Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has addressed media this afternoon after touching down on the first leg of a trip to Niue and Fiji, his first trip to the Pacific since taking office.
His comments in Niue come after the Public Service Association (PSA) announced this afternoon that it was taking legal action against the Ministry of Education for its staff cuts.
Luxon said he had not been briefed on the matter but the Government had been transparent in its approach to public service cuts.
He said the increase in staff numbers was not sustainable.
“Families across New Zealand have tightened their belt, it’s entirely appropriate the Government tightens its belt as well.”
He defended the job cuts, saying they freed up money to be used on frontline services, as had happened in Corrections.
Asked if he was concerned about further legal action against other government departments, Luxon said he had not been briefed so did not want to comment.
On the subject of Australia changing its approach to 501 deportees, he said he had raised his concerns with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and would be monitoring the situation closely.
Speaking to Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking earlier this morning, Luxon said the Pacific was “really important to our foreign policy”.
He was not anxious about walking into unrest after Fiji fired multiple MPs due to pay disputes but was interested in getting a sense of “regional issues”.
He said he did not have an alternative plan if his plane failed to take off this morning.
Boosting trade with Fiji and assessing Niue’s reliance on other countries for development will be among Luxon’s key missions during his trip.
It will be his first opportunity to form in-person relationships with the respective leaders as greater focus from global superpowers centres on the region.
His first leg in Niue will include a meeting with Premier Dalton Tagelagi, in which the pair will recognise the impending celebration of 50 years of Niue’s self-government in free association with New Zealand later this year.
Alongside likely investments in infrastructure, Luxon is expected to reinforce New Zealand’s position as Niue’s first call for assistance with development – a nod to China’s growing influence not just in Niue but across Pacific Island countries.
Niuean-born New Zealand-based public health expert Sir Collin Tukuitonga told the Herald that China’s presence in the small island nation was evident through solar farm projects and resealing roads, alongside discussions of China’s inclusion in parts of Niue’s education curriculum.
“The Chinese are there now in a big way ... so I imagine that would be a concern for Luxon,” he said.
However, he suspected Luxon would receive a clear response if he was overly critical of Niue’s engagement with China.
“The Niuean leaders will tell you, the reason for [China resealing roads] is they’ve been asking Wellington for yonks for assistance with the roads.
“Whilst the solar has been supported by New Zealand, it’s nowhere near enough and the power generation on the island is marginal.
“Political leaders on Niue would say, ‘Well, we’ve asked Wellington and we’ve been fobbed off’.”
Tukuitonga, who regularly returns to Niue and is involved in health studies on the island, said the 50 years of self-government was an important milestone but it came at a time when Niue faced severe labour shortages and concern for its native language.
Only 1500 people lived on the island while about 30,000 Niueans lived elsewhere, including New Zealand and Australia. Tukuitonga said about 15 per cent could speak the native language.
“There’s a real concern about the loss of the language and, when you lose a language, you lose a culture.
“Successive New Zealand governments have really failed in their duty to provide for, as it says in the constitution, necessary support and they have really neglected their responsibility to support the language.”
Nevertheless, Tukuitonga expected Luxon’s visit to be welcomed, as past visits had been. Former PM Dame Jacinda Ardern was a beloved figure on the island. Dubbed the “daughter of Niue”, Ardern had a strong connection through her father Ross, who was formerly New Zealand’s High Commissioner to Niue and its police commissioner.
Luxon’s statement announcing the trip on Sunday clearly set the scene for his visit to Fiji as having a “significant trade and economic focus” amid “increasingly choppy geostrategic waters”.
Luxon was set to attend the Pacific Islands Forum in November last year but drawn-out coalition negotiations meant representatives of National and the former Labour Government went in his place.
At the time, Massey University senior lecturer Dr Anna Powles – who studied geopolitics, security and conflict in the Pacific – said Pacific leaders would understand the reasons for Luxon’s absence.
She told the Herald yesterday there was a sense that Luxon was “not particularly well-known” in the region and would need to deftly navigate New Zealand’s unique relationships with Niue and Fiji.
“I think there’s a tendency by New Zealand politicians to assume that New Zealand is received probably much better than New Zealand necessarily is viewed.
“There are certainly concerns in the region about the geopoliticisation of the region and around the role that New Zealand and Australia are taking in that.”
The Pacific Islands Forum has previously expressed concern about the Aukus security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, warning it brought the region closer to war and risked nuclear proliferation.
New Zealand is currently assessing whether it might join the non-nuclear level of Aukus.
Fiji and New Zealand’s positions on Aukus and other geopolitical issues in the region could be discussed during Luxon’s meeting with Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, which Powles said would be “really valuable”.
“There are certainly growing concerns in the region about the way in which strategic competition is impacting local politics, impacting local security dynamics, disrupting the regional architecture and so on.
“So it’s a conversation that has obviously been ongoing for a number of years but is certainly becoming increasingly important.”
Powles noted China’s strong interest in Fiji, which included signing a policing co-operation agreement.
Luxon’s visit also coincided with troubles in Fiji’s politics and economy, namely the backlash from a recent vote to increase politicians’ pay at a time of high debt and poverty.
“This is probably one of the most significant political challenges that Fiji is facing since the Rabuka coalition was elected in 2022, so obviously Luxon is going to have to tread very carefully while he is there.”
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
