Christopher Luxon, New Zealand Prime Minister 2023

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

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#3483318 23-Apr-2026 10:33

Handle9:

Between the TPM circus, the complete abscence of thought from Labour and the mess that the Greens have been all term. That’s the way the coalition gets back.

The government is pretty bad, the alternative is significantly worse.

I used to be a supporter of Maori seats (local and central). The current cohort of TPM MPs have completely reversed my view on that.

A close friend of mine has always been an avid Greens supporter. She says she won't vote for them again because of their 'antics' from shoplifting to infighting.

Personally, I'm not sure who I'll vote for this time round. It's often difficult for me as I'm socially liberal, but economically conservative, which is an odd mix. I don't really want to vote for Luxon but if I look at the opposition ... ooff! If I vote for NZF, they might go with Labour.

Mike

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#3483323 23-Apr-2026 10:59

I've been a long term Green voter. But, the current party leadership places style over policy

Thus, I'll begrudgingly vote Labour.

gzt

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#3483345 23-Apr-2026 12:26

MikeAqua: I used to be a supporter of Maori seats (local and central). The current cohort of TPM MPs have completely reversed my view on that.

The crash in Te Pati support to 2% indicates Maori seat voters have similar feelings about Te Pati's performance at this point.

MikeAqua

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#3483347 23-Apr-2026 12:33

gzt:
The crash in Te Pati support to 2% indicates Maori seat voters have similar feelings about Te Pati's performance at this point.

True, And many of those non-supporters voted the current cohort in. It's not like the character of those MPs changed after they were elected.

Mike

gzt

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#3483406 23-Apr-2026 12:56

Anecdotally it's the failure of unity and the breakdown in relationships more than anything else. It's very unfortunate.

ezbee

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#3483469 23-Apr-2026 13:47

TPM MPs were likely selected based on their fiery Popularist rhetoric.
You just get the crowd so worked up any critical thinking on practicality goes out the window.

This is a trap for all parties, for a smaller party its critical as there is not a larger pool of MP's.

It's a bit like setting astronomical targets for your policy as that gets more clicks than something realistic in numbers and timescale.
Makes it so if you do a great job on progress, its looks crappy, the laudable aim goes out the window.

The stop oil now protesters tar the rest of us who want to minimize dependance and boost resilience.
Fires up opposition to doing anything.
They can point to us as connected to loonies with damaging and impossible targets.

Modern social media just amplifies. Click before you think.

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MikeAqua

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#3483488 23-Apr-2026 14:14

gzt: Anecdotally it's the failure of unity and the breakdown in relationships more than anything else. It's very unfortunate.

Unfortunate ... maybe. It's an instructive demonstration of how activists struggle to reach consensus and engineer solutions. Definitely not surprising given the personalities elected.

As another example .... how much time have the Greens spent outside of government, delivering nothing for their voters - when they could have 'worked with' delivered some policy.

A difficult choice this coming election for Maori roll voters. Labour, who have often taken their support for granted or TPM, who have shown themselves to be dysfunctional and ineffective.

Mike

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#3483495 23-Apr-2026 14:30

Winston is still saying he won’t team up with Labour.

sen8or

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#3483500 23-Apr-2026 14:43

MikeAqua:

gzt: Anecdotally it's the failure of unity and the breakdown in relationships more than anything else. It's very unfortunate.

Unfortunate ... maybe. It's an instructive demonstration of how activists struggle to reach consensus and engineer solutions. Definitely not surprising given the personalities elected.

As another example .... how much time have the Greens spent outside of government, delivering nothing for their voters - when they could have 'worked with' delivered some policy.

A difficult choice this coming election for Maori roll voters. Labour, who have often taken their support for granted or TPM, who have shown themselves to be dysfunctional and ineffective.

If the greens were truly "green" then they'd be able to work with anyone to achieve their goals, the extreme / activist nature of some seems to inhibit their ability to see past left/right politics.

