PM Christopher Luxon takes questions on Kerre Woodham Mornings after week of moves on police pay offer, Māori wards, public sector staff cuts

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the government had put “hundreds of millions [of dollars] more” onto the table for a “much more enhanced offer” to police last week.

That offer was going out for voting by police in the next few days.

Luxon took questions for an hour on Kerre Woodham’s Newstalk ZB show today.

He said he disagreed that National had used law and order issues as a marketing tool during the election, only to stint on the police pay offer, saying it had now put a “very good” proposition on the table.

That enhanced offer for police included a move back to paid overtime, as well as a lump sum payment to help compensate for back pay.

It was the second time it had put more money into the police offer since taking over as government. He said National was serious about giving police what they needed to tackle crime, saying it was one of the main issues voters had raised with them.

On public service cuts, Luxon said there had been a “massive increase” in staff numbers and costs in the core public sector.

“We haven’t had the outcomes,” he said.

His message to the public sector bosses was: “Go back through your back office, stop the dumb programmes that aren’t working, make sure we get the efficiencies in the back office and get rid of the wasteful spending.”

On the hiring spree in the public sector in the last half of last year, he said that was “very disappointing” given both National and Labour had made it clear they wanted cuts.

He said the increase in staff at the Ministry of Education to reform the curriculum was a “classic example”.

He said the New Zealand curriculum was made up of “airy-fairy statements” and teachers were expected to try to interpret them – and that had led to different teaching across the country.

He said the speed with which the cellphone ban had been implemented had shown things could be done quickly if wanted.

He believed that had led to a drop in cyberbullying as well as removing distractions.

Luxon also said he disagreed that the return of referendums on Māori wards was a return to a “bad past”, saying National had not agreed with the shift away from them.

He said he believed it should be a matter of local democracy for local communities to be able to decide whether the wards were set up.

Luxon said the issue of allowing a referendum on the Treaty of Waitangi - as David Seymour wants - was a different matter to the Māori wards.

National has made it clear it will not support Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill beyond the first reading, and Luxon said that was because of the important place the Treaty had in New Zealand.

He said National agreed with localism, and so had taken its stand on the Māori wards.

Luxon spoke to Kerre Woodham in the Newstalk ZB studio. Photo / Jason Oxenham 

On tax cuts and childcare rebates for households, Luxon said the so-called “squeezed middle” was still the government’s target for assistance. He pointed to the recent moves to introduce childcare rebates worth up to $75 a week for households and the plan to shift tax thresholds in the Budget.

He said despite “challenging economics” there was space to ensure workers could keep more of their wages.

”It’s a question of what can we afford to do. And what we can afford to do right now is help defray early childhood costs.”

He said tax cuts were also affordable.

”Rebuilding the economy is job number one, so we can reduce the cost of living.”

He said bringing down inflation would help ease interest rates, as well as “making life cheaper for people”.

One vaping, Luxon said it had been critical at getting smoking rates down among adults, but was a problem when it came to teenagers. He pointed to recent government moves to ban disposable vapes and boost penalties on those who sold vapes to under-18s, as well as introduce