Jack Tame: Luxon is at his best when he's hustling

Despite the polls, I reckon the last two weeks have been among the best for Christopher Luxon in his time as Prime Minister.  

Sure, the numbers aren’t showing him and his government much love. School lunches still have their issues and the Treaty Principles episode is far from over, but at a time when Luxon faces significant pressure on the domestic front and a pretty grumpy voting public, you can’t deny his efforts at the Infrastructure Investment Summit and in India represent a full-court press in the government’s push for economic growth.   

I know we don’t have big tangibles yet. I know we don’t yet have a Free Trade Deal. I know that if we do get one negotiated and signed, our biggest primary export sector may end up with very little. But at a time when most of us are feeling really glum about the economy (despite this week’s GDP figures), when unemployment continues to rise, and when our second-biggest trading partner and world’s biggest economy is being led by an erratic and highly-unpredictable President, the welcome that Luxon and his delegation received in India and the resumption of negotiations were meaningful. Sure, it’s a stretch to think get a comprehensive deal signed in the next 18 months, but you can’t argue we’re not in a better position today than we were when Luxon took over.   

It’s my view that on several occasions as National’s leader, the Prime Minister has suffered from having a bad political radar. I think he’s made some misjudgements that perhaps MPs with more political experience would have been able to avoid. But of his many public-facing responsibilities, I think he’s probably at his best when he’s alongside international business and political leaders in salesman mode as it were, hustling.   

I was at APEC in Peru with him last year. It was the same. The PM flew in and flew out.  The time zone was a dog. He was only the ground for about 48 hours. There were breakfasts and dinners, official meetings, multiple bilaterals all across town and twenty different leaders to meet. I just remember that when he landed, before he even went to his hotel or had a shower, after 17 or 18 hours in the air, Luxon insisted on swinging past the Australian delegation from an impromptu visit to Anthony Albanese. By anyone’s measure, it was a gruelling schedule with no down time, and Luxon always had to be ‘on’. And I asked him just before he flew home how he was feeling.  

‘You must be exhausted?’ I said.   

Honestly, it was as though the possibility had never crossed his mind.   

‘Huh?’ He said.   

‘No... I love this!’ he said. I believed him.   

There are plenty of levers governments can pull that impact economic conditions. This government’s critics will argue that a part of New Zealand’s current economic malaise is the result of its policies. Nonetheless, at a time when the world’s biggest superpower is spraying around tariffs and speedily retreating from its traditional international role, I do think there’s value —symbolic or otherwise— in a Prime Minister overtly hustling for his country. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
That'd be Despite the polls, I reckon, the last two
weeks have been among the best for Prime Minister Christopher
Luxen in his time in the top job. Sure, the
numbers aren't showing him and his government much love at
the moment, school lunches still have their issues. The Treaty
Principles episode is far from over. But at a time

(00:34):
when Luxon faces significant pressure on the domestic front and
a pretty grumpy voting public, you cannot deny that his
efforts last week, first of all the Infrastructure Investment Summit
and then this week in India represent a full court
press in the government's push for economic growth. Now, look,

(00:57):
I know that we don't have tangibles just yet. I
know that we don't have a free trade deal. I
know that if we do get one negotiated and signed,
our biggest primary export sector may end up with very little.
But at a time when most of us are feeling
really glum about the economy, despite this week's GDP figures,

(01:17):
when unemployment continues to rise, and when our second biggest
trading partner, the world's biggest economy is being led by
an erratic and highly unpredictable president. I reckon the welcome
that Luxon and his delegation received in India and the
resumption of negotiations for a free trade deal were meaningful,
seriously meaningful. Now, sure, it's a stretch to think we

(01:40):
will get a comprehensive deal signed in the next eighteen months,
but you cannot argue we are not in a better
position today than we were when Luxon took over. It's
my view that on several occasions as National's leader, the
PM has suffered from having a bit of a bad
political radar. I just think he's made some kind of

(02:03):
misjudgments that perhaps MPs with more political experience would have
been able to avoid. But of as many public facing responsibilities,
I reckon he's probably at his best when he's alongside
the international business and political crowd. You know, leaders from
around the world in salesman mode, as it were, hustling.

(02:27):
I was at Apek in Peru last year and it
was kind of the same. I just remember the PM
flew in and flew out. The time zone was a
total dog. He was probably only on the ground for
forty eight hours. There were breakfasts and dinners. There were
official meetings, multiple bilaterals, all across town, twenty or so
different leaders to meet. And I remember that when he landed,

(02:48):
before he even went to his hotel or had a shower,
after seventeen or eighteen hours in the year, Luxon insisted
on swinging past the Australian delegation so he could catch
up in an impromptu way with Anthony Albanesi. By anyone's measure,
it was a grueling schedule, a serily grueling schedule, no downtime,

(03:09):
and Luxon always had to be on. And I asked
him just before he flew home how he was feeling.
He must be exhausted, I said, honestly, it was as
though the possibility had never even crossed his mind. Huh,
he said. No. I love this, he said, and I
believed him. Look, there are plenty of levers that governments

(03:33):
can pull that impact economic conditions. This government's critics will
argue that a part of New Zealand's current economic malaise
is as a result of their policies. Nonetheless, at a
time when the world's biggest superpower is spraying tariffs all
over the show and speedily retreating from its international role.

(03:54):
I do think there's value, symbolic or otherwise, and a
Prime minister overtly hustling for his country.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
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