Summarised by Centrist
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is pushing back hard on leadership speculation, telling media he will “absolutely” lead National into the 2026 election and portraying the chatter as media habit formed during National’s unstable years.
Luxon framed himself as the fixer who dragged the party back from chaos, saying: “The National Party was in a state of civil war, we’d had five leaders in five years.”
He argued the press got used to “a daily soap opera” and has carried that “overhang” into his tenure. “I know what it took to rebuild a National Party from 20 percent to 37 percent and find a pathway to win an election,” he said.
On the economy, Luxon said confidence was hit by “Trump’s liberation day” and the “chaos and the uncertainty around the tariff policy,” which fed “a huge amount of negative sentiment.”
However, he pointed to a recent trade shift as a sign of momentum: “Now, for the first time in the last month, we are exporting more than we import.”
He claimed the coalition “walked straight into a recession” because of Labour’s previous “economic management being poor.”
Luxon said the three-party coalition is holding because partners are allowed to “differentiate,” with “massive alignment at the centre” but differences “on the margins.”
On the Regulatory Standards Bill, he said it would be “a shame” not to give it a proper run, calling the intent similar to the Public Finance Act: “to make sure that the politicians are actually making good quality regulation and legislation.”
He also defended the law and order push, saying the government will only reduce incarceration rates “because crime has come down,” not by letting offenders stay in the community.
