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# Face of the Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/face-of-the-day-490/
- Published: 2022-01-31T17:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2022-02-01T07:54:10.000Z
- Author: Good Oil Staff
- Tags: Featured, NZ, NZ Politics, Politics, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-17 01:12

> “It’s game on.”  
>  
> That’s the message from National Leader **Christopher Luxon** in his speech to MPs at the party’s caucus retreat in Queenstown.

> \[…\] The retreat will focus on topics Luxon thinks will be important in the new year: **The economy, Covid-19, and Maori.**

> \[…\] Luxon said centre-right parties worldwide faced a perception problem, as too many voters thought such parties were not compassionate.  
>  
> \[…\] He told National MPs the party would not be successful unless it leaders got of the Wellington beltway and meaningfully engaged with voters.  
>  
> \[…\] He reiterated how important he felt it was for centre-right parties to talk about issues other than GDP or related economic measures.  
>  
> \[…\] On why the retreat was staged in Queenstown, he said the town typified current economic problems, as seen in its battered tourist and hospitality industry.  
>  
> \[…\] “Lots of New Zealand’s doing it tough.”  
>  
> He said Government spending was out of control and if the current trajectory continued, austerity measures would be necessary.  
>  
> “The people that get hurt the most are the poor and vulnerable as a consequence.”  
>  
> \[…\] Luxon said he was concerned about growing polarisation in the United States and other liberal democracies.  
>  
> “I want to make sure we have civility in politics.”  
>  
> Luxon said Government spending was up about 68 per cent in five years.  
>  
> “At the end of the day, those borrowings have to be repaid.”  
>  
> He said National wanted to invest in social initiatives, but not waste money.

> \[…\] “I think the Government did a really good job in 2020…But 2021 was a shambles.”

> \[…\] Luxon said the Government had ignored advice to get people “work-ready” and instead was funnelling more cash into a bloated, inefficient welfare system.  
>  
> \[…\] Asked how he would get voters to associate National with environmental issues, he said New Zealand was falling behind meaningful renewable energy goals.  
>  
> He said Labour had made “big sweeping declarations” but minimal progress on the environment.  
>  
> On the Greens, he said: “I think only three of their ten MPs actually care about the environment.”  
>  
> NZ Herald

[Read the article in full here.](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/national-caucus-retreat-christopher-luxon-speaks-in-queenstown-after-beating-jacinda-ardern-in-approval-poll/HUKQ7UKOG5RN342E2AFOQD2LYA/?ref=goodoil.news) Comment on it on *The BFD.*

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