SPEECH: Christopher Luxon - State of the Nation, 2023
Kia ora
tatou, good morning, and welcome everyone. Thank you so much
for being here on a Sunday morning. Before I start, I
do want to acknowledge what an extraordinary beginning New
Zealand has had to 2023, especially the North Island,
including parts of Auckland not far from here. I’ve
visited places that have been devastated by the floods and
by Cyclone Gabrielle and, plainly, this is a period of great
anxiety. Many who’ve lost their houses and
livelihoods don’t know whether, when or how they can
return to the places they think of as home. But in the
devastation, the best of the New Zealand character continues
to amaze and inspire us all. People are on the ends of
shovels, or providing food, or a roof over other families’
heads. For some, just being there is bringing comfort in a
time of despair. When we look again at those videos of
rivers raging through neighbourhoods, we wonder that the
death toll was not even higher. Part of the answer is that
for so many people, though tragically not for all, help came
when they needed it most. So, to all the well-trained
professionals, and to all the civilians who acted on
instinct, to those who’ve been on the news, and to those
who remain unsung, on behalf of the National Party, thank
you for going above and beyond. We are grateful and you make
us proud. In the wake of these catastrophic weather
events, there is understandably a lot of stress and,
unfortunately, it builds on a sense that New Zealand has
become fragile where it once was sturdy, and is vulnerable
when it used to be resilient. Globally, the war in
Ukraine, rising geo-political tensions, and the impacts of
climate change create more volatility and
uncertainty. Added to those global events, many Kiwis
up and down New Zealand are understandably feeling
frustrated and worried about the direction New Zealand is
heading. They are unhappy about our worsening economic
problems, they feel burdened and stifled by a bloated
government that has grown too bureaucratic, too wasteful and
too unresponsive to their problems. Sometimes, they’re
feeling like they’ve lost control over their own finances
and their lives. Covid has certainly played a part,
exacerbated by the way the Labour Government embraced
isolation – cruelly locking out New Zealanders from the
only country they call home, even after the virus was well
established here. No wonder we’ve become more
insular. More withdrawn from the world. Added to that,
are five and a half years of an under-performing Labour
Government that’s taken New Zealand backwards and simply
cannot deliver. It’s not good enough to say you’re going
to lower greenhouse gas emissions, but not do it. It’s not
good enough to say you’re going to build affordable
housing, but not actually do it. Talking about it gets you a
headline. But only doing it makes a difference. Labour
has concentrated on things that don’t matter – like its
Auckland harbour cycling bridge, its co-governance agenda
and the now-shelved merger of TVNZ and Radio New Zealand.
What Government except this one would have thought those
were priorities when families are worried about losing their
own homes because they can no longer afford their
mortgages? So, the state of the nation right now
doesn’t make for great reading. Interest rates, rents and
inflation are damagingly high, and investor, business and
consumer confidence are worryingly low. Core public
services are dire. Hospital wait times are at record levels.
So is retail crime. School absenteeism is shocking. These
are not records any government wants to claim, but this is
New Zealand under Labour. Take education. Kiwi kids
used to be in the top 10 in the world for reading, maths,
and science but over the last 20 years, achievement has
slipped so much that there are now many kids leaving school
without basic reading, writing and maths skills. This
is the legacy Chris Hipkins leaves as Education Minister for
the last five years. Labour is now spending $1 billion
more each week than National was spending in 2017. It is a
special skill to spend more, hire more bureaucrats and
deliver worse outcomes – but Labour is doing it, and the
cost is the equivalent of an increase of nearly $23,000 of
public spending on average per household each
year. Grant Robertson is collecting $48 billion more
in tax each year – that’s $17,000 more tax per household
coming into the government’s coffers. Part of that’s
because Labour refuses to inflation-adjust tax thresholds so
more people can keep more of what they earn. It’s
also because Labour loves nothing as much as a new tax. And
now there’s also a proposal for an “App Tax”, ramping
up the cost of your Uber trips, Airbnb’s and food
delivery. There’s also the possibility of another new tax
for the cyclone recovery. Labour ministers can’t
help themselves. To Labour, your money is really their money
that they haven’t managed to get off you
yet. National says governments should be disciplined
in their own spending before reaching deeper into your
pocket. National says that if you work hard, you should be
able to get ahead. I believe that, and New Zealanders
believe it too. Under Labour, success is something to
tax. Under National, success is something to
celebrate. Life is too hard for too many New
Zealanders right now. But under National, there’ll be a
new direction. A National Government that knows what it’s
doing, knows where it’s going, focuses on what matters and
that gets things done to help New Zealanders get
ahead. I want to tell you a bit about me. I love
this country which, alongside my parents, gave me a safe
upbringing, an education that allowed me to compete in the
world, and a sense of optimism which I’ve never
lost. As I go around New Zealand, I’m so often asked
the same question. People say, “you seem like a nice guy,
you have a lovely family, and had a great career. Why on
earth did you come into politics”? Behind that question,
there’s some understandable, implied cynicism about
politics and politicians. It’s because many people are
tired of politicians who are all spin and no delivery, who
talk but don’t get things done, or help them get
ahead. I’ve come to politics because I think New
Zealand is simply the best country on planet earth and has
unlimited potential. I want to take all my skills, abilities
and experience in turning organisations around, and apply
that to turning New Zealand around. I’ve spent my
whole career solving problems, realising potential and
getting things done. I think that is the real world
leadership New Zealand could do with right
now. Because I believe, more than ever, that if we
make the right decisions, New Zealand has a great future. We
can do better, we can be more prosperous, and more
ambitious. I don’t want to settle for mediocrity and I
don’t believe other New Zealanders want it either. I
care about what you care about. I want New Zealand going
forwards, not backwards, and I want to help all New
Zealanders to get ahead and flourish. While hope has
