Francesca Rudkin: The pressure's on for Chris Luxon

It’s been a very busy and important week for the Prime Minister. There was a reason he championed the Investment Summit and made himself available to attendees to a degree unusual for a Prime Minister at events like this.  

Plain and simple, he desperately needs it to be successful.  

He has staked his leadership on growing our economy, which includes creating an infrastructure pipeline and attracting the overseas finance to help get things done.  

It’s going to take time to evaluate the summit’s success, but the Prime Minister would have been buoyed to hear the Italian tunnelling company behind Auckland’s massive Interceptor wastewater project say it will keep workers and machinery in New Zealand now the Government has outlined a proposed pipeline of infrastructure projects. That’s an early win.  

And wins are what the Prime Minister and coalition need. Two polls this week showed support for Labour is higher than National, and Labour leader Chris Hipkins is overtaking Luxon as preferred Prime Minister. It’s not just the National Party who will be concerned. The Taxpayers Union Poll saw ACT drop 2.3 to 7.7 percent and NZ First drop 1.3 to 5.1 percent.  

I know there’s a lot of scepticism about polls. It’s not as if Labour are presenting an alternative invigorating vision that’s dragging voters over. The concern for the Government is they don’t seem to need to; there’s some wisdom in Labour sitting back and letting the Government lose support all on their own.  

The declining trend in popularity and the Prime Minister’s inability to get traction will irk the hard-working coalition. Especially because they are undoubtedly hard working. But for voters, it only counts if it leads to results.  

The Prime Minister can’t be panicked – he doesn’t have time – but the pressure is on. Last night, Christopher Luxon headed off on his first visit to India as Prime Minister in an attempt to deliver another election promise by securing a free trade agreement during his first term in Government. Apparently, the best we can expect is to establish a timeframe for when they begin formal negotiations. Luxon needs to come home with this at a minimum. 

Next week also sees Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters in the US, discussing New Zealand’s relationship with the Trump administration. Peters will meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other US political contacts to discuss a wide range of international issues – including, no doubt, tariffs. Peters is the man for the job, but once again the pressure is on.  

As the Prime Minister and Government are learning, results take time. But voters are not as patient as they used to be – and their politics are centred on the cost-of-living and making ends meet.  

While there is no imminent danger to leadership, the polls are a flashing light that without some big wins soon, they may run out of time. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News TALKSB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
So it has been a very busy and important week
for the Prime Minister. There was a reason he championed
the Investment Summit and made himself available to attendees to
a degree unusual for a Prime minister at events like this.
Plain and simple, he desperately needed it to be needs
it to be successful. He has staked his leadership on

(00:34):
growing our economy, which includes creating an infrastructure pipeline and
attracting the overseas finance to help get things done. And
it's going to take some time to evaluate the summit's success.
But the Prime Minister would have been buoyed to hear
that the Italian tunneling company behind Auckland's massive Interceptor wastewater
project say it will keep workers and machinery in New Zealand.

(00:54):
Now the government has outlined a proposed pipeline of infrastructure projects.
So that's an early win and wins are what the
Prime Minister and coalition need. Two polls this week showed
support for Labour higher than National and Labour leader Chris
Haipkins overtaking lux in his preferred prime minister. It's not
just the National Party who might be slightly concerned. The

(01:14):
Taxpayer's Union career. Polls saw ACT drop twoero point three
to seven point seven percent and New Zealand First dropped
one point three to five point one percent. Now I
know there's a lot of skepticism about polls. It's not
as if Labor are presenting an alternative, invigorating vision that's
dragging voters over. The concern for the government is they

(01:35):
don't seem to need to. There's some wisdom in Labour
sitting back and letting the government loose support all on
their own. The declining trend in popularity and the Prime
Minister's inability to get traction will irk the hard working coalition,
especially because they are undoubtedly hard working. But for voters
it only counts if it leads to results. The Prime

(01:57):
Minister can't be panicked. He doesn't have the time, but
the pressure is on. Last night, Christopher Luxe and headed
off for his first visit to India as Prime Minister
in an attempt to deliver an another election promise by
securing a free trade agreement during his first term in government. Apparently,
the best we can expect is to establish a time
frame for when they begin formal negotiations. Luxin needs to

(02:19):
come home with this at least at a minimum. Next
week also sees Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters in the
US discussing New Zealand's relationship with the Trump administration. Peters
will meet with the Secretary of State Marco Rubio and
other US political contacts to discuss a wide range of
international issues, including no doubt tariffs. Peters is the man

(02:43):
for the job, but once again the pressure is on
as the Prime Minister and government are learning results take time,
but voters are not as patient as they used to
be and their politics is centered on the cost of
living and making ends meet. While there is no imminent
danger to leadership, the polls are a flashing light that
without some big wins soon they may run out of time.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Time for more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin,
listen live to News Talks a B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.