The Country 13/11/24: Christopher Luxon talks to Jamie Mackay

The Prime Minister ponders the Trump phone call, whether Trump could happen here, and whether Winston or the Prince of the Provinces is our Trump. And who/which is his biggest headache — David Seymour or the hīkoi?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wednesdays on the Country, the Prime Minister kicks off the show.
Normally I've got him all to myself, but the Hosk
has cut my lunch earlier this morning, and that's because
Prime Minister you cut his you dropped him for the Trumpster.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well, you know, you're very important, Jamie, so it's good
to be with you today. But yes, unfortunately I was
due to talk to Mike and I got another incoming
call so from the President, so it was President lex
It was very good to be able to talk with
him and connect with him as well, because she hadn't
met him before, and it was very decent with him
given everything that he's dealing with in their political system.

(00:34):
He has to make about four and a half thousand
appointments before January the twentieth, and so that's a really
challenging piece of work that happens in the transition period.
But it was very decent and take time out and
spend a few minutes chatting, which was great.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
No, I know you hadn't met him before. I know
you've met Obama before, any other US presidents you've met
in the flesh.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
I met Bill Clinton before at a function in Canada.
I'm trying to think through. No, that would be I think.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Did you get a word on the phone call actually
knows someone who knows him as I'm not name dropping here.
It's just a bloke I went to boarding school with,
married a woman whosg on Fox News and she was
telling me how gracious he is privately.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, he was lovely. I mean we had a really
good chat. I mean it was very relaxed, very warm.
As I said, we probably spoke for up to sixteen minutes.
He congratulated him on what was a very decisive and
very comprehensive when he has a very positive perception of
New Zealand and also our government which was you know,
it was aware of what was happening here politically in

(01:37):
New Zealand as well. And then we talked about certainly,
you know, some very high level about some of the
challenges in global conflicts that Middle Eastern Ukraine in particular,
how we continue to work together in the Pacific, and
then we also had a discussion about what's happening in
the respective economies as well. So you know, that's a
really you know, the objectives and the reason for call

(01:57):
up that is a relationship building one and for a
small country like ours to take the time to talk
to us if it was ecklint Well Cold.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
Simon Wilson and The Herald write an interesting column yesterday
titled could Trump happen Here? Now I'm going to ask
you as Winston Peter's our Trump, Trump's all about America. First,
Winston's all about New Zealand. First, they have similarities.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
We have a very different political system first and foremost,
as you know, so you know, there's no doubt about it.
We've got a maturing MMP environment like we see more
in Western Europe. We at the moment in parliament you
have six parties. They all have very different positions, I guess,
and they represent different segments of New Zealanders. And so

(02:43):
in our free elections and our demo credit process, New
Zealanders are free to support who they wish, and each
of the parties has a slightly as different flavors and
different propositions and therefore attracts different supporters. So you know,
the reality is as MMP has matured, is that we've
seen all around the world. In Western Europe you have
four party coalitions, six party coalition governments, and you have

(03:07):
to accommodate a difference out of views, and rightly or wrongly,
that's the system that New Zealanders have voted for several
times now, and our job is to make it work.
So look, I mean, I think in the Parliament, you know,
they said we've got six parties. They represent different different
constituents and it's a good thing in democracy.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, heaven help us if we get a six party
coalition here. It's messy enough with three. We'll come back
to that. Okay, if one st I.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Think our coalition's working really well, I think.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
Well, as meat Loaf said, two out of three ain't bad,
Prime Minister. Okay, if Winston's not Donald Trump, maybe Shane
Jones's drill, baby, drill.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Well. I mean, we are very determined to make sure
that we've got a country in recession. We do not
have the luxury of just turning off pieces of growth.
And the reality is when you look at things like
building all roads, we need quarries closer to locations. We
need to make sure that we are nexting every opportunity
to grow this economy. And when you've been in session

(04:04):
for almost three years, we've got to you know, we're
dealing with the cost of living crisis, inflation and interest
rates are coming down. But now our real focus moves
to growth in jobs and higher paying jobs. And so
you know, for us, we are very determined to grow
this country because you know that's been our challenge over
thirty years, that we're all working incredibly hard, we haven't
been able to generate the returns that lift our quality

(04:27):
of living. It's been encouraging to see things like dairy
prices continue to do well. But again, you know, there's
a great strategy where you know, our dairy industry has
added a huge amount of value at facts premium prices
and premium margins and you can see the benefit of
that through that change of strategy. So we need to
do more of that across all sectors of New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
Well, let's talk about your coralitionan very briefly, the hikoy
or David Seymour, who or which is the biggest headache
for you at the moment.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
Well, look, I mean the reality is as I said before,
and you have to have compromise, and neither David or
I probably got what we wanted on that topic, but
we came to a compromise, which is you know we
will support it to first reading, but not beyond that.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
I've always found that one vote, one person's a good
start to democracy. Prime Minister Christopher Luxan, thanks for some
of your time. I realize it's valuable.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
It's both, Jamie, great to be look you have a
great week.