National Party leader Christopher Luxon on Covid, polls, taxes

National Party leader Christopher Luxon. Photo / Alex Burton

National Party leader Christopher Luxon isn't going to let Covid or looming polls stop him from doing his job.

Luxon was due to visit The Country studio in person today but a positive Covid test earlier this week put paid to that.

He told The Country's Jamie Mackay he wasn't feeling too ill and was still able to "power through work", taking part in meetings and asking questions of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in Parliament.

"To be honest I've actually felt fine. I've got a bit of a cough, but that's about it."

Luxon acknowledged not everyone was so lucky with Covid.

"I appreciate it probably hits everyone differently but for me, it's been pretty straightforward."

Luxon delivered his State of the Nation speech on Sunday, to a small audience of about 50 people and was filmed hugging some of those supporters afterwards. He tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday.

Since then, he has come under scrutiny online for his behaviour, including inadequate mask-wearing.

Luxon defended his actions, while also taking the criticism on board.

"No, we followed all the protocols and the rules. I've been on a KN95 mask for some time now and so – yeah maybe in hindsight I should've done a little less hugging - but the bottom line is we're well within the protocols and constraints of the venue."

The latest 1 News-Kantar poll (formerly known as 1 News-Colmar Brunton) is out tonight, but Luxon said he was too busy "doing my day job" to be concerned with the results.

"To be honest, if you're in my position I just have to truck through each week and just say – right – are we focused enough on today, have we focused on the week, have we won the week or not?"

This approach had paid off, with National "having a pretty good run" recently, he said.

"You've seen this Russian Sanctions Bill come forward, that was our Bill basically adopted by the Government. I think we've done a good job on prosecuting the case on Covid around seven-day isolation periods.

"So we're pushing them and they're reacting and they're having to respond to us … essentially if we keep doing our job right, hopefully, the rest will take care of itself through the course of the year."

Listen below:

One issue Luxon has firmly in his sights is taxes. National is promising to reverse every increase imposed by this Labour Government.

"We're going to unwind all of the Labour tax increase that they've put in because when you go through the logic of them, they don't always make sense."

He said he trusted the New Zealand people to spend their money better than Finance Minister Grant Robertson.

Also in today's interview: Luxon called the TVNZ/RNZ merger a "dog's breakfast".