Christopher Luxon, New Zealand Prime Minister 2023

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Forums › Politics › Christopher Luxon, New Zealand Prime Minister 2023

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#3457146 30-Jan-2026 09:45

freitasm:

New Zealand PM was invited for Trump's "Peace Board".

Forget it. Hard no. Big scam.

Trump wants a "donation" of US$1 billion for countries to stay on the board.

I rather have ferries.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/pm-christopher-luxon-declines-us-president-donald-trumps-board-of-peace-for-gaza-invitation/V37FPZC5QVHODBZOTSV4T67H2Y/

New Zealand will not be joining United States President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace for Gaza “in its current form”, according to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

Luxon this morning confirmed the decision in a brief statement:

“The Government has considered President Trump’s invitation and has decided not to join the Board of Peace in its current form.”

Thank Christ for that.

(satire):

😁

sen8or

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#3457150 30-Jan-2026 09:51

Hopefully there aren't any consequences for not taking up the invite, like a doubling of tarrif's. Wouldn't put anything past Trump

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#3457204 30-Jan-2026 11:02

Great they said no. Concerning they didn't say "hell no, this a scam composed of frauds and murderers and we won't have anything to do with it" but rather 'there are already enough people on it, we wouldn't add any value".

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ezbee

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#3457299 30-Jan-2026 16:42

American tariff threat.

Be like water , be like Canada.
Trump has offended most of the world, creating trade opportunities.
Some hard nuts we have not been able to crack and greenfields.

Rest of world wants to write new trade agreements time to go 'full court press'.

If your business does business with America, you need an escape plan.
Sure its not easy, but price of doing nothing may be very high.

Decouple or join their decline.

freitasm

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#3458626 4-Feb-2026 11:04

Unemployment rate rises again, to 5.4%: Highest since 2015 | Stuff

The unemployment rate has risen again to 5.4%, with 165,000 without work, an increase of 5,000 on the previous quarter, official figures show.

The 5.4% unemployment rate for the December quarter followed a 5.3% figure for the previous September quarter, and 5.2% in the June quarter.

At 5.4%, Stats NZ's Jason Attewell said it was the "highest since the September 2015 quarter, when it was 5.7%".

John Key was PM in 2015, the previous highest unemployment. It must be something to do with National policies

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#3458660 4-Feb-2026 12:49

Clearly the work of the Labour government, same as the rising inflation.

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#3459167 5-Feb-2026 18:01

Unemployment.
Thus the amount exiting to Australia, if they can, the employment market here seems not great.
Warehouse is cutting 25% of its head office staff, others not taking on trainees.
So how do young get experience to get on employment ladder.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/360933711/warehouse-group-cut-270-head-office-roles

Though it seems IKEA not too impressed with NZ low pay rates.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/585232/ikea-hikes-staff-pay-to-minimum-29-as-other-retailers-told-to-step-up

Someone once said 'Let them eat cake'
Luxon says 'let them pick fruit'

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#3460020 9-Feb-2026 15:26

And he said it: Heckles and fiery retorts as politicians speak at Waitangi

"Article Three must guarantee equality of opportunity. And while it cannot and should not guarantee equality of outcomes – because that is socialism – it's the endless work to make the starting line in life more equal."

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#3460096 9-Feb-2026 21:41

National:

Also National:

New electricity levy ‘not a tax’, PM says

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360936014/government-announce-future-lng

Definition of Levy:

Verb, to impose a tax, fee or fine.

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#3460099 9-Feb-2026 21:59

"The government says a Liquefied Natural Gas import facility in Taranaki will save New Zealanders about $265 million a year. Energy Minister Simon Watts on Monday announced a contract was expected to be signed by the middle of the year, with construction finishing next year or early 2028. Watts told media the facility would provide Kiwi's "greater security and peace of mind"."

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/586332/watch-taranaki-s-liquefied-natural-gas-import-facility-expected-to-save-new-zealanders-millions

The main motivation seems to be commercial use. It's not clear to me how commercial users will contribute.

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#3460102 9-Feb-2026 22:24

gzt: The main motivation seems to be commercial use. It's not clear to me how commercial users will contribute.

So I fully get the short term use of gas to transition to Electric or to build solutions like grid energy storage (remember Lake Onslow?) to plan for the future, not right now.

The problem is this government plans for "right now" instead of the future. You look at the ferries, climate emergency fund as examples.

But Gas shortages have been on the cards since 2012-2014. Methanex use 40-50% of all gas and Fonterra use 5-8%. Lovely to see the average New Zealander footing the bill for large corporations once again.

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#3460121 10-Feb-2026 08:32

Governments aren't elected on future results or future impacts, they are elected (or booted out of power) based on the needs of the day. Its not so much that neither party has a good vision for NZ, its that most people can't see past their own situations and see what might be best long term.

I get that long term thinking doesn't put food in the mouths of hungry children today, nor does it fill or hospitals and education systems with the staff they need today and hence a long term planning Govt isn't seen to be doing anything to "fix the problem".

Labour and National need to set aside their political differences and agree on what a good country looks like in 10, 15 and even 20 years and beyond and set those goals in concrete. They can both be free to adopt policies that cater to their individual preferences provided that they don't steer away from the agreed long term plan.

Even the Greens have lofty ambitions for what a good NZ looks like and they have been one of the few (if not the only?) to actually publish what that looks like.

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#3460133 10-Feb-2026 09:39

michaelmurfy:

National:

Also National:

New electricity levy ‘not a tax’, PM says

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360936014/government-announce-future-lng

Definition of Levy:

Verb, to impose a tax, fee or fine.

+ RUCs for EVs

+ Higher registration fees and ACC levies

Now, I'm not against paying taxes, but remind me what I got for that, which I wasn't getting before?

Related: the electricity levy is to pay for an LNG terminal Taranaki so that in several years from now we can further increase our reliance on a sunset industry which is actively working to make natural disasters worse and more frequent. Why would we spend that $1B on boring solar, wind and batteries when we could be watching a square kilometre of forestry slash sweep away Tairawhiti three times a year instead? That's way more fun.

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#3460134 10-Feb-2026 09:40

michaelmurfy:

The problem is this government plans for "right now" instead of the future. You look at the ferries, climate emergency fund as examples.

But Gas shortages have been on the cards since 2012-2014.

They're not even planning for right now. They're planning for 20 years ago.

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freitasm

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#3460136 10-Feb-2026 09:41

SaltyNZ:

michaelmurfy:

The problem is this government plans for "right now" instead of the future. You look at the ferries, climate emergency fund as examples.

But Gas shortages have been on the cards since 2012-2014.

They're not even planning for right now. They're planning for 20 years ago.

They are planning on how to transfer funds to friends and supporters.

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