The Prime Minister and his ministers are attempting to downplay the significance of a public spat yesterday between Christopher Luxon and his soon-to-be deputy David Seymour.
Today’s Question Time in Parliament will be livestreamed from the top of this article from 2pm, when both party leaders are expected to be grilled on the tension.
One senior minister, National’s Chris Bishop, said it was “politics” for two of the country’s leaders to air their “disagreement” in public and disagreed with the suggestion Seymour had deliberately gone on radio to undermine Luxon.
It comes against a backdrop of poor polling for the Government. Two polls released on Monday show the centre-left bloc of Labour, the Greens and Te Pati Māori could form a Government.
The flare-up was sparked after the Herald on Sunday revealed Seymour wrote to police in April 2022 advocating for Philip Polkinghorne, who was a suspect at the time in the death of his wife, Pauline Hanna. Polkinghorne was later charged with her murder but acquitted.
Seymour’s defended that by saying he was passing on his constituent’s concerns, but Luxon on Monday afternoon described the letter as “ill-advised”. He would not take action against the Act leader, however, as Seymour sent the letter before becoming a minister.
Less than an hour later, Seymour went on RNZ and referred to Luxon as “ill-advised” for commenting on the matter “when you don’t know all the facts”.
Speaking to media on Tuesday morning, Luxon said he met with Seymour on Monday evening for a “good chat”.
“We had a good constructive meeting last night, not going into the details of that... I’m frankly focused on other things. I don’t think too deeply about David Seymour.”
Seymour has said it was a pre-arranged meeting and politicians do not have to agree on everything. He denied he was undermining the Prime Minister.
Luxon would not say if the discussion was terse.
“I have confidence in David Seymour,” the Prime Minister said. “He’s doing a great job as Associate Minister of Education, making sure we get our kids back to school.”
Luxon said he believed the public saw the Government was “very focused” and he was in Parliament to “make sure New Zealand realises its potential”.
On the latest polls, Luxon deployed the usual line that poll results bounce around, but “New Zealanders have been through a tough time and they’re experiencing a lot of economic pain”.
Bishop, a National minister, said he agreed with Luxon that Seymour’s letter was ill-advised. But he did not think “we should get too worked up about this”.
“I would characterise it as a disagreement,” he said.
The Herald put it to him that Seymour was airing that out in public, to which Bishop said “Sure, welcome to politics”.
“We live in a robust democracy. That’s life. We shouldn’t get too worked up about this. It’s a disagreement, that’s fine. We live in an MMP environment. Political parties that make up the Government have different views. That’s always been the case.”
Police Minister Mark Mitchell said the Prime Minister was correct in calling the letter ill-advised.
Electorate MPs do have a role in advancing constituents’ issues, he said, but “they’ve got to be very careful they don’t cross that line into actively interfering with a police investigation. He said others could judge if Seymour had done that.
“He’s been clear that he was taking action as a local MP. I don’t want to speculate in terms of what his thinking was,” Mitchell said.
He also would not comment on Seymour’s remarks on radio on Monday evening, but said he had a “sound, strong working relationship” with Luxon.
Asked if that “stable” relationship was reflected in yesterday’s comments, Mitchell said: “I think when you’ve got three parties that come together there’s always going to be some issues that you agree to disagree on”.
“That’s healthy. Fundamentally, we’ve got a very strong coalition that is very focused on what we need to do to deliver for New Zealanders.”
Finance Minister Nicola Willis said Seymour and Luxon would “disagree from time to time”.
Asked if she was concerned about a perception of instability within the Government, Willis said: “We have a functional Cabinet that is making policy reform at pace, that is committed to the same objectives and we are delivering”.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said he would not have written the letter to Polkinghorne.
Goldsmith said Seymour was a “big boy” and could defend his own comments about Luxon. He would not give the Prime Minister advice on how to deal with it.
National minister Andrew Bayly said David Seymour sent the letter for “what he thought were the right reasons”, but “I wouldn’t have done it”.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins likened the comments between Luxon and Seymour to the “potshots” former Labour PM David Lange and minister Richard Prebble took at each other while in Government.
“Not since the 1980s has New Zealand had a Government that is so at war with itself.
“David Lange, of course, had the strength to fire Richard Prebble. So far, Christopher Luxon has been too weak to do anything about it.”
He reiterated his call yesterday for Seymour to be sacked.
Labour’s Willie Jackson said Seymour was clearly “running the coalition Government” and “leading the debate”.
He said Seymour was undermining the Prime Minister “every day”
Several backbench National MPs spoken to by the Herald on Tuesday were hesistant to comment on the disagreement.
Joseph Mooney said it was a matter for Luxon and Seymour.
“A difference of opinion is something that is always going to happen in any Government and we have a strong Government that is focused on growing the economy for all New Zealanders,” he said.
Mooney said electorate MPs were regularly approached by members of the public and “you have to make a judgment call on how you advocate for their interests”. It was for Seymour to make that judgment, he said.
Vanessa Weenink said the Government was “absolutely stable”, while Dan Bidois believed Seymour and Luxon were “working really well”.
Rima Nakhle would not comment on Seymour or Luxon’s remarks. She said repeatedly said she and the Government were focused on growing the economy.
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub Press Gallery office.
