The Prime Minister says he was working “intensely” despite his diary not showing any entries for nearly the first three weeks of the year.
Christopher Luxon has spoken previously about expecting to return to work within the first week of January. Before entering the Beehive, the National leader also said he believed MPs’ holidays were very long.
He’s also repeatedly ribbed the likes of Newstalk ZB host Mike Hosking for the length of their holidays over the summer period.
It was reported earlier this year that Luxon had been working from home in the first week of January.
His ministerial diary for January has now been released. The first entry is on the 19th, which is when he gave his State of the Nation speech in Auckland. From that day onwards, there are several engagements on most days.
Luxon on Wednesday said he was back at work “quite intensely from the 4th and 5th and then it cranked up on the week of the 11th and I was back here, I think, meeting with teams, my own team at the end of the 11th”.
Asked why some of that earlier work wasn’t reflected in his diary, he said he worked “every day because I get briefings every day, even when I’m on holiday, that’s just how I need to work and be able to work wherever I am”.
The Prime Minister initially said the ministerial diary reflected his schedule while “here”, at Parliament.
The diaries include engagements from locations around the world. For example, there are entries in a previous iteration from when he was on a trip to China.
The ministerial diary summaries are proactively released, a process begun under the previous Labour Government to “build trust and confidence”.
The diaries come with a disclaimer that says they include “scheduled meetings held by the minister relating to ministerial business, which have been recorded in the minister’s diary”.
They are not expected to include personal, party or constituency business.
Some other ministers’ diaries for January have also been released. Several show engagements from earlier in the month than Luxon’s.
For example:
Only one of former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s January diaries could be immediately found online. Her first engagement in 2022 was a press conference on January 16.
Responding to questions on the matter, Luxon said: “I don’t think you’re focused on the big issues there.”
Luxon has been vocal about the length of the summer holidays and his desire to come back to work earlier.
Speaking to Newstalk ZB in December, he said that in the United States, where he has previously worked, “you maybe get two weeks annual leave holiday a year and Christmas is a couple of days off and you’re back at it again”.
“Your financial year end is always December 31, so I have always been used to going back to work on the third or fourth of January and that is probably what I will do this year,” Luxon said.
“We have a lot to sort out, we have a lot to do, and we have got to keep moving.”
During the 2023 election campaign, he is reported as saying shorter holidays for MPs may be beneficial to New Zealand.
“Let’s be clear, we’re in a turnaround job, we have to start getting things done for New Zealanders, and so I’m sorry if that means if MPs come off their holidays, which seem to be very long from my observation coming from outside.”
He has made light-hearted comments on occasion about Newstalk ZB host Hosking’s holiday plans.
One example is in their final interview last year when they were exchanging gifts.
“You’ll be aware that Mike works from 6am to 9am weekdays roughly 35 weeks a year,” the Prime Minister said.
“Through the course of this year, he has given me relentless grief about how unproductive the Parliament is, albeit he is maybe here 35 weeks a year.
“What I have done is a Mike Hosking Breakfast calendar and Mike is on holiday quite a big part of the year. Four months a year, I think.”
Exiting a press conference on December 22 last year, Luxon told media they could go and enjoy their holidays.
His diary from December shows that was also his last recorded event of the year.
Jamie Ensor is the NZ Herald’s Chief Political Reporter, based in the Press Gallery at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub Press Gallery office. He was a finalist in 2025 for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.