Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says potential freezing works demise costing hundreds of jobs ‘a shock’

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has spoken of the ongoing tough economic times New Zealand is facing as the latest victim is set to be a Timaru freezing works.

Luxon fielded questions from the media during a stand-up in Palmerston North.

One of the first things he was asked this afternoon was his thoughts on the proposed closure of Timaru’s Alliance Smithfield, and with it hundreds of jobs.

Luxon said the news earlier today would “be quite a shock” for the community and the individuals involved.

He said the organisation would have had to deal with economic challenges like inflation.

“This is sadly the consequence of that.”

He said the red meat sector was going through some consolidation and that was why it was important to focus on trade deals internationally.

“It is going to impact Timaru. Certainly, this will be a shock to individuals as they process that information.”

On job losses in regional New Zealand, the Prime Minister said the answer was growing the economy.

“If you spend out of control .... we have driven into huge amounts of inflation.”

That eventually led to businesses laying off workers.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon speaks to the media from Palmerston North. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Businesses had been “hanging in there” for two or three years of high inflation but were now faced with having to lay off staff.

Asked if the country was stuck in an economic downturn, Luxon said there had been “some blue shoots”.

“We will get more growth coming into the economy that will lead to job opportunities.”

Luxon said there were lots of good, high-quality jobs for New Zealanders.

National Party MP for Rangitata James Meager said in a statement the proposed closure is a “devastating loss”.

“The proposed closure of the plant will be a blow to workers and families who are still feeling the effects of the cost of living crisis. This announcement is a total shock,” he said.

“Alliance is one of the biggest employers in the Timaru District and wider South Canterbury, so the plant’s closure will have a massive impact on these workers, their families and the wider community.”

STATEMENT ON SMITHFIELD UPDATE: this afternoon the Mayor, CE of Venture Timaru and my office met with Alliance...

Posted by James Meager MP on Thursday 26 September 2024

Meager said he has family and friends who will be directly impacted by this decision.

“This loss strikes at the heart of our community,” he said.

“Our immediate priority is the workers and families caught up in this closure.

“We will be working closely with Smithfield management, the unions, and other processors to limit the impact.”

Meager added an immediate response team has been set up at his office in Timaru to support anyone impacted.

National MP for Rangitata James Meager during his maiden speech in Parliament, Wellington, 06 December, 2023. New Zealand Herald photograph by Mark Mitchell

Speaking at his standup, Luxon was also quizzed about recent news involving education reform and tackling truancy.

He agreed with Act leader and coalition partner David Seymour’s sentiment that students attending a climate strike were truants.

“Get back to school,” he said.

He encouraged students who wanted to protest to do so at the weekend.

Luxon said New Zealand was performing “really badly” on school attendance rates compared to other countries and he was calling principals and parents “to account”.

“We also need to make sure we get [kids] well-trained in terms of mathematics, literacy and reading.

“We want to have leaders in artificial intelligence.”

On the youth academy in Palmerston North, he said there were “incredible psychologists” as well as mentors and teachers.

He described it as “really inspiring”.

He also spoke to some of the kids who were at the camp.

Among other recent announcements, Luxon, alongside Public Service Minister Nicola Willis, directed government departments to call their staff who were working from home back to the office earlier this week.

Willis has issued new guidance to the Public Service Commissioner setting an expectation that “working-from-home arrangements are not an entitlement and should be by agreement between the employee and the employer”.

The Government has also made a series of education announcements this week, including a crackdown on truancy and teacher-only days, and a boost for mathematics resources at the cost of a programme to help teachers learn te reo Māori.

Education Minister Erica Stanford said “tough decisions” needed to be made to address the country’s “maths crisis” and that particular te reo Māori course was not delivering the expected results.

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On the truancy crackdown, Associate Education Minister David Seymour said there will be no more teacher-only days during term time and schools will need to implement a truancy plan to tackle what the Act leader calls the country’s “truancy crisis”.

Seymour threatened fines for schools that didn’t adhere.

“I have asked the ministry to collect data on when a school is open or closed for instruction for the full day, and for each year group, during term time,” he said.

“Any student who reaches a clearly defined threshold of days absent will trigger an appropriate and proportionate response from their school and the ministry.”

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.