Chris Luxon, right, picture at the Chamber of Commerce lunch with Waipā mayor Susan O’Regan, Taupo MP Louise Upston and chamber chief executive Kelly Bouzaid.
Opposition leader Chris Luxon has told business owners a National-led government would respond better to their needs, shrink wastage and seek wider global connections.
He told those at last Thursday’s Cambridge Chamber of Commerce lunch meeting the Labour government’s overspending and wastage, reluctance to open immigration settings and inability to get a grip on inflation was taking New Zealand in the wrong direction.
He said National would apply an approach to governance that set targets and expected outcomes in much the same way as applied within the business sector. It would return the country’s education and health systems to a world-class standard and create a life for New Zealanders of all ethnicities that was no longer dogged by a spiralling cost of living and high crime levels and offered skilled workers a viable alternative to other similar-sized countries now attracting them in droves.
Luxon attacked Labour for having spent more over the past five-and-a-half years than any previous government. Much of that was wastage, he said, citing the appointment of 14,000 more bureaucrats and consultants in Wellington. He said the money could be better spent on nurses and teachers.
He also said the removal of targets – other than those intended to lower the numbers in jails and reduce waiting times in hospitals – reduced incentives to produce outcomes.
He suggested the government’s tendency to blame everything on international factors such as the war in Ukraine and the global fuel shortage was skewed.
“In the last quarter, only about half of the blame lies with those international factors, with the other half lying with this government’s decisions. While larger economies can weather global challenges, our size means we are a small boat in a big ocean of choppy seas. We must be more efficient in managing our economy than they are in larger countries.”
Luxon outlined several areas of focus for National. One was to reduce the cost of living without passing additional costs on to businesses and another was to “open up immigration settings, big time”.
“We have had 12,500 people leaving New Zealand… more are leaving than coming in, and at a time of massive job shortages. That is not maximising our potential,” he said.
“We must stop wastage, such as the costly light rail project for Auckland and the TVNZ/RNZ merger. That money needs to go into health and education. We need to give people more of their own money via tax relief and get a grip on inflation.”
New Zealand had failed over the past 30 years to raise its income levels, he said, and New Zealanders worked an hour to earn what Australians earn in 45 minutes.
“We can improve incomes by generating higher value products and services. We have to work smarter, not harder, and we must invest more in education. Today, 60 percent of our kids are not attending school regularly… if you can’t get kids into school, you have a big problem.”
He said improving infrastructure such as roading, and removing constraints such as the RMA was important, as was restoring law and order by being tougher on gangs and ensuring young offenders face more serious consequences than is currently the case.
Luxon also said it was crucial to improve New Zealand’s connectedness with the wider world by seeking out more international markets for Kiwi products and doing more to attract global investment.
Earlier in the day, Luxon spent time observing activities at the Grassroots Trust Velodrome.
Chris Luxon addressing Cambridge Chamber of Commerce members last week.
