policies and announcements that she was fronting.

“She’s got Immigration, Education, she’s doing the victims of abuse, and now you’re telling her to wander off and solve social media problems,” Hosking said.

But Luxon said they were both “very aligned” on the social media policy, and denied Stanford was doing too much.

Yesterday, Luxon announced the Government was making work on restrictions to social media for New Zealanders under the age of 16 part of its official programme.

“There is technology being trialled in Australia, for example, about how you do age verification now,” Luxon said.

Listen: Christopher Luxon speaks to Mike Hosking.

This morning, Luxon said coalition partner Act had started to “shift their position” on the social media ban for under-16s.

“They’ve sort of started to shift their position a little bit on the weekend, which is good, so let’s just see where we get to with them.

“If not, we’ll try continue to reach out to other parties.”

Luxon said he would be willing to work with the Labour Party on the social media policy, and said he didn’t see it as a “political issue”.

He said it was interesting to learn from the phone ban, and both parents and principals were now grateful for the policy.

“The cyberbullying in New Zealand is huge, and we’ve seen a big decrease of that with the phone ban.”

Because the National Party proposed legislation to ban social media for those under 16 is a Member’s Bill, it needs to be drawn from Parliament’s ballot before proceeding. That means there is no guarantee politicians will end up debating it.

Luxon previously said there had been an “overwhelmingly positive response from mums and dads” that made it “clear we need to progress options to restrict social media for under-16s”.

Yesterday the Government announced drivers who participate in street races will have their vehicles destroyed or forfeited in the majority of cases under new legislation.

The boy racer legislation, expected to be introduced in Parliament in the middle of the year, includes establishing a presumptive sentence of vehicle destruction or forfeiture for those who flee police, for street racers, those in intimidating convoys and for owners who fail to identify offending drivers.

Nationwide protests erupted on Friday in response to the Government’s controversial pay equity law change.

The Pay Equity Amendment Bill has passed through all stages in Parliament, after being rushed through under urgency. The legislation raises the threshold for proving work has been historically undervalued when making a pay equity claim.

Opponents say it will make it harder for women in female-dominated industries to make a claim.

The Government also confirmed a review of the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975, which established the Waitangi Tribunal, will begin shortly.

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Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.