Christopher Luxon: A Man of "Faith" and "Compassion" Speaks on the Treaty Principles Bill and Health Priority

Or ..... Not ?

Synopsis: Today - we explore two different realities. One where National lost.

And another - which is the one we are living with here. Note: the footnote on increased fees/taxes may be of interest to some readers.

Article open.

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It’s an alternate timeline.

Yesterday as news broke that the central North Island lost its main employer, Winstone Pulp, with the closure of two mills and 230 jobs gone, Opposition Leader Chris Bishop comes out to slam the NZ government.

“This government is costing hard working Kiwis jobs & livelihood. They are destroying entire entire economic regions and forcing more Kiwis onto jobseeker. Construction work is diving from government delays and they’ve now pushed 6500 hard working public servants out, and caused thousands more in private to lose their jobs. We demand that the government take immediate action to save Kiwi jobs.”

The headlines on NZME and other outlets echoes the criticism:

“Government destroying jobs, livelihood and regions” - NZ Herald declares on its front page.

And talk back radio is full of incensed chatter, egged on by Mike Hoskings and Sean Plunkett.

“This country is going down the toilet.” David Seymour privately tells donors. “If we were in power, I would be focusing on improving our productivity through long term investments and strategy. I would not be wasting taxpayers money on hobby projects - especially not $230 million worth - after all, how many jobs would that support? Things would be different under my leadership. BTW, The cheque should go to….”

At the Taxpayers Union offices, Jordan Williams has got the message from Seymour and Bishop, and is readying a new van and slogan.

They will paint over the old vehicle, but no-one will notice. The team valiantly brainstorms slogans and colour schemes to get their message out.

After some intense back and forth, the open-for-anyone’s-donations pressure group decides the red and white colours will be retained.

It’s more eye catching and gives the message they want - EMERGENCY! ALARM! CRISIS! ACTION! CRIMINALITY!

Everyone in the country will know that this government borrowed $12bn more - not for infrastructure, schools, health or investment - but to hand it out in tax cuts that will be swallowed up by companies and increased government costs¹. The Green Man will help the publicity campaign.

Footnote 1 shows the list that TPU’s newest intern Rhys put together - but intentionally pushing 13,000 extra children in poverty and secretly amending the targets is going to be a focus for the campaign. This government is toast.

Williams starts calling his speed dial friends in media to get the message out. And sends a report to donors - EGW + ATP {Code: Everything Going Well & According To Plan}

Under Taxpayers Union and affiliated entities, everyone will learn how the Government threw away ~$1bn of taxpayers money and counting on the reckless cancellation of Kiwirail.

“What utter clowns!” Jordan chortles to his office of friends - “look at what the PM said to South Korea - they are our 6th largest trading partner and a key regional security partner."

Everyone laughs at the video - even the new intern.

Under the TPU, FSU and Groundswell banners, Kiwis will be hammered with how many millions the Government’s forced Māori wards referendums will cost ratepayers, how anti-democratic central government is being to local government, and how over 320 Kainga Ora projects are being put on hold despite ~$300,000,000 of sunk costs.

“Amateurs! Time is money and they are wasting a lot of it!” David Farrar exclaims over the speaker phone as he furiously scribbles more poll questions like “Are you happy that this government threw away $1bn on Kiwirail?” to send to Kiwis.

Don’t worry - Curia Market Research is out of the industry standards body even in this timeline. It’s business as usual and Farrar is already expecting 1News to blast Kiwis’ discontent in tomorrrow’s bulletin.

The Atlas Network funded team decide on a simple slogan (“KISS - Keep it simple, stupid,” David Farrar reminded them as he opens up his blog window.)

They land on -

STOP THE ECONOMIC VANDALISM.

The battle cry is set.

United, they go forth.

And united they are.

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Back to this timeline and reality - Chris Luxon: A Man Of Faith and Principle

On Monday, Christopher Luxon met a media throng heavily focused on the Treaty Principles Bill.

For the most part, Luxon ignored questions, saying he wasn’t going to share what he discussed in Cabinet meetings.

No, he hadn’t read the Draft Bill. No, he’s not going to tell you who drafted it. No, he won’t tell you who’s read it.

Instead, he refers media to David Seymour, which appears to be pretty weak sauce for a Prime Minister.

