Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he is “absolutely” going to lead the National Party into the next election and is dismissing claims Housing Minister Chris Bishop may be in line for his job.
It comes after alleged tensions at the top of the party’s leadership. NewstalkZB host Heather Du Plessis-Allan penned in a column over the weekend that Bishop was openly being talked about in Wellington as a better choice.
After being asked about the claims this morning by NewstalkZB’s Mike Hosking, Luxon said it was hard to take the allegations seriously.
“Look, I don’t think that is the case. He is a great minister, he’s a good friend, and he’s doing an awesome job.
“It’s hard to take it seriously, as I said before. I’ve been reading this stuff and hearing this stuff ever since I came here. So, but I’m very focused on what I have to do.”
He said he would “absolutely” be leading the National Party in the 2026 election.
Speaking to Herald NOW’s Ryan Bridge on the low score in the polls last week,
Luxon said there were “lots of polls saying lots of things” and it was not his job to listen to them.
He said that for opinions on how well his party is performing, he relies on the people around him, his “really good advisors”.
“I would just say to you, when New Zealanders are going to look at the choice that they have next year, it’s a pretty simple thing.
“Do you want a strong, stable government with the coalition that you’ve seen over the last two years, or do you want the mess that’s on the other side, which is the Labour Party minority, the Greens and two independents now?
“And I just think New Zealanders will make that choice.”
Bridge also quizzed Luxon on his rental properties, and the recent decision to sell them.
He deflected questions on the sale and what his “retirement next egg” was.
“Well, it’s not about me and my properties. What it’s about is making sure that the average New Zealander actually has a bigger retirement nest egg.
“It’s actually about making sure that we have more domestic pools of capital here in this country that we can invest in infrastructure. That’s what this is about.”
Luxon also said they had “a lot on” before Christmas, including a rates cap and RMA reform.
“Obviously, we’ve got thoughts around what that means for local government and how we radically simplify that.
“And then equally a rates cap so that we can make sure that councils are doing their very best at making sure they’ve put the money on the must-do stuff, not the nice-to-do stuff.”
He hinted at Minister Simon Watts making an announcement on their policy “shortly”.
“All I’m saying is that we’ve got quite radical RMA reform. We’re imagining a world where 40% of consents are not needed going forward. That is radical simplification.”
Yesterday, the National Party pledged to lift the default KiwiSaver contribution rate if it were to be elected next year.
Luxon said that the changes would allow savers to contribute 12% of their earnings to KiwiSaver, a level to match Australia’s superannuation contribution rate, although in Australia, the whole contribution comes from the employer.
The figure would come from hiking the default contribution rate from 3%, where it is today, to 4%, as it is set to go following decisions in this year’s Budget, to 6% by 2032.
The employer contribution would also rise to 6%, achieving a combined rate of 12% by 2032.
Luxon said under the changes, a 21-year-old earning $65,000 a year today would retire with a KiwiSaver balance of about $1.4 million, about $400,000 more than they would earn under the settings as at the most recent Budget.
Last week, the coalition broke its own record for the worst rating of a Government’s performance in the Ipsos Issues Monitor poll (which has only been going since 2017) at 3.9 out of 10, slumping from the August rating of 4.2.
The poll is conducted four times a year and asks voters which issues are most important to them and which party they think is best at handling those issues.
On the top 20 issues facing voters, National was judged best at handling just two: law and order, and defence and foreign affairs. All the rest, from inflation to housing, unemployment, taxation, climate change and Māori issues, are dominated by Labour, with two appearances by the Greens and one by Te Pāti Māori.
It came at a time of alleged tensions at the top of the coalition’s leadership. Herald columnist Matthew Hooton wrote that senior ministers were complaining the Prime Minister was failing to show the country that a “bold and comprehensive reform programme”, rivalling great reforming Governments of the past, was under way across most portfolios.
“They say this Government lacks a Prime Minister who can comprehend and pull it all together, communicate the vision that underpins it and build confidence among voters and the business community that he and his ministers know what they are doing,” Hooton wrote.