National’s Christopher Luxon Looks to Lead

New Zealand has become fearful, inward and negative as a result of its Covid settings and owes its expatriates an apology for locking them out during the pandemic, Christopher Luxon, the man vying to oust Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, has said. The National Party leader made the comments in a wide-ranging interview with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in London.

Luxon took over as leader in November last year and his party has surged in the polls, with the opposition leading for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.

He rejected suggestions that his “stale, male, pale” characteristics would be a drawback against Ardern. “There’s no doubt the prime minister has great communication skills, but New Zealanders want more than that,” Luxon said.

He said he was focusing on fielding a diverse list of candidates at the next election, saying his commercial experience (he ran Air New Zealand and rose through the ranks at Unilever) had proven that diversity brought with it “richer thinking”.

Original article by Latika Bourke, The Sydney Morning Herald, July 12, 2022.

Photo by Domenio Pugliese.