Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is speaking to media after a week staring down leadership rumbles amid poor polling and ongoing economic challenges.
Luxon is at HamiltonJet Global in Christchurch, ahead of the official opening of the city’s new stadium tonight.
He spoke on a range of topics during a press conference this morning, including the Middle East war and the India free trade agreement (FTA).
He welcomed Labour’s support for the FTA, saying: “Trade should never be political.”
Responding to US President Donald Trump’s orders earlier today for his navy to “shoot and kill” any Iranian vessels laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, he said: “We don’t need rhetoric like that.
“The world needs peace ... we don’t need escalation, we need de-escalation and ships going through the Hormuz Strait.”
A week before the Middle East conflict began, the whole of New Zealand was doing better, with growth projections at 3%, Luxon said.
“Our job is to minimise that impact, so we pop back up on our foils again incredibly quickly.”
Continuing on the sailing theme, he said the Government would continue discussions with Auckland Council and SailGP about hosting a regatta in the city.
“The proposal we received just frankly didn’t stack up.”
The newly built $683 million enclosed One NZ Stadium in Christchurch makes its debut tonight when the Crusaders take on the Waratahs in Super Rugby Pacific’s Super Round.
Asked if it was now the best stadium in the country, Luxon was diplomatic, saying it was a “world-class venue and we can now attract world-class events”.
“It’s so exciting. It’s amazing, incredible ... we’re so close to the action, you’ll be able to hear the lineout calls.”
Christchurch was now a model for the rest of New Zealand, he said.
“It’s growing very quickly, consistently steady house price growth – more affordable than other parts of New Zealand. I love Christchurch ... it’s on fire, and it’s growing incredibly well.”
Luxon has faced battles of his own this week, shoring up his leadership after reports that he could be pushed out of the top job because of lukewarm polling figures.
The first-term Prime Minister raised a formal motion of confidence during a caucus meeting on Tuesday, with National Party colleagues voting in his favour.
Luxon said speculation about his leadership was “now closed”, and he would not engage in what he described as a “media soap opera”.
The speculation on his leadership has lasted for weeks amid poor polling and a Herald story last Friday reporting multiple National sources as saying party whip Stuart Smith had tried and failed to contact Luxon about wavering caucus support. Smith did not respond to the report until Tuesday, when he denied it.
Tuesday’s vote also followed the latest in a series of concerning poll results for National.
A 1News-Verian poll published on Sunday suggested that, if an election were held that day, the coalition Government would be ousted from power, based on the assumption that Te Pāti Māori retained its six Māori electorate seats to boost the left bloc.
The polling had National on 30%, down four points, and Labour on 37%, up five, while Luxon recorded his worst result since becoming National Party leader, dropping four points to 16% in the preferred Prime Minister rankings.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins fell one point to 19%.
This week has also seen New Zealand receive its second international rating agency downgrade, after Moody’s dropped its financial outlook to negative, citing global economic risks and geopolitical uncertainty.
In March, ratings agency Fitch also downgraded New Zealand’s outlook from stable to negative, pointing to debt reduction concerns.