Paula Bennett: National’s Christopher Luxon has the attributes of a leader

You don't see it often but Christopher Luxon has a laugh while his deputy leader, Nicola Willis, shakes hands, left-handed, with a man eating chicken, during a walkabout in Tawa, Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell

OPINION

New Zealand is still the most amazing country to live in. I was fortunate to go overseas for a couple of weeks to visit family and then add on a holiday. Loved being away but I missed New Zealand.

Missed the obvious family, friends, work and my dog (maybe not in that order) but I also missed New Zealand’s beauty. It’s home after all.

What I didn’t miss is our ever-increasing divides, our lack of cohesiveness as a population of just over five million people, and personal political attacks.

This weekend we recognise Matariki. This should be our time to celebrate all that is good about our country. Celebrate our indigenous Māori and our unique rich history, and what could be an exciting future. Instead, we see a growing divide between Māori and Pākehā, which is fuelled by the call from some political parties that we should be treating people differently because of their ethnicity.

We are now less than 100 days from the election and we can expect a messy three months. It suits many politician’s agenda to divide us. It also suits some politician’s agenda to play the person and not the policy.

We see this in the personal attacks on Christopher Luxon. Unable to debate the issues and his ideas they instead try to paint a picture of the man that is meant to instil doubt and play on the fact that he hasn’t been in politics for that long.

I have known Lux and his family for many years and I consider him a friend. Some would say this should mean my view is biased, and it might be. But it is also well-informed as I feel like I know him well. The good news is he always has a chardonnay or a beer in the fridge for visitors.

He loves nothing more than debating and discussing New Zealand’s potential. He takes a genuine interest in people and their families.

Although he is successful himself, he has a greater interest in ideas on how all New Zealanders can do better and live big, successful lives. It is what drives his uncompromising view on an improved education sector.

He has an extraordinary work ethic. Yep, I know, this is the example of when in a job interview you are asked what your weakness is and you say: “I work too hard.” I’m not sure if he works too hard because it is his passion and he genuinely gets off on it. Personally, it’s an attribute that I am happy for a leader to have.

He is a family man. He will talk about his family - and yours - and takes a genuine interest in what is happening in people’s lives. He is funny. You don’t really get that on the telly or in his radio interviews. When I left politics a lot of people told me that I am funnier than they thought. The reality is that you are on TV for a few seconds as a politician answering a serious question and telling a quick joke first isn’t appropriate.

Quite frankly, I think we are a bit over the cute tricks of “humanising” our politicians through sausage roll eating and I am happy for them to be serious about the job interview on who should run the country in October.

Lux is a big thinker, well read and has a view of New Zealand’s place in the world while understanding that it is local, community-driven initiatives that will make the biggest difference in people’s lives.

As he gets more air time and people start thinking more about the country they want, and the leader and political party they want to lead us, I believe you will see more of the man and the leader I know.

Paula Bennett is a former Deputy Prime Minister and National Party politician who now works at Bayleys Real Estate as national director - customer engagement.