PM Christopher Luxon goes off foreign affairs script - OCR cuts, Raygun

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon appeared to have waded into somewhat uncharted territory following his major foreign affairs speech at the prestigious Lowy Institute in Sydney.

His speech mainly focused on New Zealand’s strong relationship with Australia, growing tensions in the Pacific and the complex relationship with China.

And for the most part, Luxon largely stuck to his script when it came to his speech.

But it was some of his off-the-cuff remarks in the Q&A section of the evening which turned more than a few heads.

In keeping with the theme of most of his day, Luxon weighed into the debate around infrastructure and the cost of capital.

“We’ve had our first Reserve Bank cut, which is fantastic and helps us get interest rates down and we’ll probably get another two cuts before Christmas.”

Speaking to reporters after the speech, he laughed off any suggestion he was issuing the Reserve Bank direction, in breach of its staunch independence.

“What I’m reflecting is our hope that there will be some further movement on interest rates,” he said, adding that the market is pricing further OCR reductions.

He also upped his rhetoric around the levels of regional stability in the Pacific, when asked about New Zealand’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Ukraine could happen in a flashpoint across our Indo-Pacific region as well, and it’s a good reminder that security and conflict issues can have huge economic impact and suffering to people...”

After a few more questions from the moderator and the audience, the conversation shifted to the Olympics – where Luxon joked that New Zealand beat the Aussies when measuring medals per capita.

But it was his comments about Australian Olympian and viral breakdancing sensation Rachel Gunn – aka Raygun – which drew the largest laugh.

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For the second time that day – the first was in front New South Wales Treasurer Daniel Mookhey at an officials’ infrastructure meeting – Luxon revealed his admiration of the now-infamous Olympian.

“When you think about New Zealand and Australia’s contributions [to the world]: You have the iconic Steve Irwin, we have the great Kiwi suffragette Kate Sheppard, and you’ve now gifted the world Raygun the breakdancer,” he told those gathered at the institute.

“We’re loving her in New Zealand, we think she’s awesome.”

He told media after the Q&A that he had watched Raygun’s performance “several times”.

“I would just say it’s captivating every time I watch it.”

Jason Walls is Newstalk ZB’s political editor and has years of experience in radio and print, including in the Parliamentary Press Gallery for the NZ Herald and Interest.co.nz.