Today Seymour did share more from the secretive Cabinet meeting - confirming what I’ve been reporting on - that ACT will take the Treaty Principles bill through an extraordinary six month Select Committee process!

RNZ notes this will take the “ACT-led debate right past Rātana celebrations and Waitangi Day next year”.

RNZ also re-affirms earlier reports that the Ministry of Justice finds the Treaty Principles Bill “isn't "grounded in the Treaty" and relies on a "novel reading" of the founding document that isn't supported by the "available evidence".”

That won’t matter to them though, and their target audience won’t hear it, or won’t care.

The last time this came out was in January in a leaked memo. Seymour’s response?

An attack of course.

Anyway, a few interesting points from the Luxon press conference:

• Luxon infers the Treaty Principles Bill was the deal breaker to form government:

“You know that our coalition negotiations took some time. That was a big part for why it took a while for us to get there.”

Perhaps this is why Matthew Hooton told Luxon last week to call ACT’s bluff on the Treaty Principles Bill, and not blink this time, rather than let racial extremism continue to grow in NZ.

The admission also lends credibility to my thesis that the rolling back of indigenous rights is a must do task for Seymour and his backers will be in it for the long run.

i.e even if it does fail this time, they will have generated sufficient consensus among right wing voters to push for it again in future and continue their movement.

A contrived problem becomes reified as real.

Six months and counting is a hell of a long time to generate debate and interest while the real root causes go unaddressed - low productivity, structural emphasis on agriculture and mining, non-investment in innovation and sciences/technology, not addressing our infrastructure debt, eliminating climate change advancements and piling on costs, re-allocating money from public education to private schools that have mixed results and failed last time, a dramatically flailing health system on their watch, the list goes on.

But it also proves that Luxon chose to allow NZ to fall into chaos and division - despite repeated warnings from past PMs and all sides of the aisle - for personal power. i.e in order to form government, Luxon blinked during negotiations and allowed Seymour this extraordinary allowance.

• Luxon keeps inferring his hands are tied -

“We honour our coalition commitments and our agreements, and that's what we're going to do…. it's been pretty calm, it's been pretty relaxed, it's been pretty clear about what our commitments are to each other and we're honouring those.”

This suggests commitments, honour, and agreements matter to Luxon and Seymour.

Does anyone else see some irony?

• Luxon didn’t have to allow the public six month consultation process at all - but he did.

• Luxon says that the Coalition is going well and he is the one who is trying to be an “adult and mature about [the process].”

• Luxon calls it a “value judgement” when a journalist calls him a man of faith. It was interesting to see him look mildly offended.

• In response to the 440 Church leaders calling on his government to stop the Treaty Principles Bill, Luxon responds to it with:

“I have a coalition agreement commitment. I honour those commitments…We have a compromise here which we have to honour in our coalition commitments for both parties.”

It is a telling statement from a man who once widely advertised his faith and principles.

Two final Q&A from the press conference:

Question: What do you say to members of the iwi leaders forum like Professor Makere Mutu who was saying, Prime Minister, that you as the leader of the country is putting coalition before country?

Luxon: Well, I'll just say to you, since the election it's been very clear what our commitment has been. A coalition agreement has been published. We've talked about it a lot. We've traversed this territory a lot. There is no change to the position.”

Question: Following the death of King Tuheitia, you went to Turangawaewae and said, we heard you [say], Kotahitanga, unity, this is the pathway forward.

How does considering the Treaty Principles Bill on your first day back at Parliament since then marry with that?”

Luxon: Well, what I'd say to you is that I do believe in Kotahitanga, I do believe in unity, but it doesn't mean that we're going to agree unanimously on the best pathway to get there…

A man of faith, honour and principle. Yes or no?

CARTOON & LAST THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Yesterday, despite the Rotorua ED death from chronic understaffing (the government’s freeze on frontline and “back office” hires is real), Reti chose to instead spend time lecturing Kiwis about staying “respectful” during the Treaty Principles Bill issue. He noted he had “sought assurances” that Rotorua was safe - but why did he ignore months of warnings from doctors and nurses? The same ones Dr Lester Levy inferred were disgruntled “resistance” just last month.

The situation is absurd but personally devastating for impacted Kiwis.

No word from Luxon about how his health budget cuts are causing deaths either, but he did make sure to take time out to scold Hawkes Bay doctors for daring to provide free health care to young Maori and Pasifika patients.

Priorities, right?