They'd argue that the right will always disregard the environment for the economy (and point towards mining, mineral and gas and intensification of farming among other things to support their argument) and to a certain extent, they aren't wrong, but even National (by international standards) are hardly a right wing party.

The "blue/green" combination comes up each election and each election it gets shot down by both sides which is unfortunate. Not as a way to keep one party or another in power, but unfortunate that their ability to drive environmental policies is diminished by not having a hand on the steering wheel of the nation.

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#3483508 23-Apr-2026 14:53

MikeAqua:

As another example .... how much time have the Greens spent outside of government, delivering nothing for their voters - when they could have 'worked with' delivered some policy.

Tried that. Think 2017 - Peters made sure only NZF was formally in coalition with Labour. James Shaw was a minister, but outside cabinet, and effectively with no budget. He managed to get some things done, but only if it didn't annoy Winston enough for him to veto it outright.

But then all of those things - clean car scheme, climate resilience fund, oil and gas new exploration ban - all were immediately overturned by the new government. There is no sense in which the Luxon government would have "worked with" the Green Party on anything.

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#3483532 23-Apr-2026 15:26

sen8or:

If the greens were truly "green" then they'd be able to work with anyone to achieve their goals, the extreme / activist nature of some seems to inhibit their ability to see past left/right politics.

They'd argue that the right will always disregard the environment for the economy (and point towards mining, mineral and gas and intensification of farming among other things to support their argument) and to a certain extent, they aren't wrong, but even National (by international standards) are hardly a right wing party.

Pretty sure you've made my own argument for me right there. There is zero chance the Luxon government would work with the Green Party on anything.

But also: why should it always be incumbent on the Green Party to have to reach out and work with anyone? Surely if the National Party are not hostile to the environment, they can work with the Greens?

Key's National government may have been willing to throw a bone as long as it didn't cost anything - hence EVs got a RUC waiver; it didn't cost anything (because there were no EVs to RUC anyway) and making them pay would have cost money to earn none. So hooray, it turns out the Key government is pro-EV!

But what part of this government's record could possibly make you think they give a single **** about anything that won't make a fast buck?

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Handle9

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#3483545 23-Apr-2026 15:33

MikeAqua:

As another example .... how much time have the Greens spent outside of government, delivering nothing for their voters - when they could have 'worked with' delivered some policy.

You could say the same for ACT. The more extreme the party the less likely they are to work with the other side of the aisle.

Handle9

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#3483547 23-Apr-2026 15:36

sen8or:

If the greens were truly "green" then they'd be able to work with anyone to achieve their goals, the extreme / activist nature of some seems to inhibit their ability to see past left/right politics.

I'm always confused about this type of comment. It's only ever the greens who are held to this standard. The Association of Consumers and Tax Payers are never criticised for commenting on the culture wars and National aren't criticised for non- nationalist policy.

It's a weird strawman.

gzt

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#3483556 23-Apr-2026 15:57

MikeAqua: A difficult choice this coming election for Maori roll voters. Labour, who have often taken their support for granted or TPM, who have shown themselves to be dysfunctional and ineffective

Those are not the only choice. The Green Party has very credible candidates in the Maori seats, including an ex-legal advisor of Te Pati Maori. There is enough similarity on policy I think it will come down to how people feel about the candidates and the work they're putting in.

sen8or

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#3483559 23-Apr-2026 16:03

Its not a strawman at all, you either have the ability to compromise on some things to achieve your long term goals, or you don't. By not compromising you potentially end up achieving very little (cutting your nose off to spite your face, can't see the forest for the trees, pick your anecdote).

National formed a Govt with two polarising partners, Act who is the more natural partner of National (if not a little too far right for some of its more centre oriented voters) and NZF who comes with all sorts of baggage / fish hooks. Was it the deal of the century, hardly. National had to agree to let some policy go to select committee (Treaty Principals) that has been somewhat of a poisened chalice for National, but they did what was necessary to get into power and enact their own policies.

Not sure what you mean by non nationalist policy, but I think its safe to assume that National have been heavily criticized for many of their various policies this term.

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