National's Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis. Photo / Mark Tantrum
National's Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis. Photo / Mark Tantrum
As the country gets closer and closer to the election date, many polls show that we are edging towards a tight election, with the country evenly split between Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori, and National and Act, with the preferred Prime Minister race showing an even split between ChrisHipkins and Christopher Luxon.
That’s despite other polling showing that there is growing unhappiness with the direction the country is going in, suggesting people are keen for a change - but just not the change being offered by National and Act.
National themselves have come under fire over the last week, with concerns over te reo Māori on road signs sparking accusations of dog-whistling, while a pledge to reinstate prescription fees for contraception saw Housing Minister Megan Woods compare the party to Gilead, the repressive, misogynistic world in the hit TV show The Handmaid’s Tale.
The party is also seeing a growing threat from the Act Party, not only in losing their vote share to the party, but Act is now targeting the National safe seat of Tamaki. Once held by Robert Muldoon, the seat is now in the hands of the outspoken Simon O’Connor, who has been outspoken around issues such as abortion, and is the neighbour of David Seymour’s Epsom electorate.
So what is National getting wrong that’s holding them back from capitalising on the public’s dissatisfaction, and are the different views of the party’s MPs causing unnecessary friction?
For this week’s episode of On the Tiles, host and deputy political editor Thomas Coughlan is joined by National Party member and political commentator Liam Hehir to discuss what is happening in conservatism in New Zealand, the internal and external challenges facing the party, and if Christopher Luxon is as socially conservative as he is made out to be.