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RELATED READING

1. How are your tax cuts faring, and have they made a difference in your household?

Tax increases announced since election:

• Alcohol excise tax 4.1%

• Prescription fees reinstated (exceptions exist e.g. CSC holders, Gold card holders) - ostensibly to pay for cancer drugs

• Fuel tax increases (22c hike in total)

• Car registration fee increases $25 in January 2025, and a further $25 in January 2026. The fees are currently $106.15 annually for petrol vehicles.

• Public transport fare discounts removed

• Kids'/ youth public transport - no free and half price fares anymore

• Clean car discount removed

• EV RUC penalised at a higher rate than petrol cars i.e. same as diesel, plus an admin fee.

  • Note: Such policies have led to a significant fall in EV sales in NZ. Clean cars made up just 6 percent of new vehicles sold in May, well down from the 2023 average share of 20 percent in 2024 - and EV sales show no signs of recovery.

• App tax of 15% extra for users of Uber, Airbnb etc.

Increased cost of living considerations:

• Tolls for roads will be coming for all the “roads of national significance” National will build as Simeon Brown says he “will accept any recommendation to toll any new roads” and National look to private companies for help.

  • National’s 2023 road budget was underestimated by reports of ~$24bn+. This report by NZ Herald shows that it could easily be double National’s estimates

  • Last year Newsroom had already reported that National’s 2023 road budget used figures from 2015 and did not factor in inflation - but the gap is much higher

• Water rates and council rates continue to climb. John Campbell’s 1News deep dive on this demonstrated that cancelling 3 Waters will lead to increased rates for everyone. The reason is very simple: ongoing delays exacerbate issues and cost of debt will always be higher for a small entity.

  • Some places are dire with Wellington’s water rates projected to increase 175% over the next decade - half for water maintenance. Ditto the West Coast and Napier, for example.

  • Average council rates are averaging 15% + increases this year, but more rates are expected.

• Access to personal supports for the elderly are affected (e.g. house work, showering support, respite for those caring for elderly family members, assistance to the supermarket, meal prep, meals on wheels) any equipment beyond a toilet frame or walker (hospital beds, pressure relieving cushions and mattresses, commodes).

  • FYI in 2015, pressure injuries cost the health system nearly $700m. Prevention is the cheapest option by far.

• Transport infrastructure in the North-South link is still a question as the key Interislander route remains unsupported.

  • The Govt refused a request for $1.4bn more despite aging infrastructure, to complete the project, after sunk costs of approximately$1bn.

  • Note Willis claimed the cost blowouts were unacceptable but the Select Committee revealed the fit for purpose vehicles were at a record low cost, and inflation and seismic upgrades caused the blowout. If those same boats were procured today, costs were estimated to be at least 30% higher.

  • In the May budget, the NACT1 Govt has committed $600,000 to investigate towing options the Cook Strait boats

More specific to lower socio-economic or beneficiary families

• Benefits have been impacted by amending indexation to inflation vs wage growth.

  • Those on disability have been forecast to have incomes reduced by $2,300 by 2028.

  • Official were warned this change would push 13,000 children into poverty, prior to it passing the bill under urgency

  • The govt announced reducing benefits as one of its targets, including health related beneficiaries

• Other impacts may apply -

  • Emergency housing substantively cut

  • Support for legal fees taken away

  • Dozens of budgeting services cut in the latest budget

  • Access to rebates for warmer homes insulation cut, as part of 240 cuts in the budget used to save costs

• Public services access and quality as operational and frontline staff are impacted. So far ~6000 roles have been cut, and the Govt will need to keep cutting as its budget numbers don’t work.

  • Cuts have included frontline roles in Customs, Oranga Tamariki, Health etc.

  • Luxon admits frontline roles are going after months of reports

More specific to house buyers and social housing tenants/purchasers

• First home buyers grant was scrapped

• Kainga Ora projects have been put on hold, indefinitely in some cases. In addition, the 2024 budget removed $1.5bn from Kainga Ora. This article points out that a social house builder is intended to carry debt and stopping its builds will not be a positive result. Despite, this the Govt has carried out a series of very public accusations against KO, which some have called spurious and undisciplined.

• Yesterday we learned that 323 projects have been put on hold, despite investment of ~$300,000,000. This has led to reduced social housing stock and delays, as well as ongoing costs of stalling and finance.