given way to worry, let me tell you there is nothing wrong
that can’t be fixed. Kiwis are as determined, creative,
innovative, resourceful and passionate as we have always
been. Every week I have the privilege of meeting Kiwis doing
amazing things in their businesses, communities, and
families. Working hard and pursuing their Kiwi dream,
whatever that may be. New Zealand has strong
bi-cultural foundations, but we are now also a modern,
multi-cultural nation that’s home to migrants from all
around the world. Almost all of us have forebears who came
here a short or a long time ago, to start anew. And all of
us have a responsibility to make good on the hope and
courage that inspired our families’ migration. My
ancestors came to New Zealand as Irish miners and hotel
keepers; they came as Scottish stonemasons and bakers; and
they came as English farmers, labourers and fishermen. They
were new New Zealanders once too. No matter when we or
our families arrived, I think we all want similar
things; - Safe, stable communities for our family to
live in. - Dependable incomes that cover our needs
with a bit left over for extras. - A country where
hard work pays off and you can get ahead. - Accessible
public services when we need them. - And for our
children to have better opportunities in life than we
did. It is hard-working Kiwis in vibrant businesses,
from dairy farms to IT start-ups and from small
manufacturers to big exporters, that create opportunities
and, by doing so, lift family incomes. The better our
incomes, the greater the choices we all have. If New
Zealand is to create opportunity and lift incomes, it must
embrace the world. There are 195 countries and 8 billion
people on Earth. The lifestyle of every one of us here in
New Zealand depends to some extent on those people and those
countries buying the goods and services that New Zealand
offers, including as a tourist destination. Whatever
we want, our standard of living has to be earned. Only a
strong, competitive economy can afford the services that New
Zealanders expect. There is no entitlement, no automatic
right, to live as a First World country. Under
National, New Zealand can propel itself forwards, instead of
drifting. National will make New Zealand more resilient and
less fragile. National will make New Zealand feel empowered,
instead of listless. The potential for us in the world
is matched by potential at home. I don’t accept the
status quo. I don’t accept that the highest inflation in
32 years and rapidly rising interest rates is the best we
can do. I don’t accept that just 46 per cent of kids
attending school regularly is okay. I don’t accept
the blow out in hospital waiting times. I don’t
accept that the increases in violent crime, gang membership
and ram-raids is the new normal. And I certainly
don’t accept that a fourfold increase in kids living in
cars is acceptable. We can do better than this. We are
better than this, but for five and a half years, Labour has
failed. There is a new Prime Minister, but I’m
telling you it is the same old Labour. Chris Hipkins
couldn’t deliver for Kiwis when he was part of Jacinda
Ardern’s inner-circle, and he can't deliver for Kiwis
now. National will chart a positive course for New
Zealand. It’s not about Left or Right at all. It’s about
going forwards instead of going backwards and it’s about
life getting better for all New Zealanders. I’m
telling you, under National the culture of excuses will
end. So, I want to talk about what a National
Government will deliver. These are my five commitments to
you. One – National will curb the rising cost of
living. Two – National will lift incomes for
all. Three – National will deliver resilient
infrastructure for the future. Four – National will
restore law and order. Five – National will provide
better health and education services. Expect to hear
me talk about these five commitments a lot – as well as
our plans to deliver on each one. We’ve already
started setting out the detail of those plans. To
restore law and order, we will back Police and tackle gangs
– with more Police powers to stop gangs gathering in
public, make it harder for them to access firearms and ban
gang patches in public places. And we’ll introduce
tough consequences, including Youth Military Academies, for
serious, repeat youth offenders because we want to help them
turn their lives around. Last year I also announced
our “Welfare that Works” policy, targeting young people
on the Jobseeker benefit. The best way to lift incomes for
all – especially those doing it tough – is to move
people off welfare and into work. Frankly, young people who
don’t have a good reason not to be working, should be
working. Businesses are crying out for workers, yet
under Labour there are 50,000 more people on a Jobseeker
benefit. Enough to fill Eden Park! If you’re a young
person on a benefit who is able to work, National will do
everything it can to help you into a job. But if you don’t
play ball you’ll face sanctions – the free ride will be
over and personal responsibility will be back. Just
last weekend, as part of our focus on building resilient
infrastructure for the future, I announced our Local Water
Done Well plan. It repeals Labour’s Three Waters, returns
water assets to councils’ control, but sets strict rules
about investing in them for the long term, and allows
long-term funding, too. It’s the right answer to a complex
problem. But let me turn to the issue that is
affecting families all over the country – the
cost-of-living crisis. I’m around the country every
week and the human side of New Zealand’s current economic
state is an even more desperate picture than statistics
indicate. Recently, a business owner began crying as
she told me how her staff are struggling to make ends meet,
but the business is also struggling and can’t afford
higher wages. I know her story is not isolated, and
her tears are not either. There is very real hardship
out there. Not only among the lowest-income households but
also for the squeezed middle. Interest rates have
skyrocketed to counter the inflation that Labour has not
only let get out of control, but has actively made worse
through its reckless, wasteful addiction to
spending. Whether it’s paying for food, the rent or
a school uniform, people who’ve used their savings to hang
on in the hope things would get better, are now
desperate. For as long as this Government is in power,
there will be no relief. Labour has absolutely no answers,
and their change of Leader makes absolutely no
difference. But ladies and gentlemen, the election on
October 14 will be an opportunity for New Zealand to change
direction. National has a five-point plan to address
the cost of living crisis: We’ll stop adding costs
on to businesses that then get passed on to their
customers. We’ll give the Reserve Bank one job -
tackling inflation. We’ll use government levers to
remove bottlenecks – like making it easier to recruit
people from overseas where we have shortages – like
nurses. We’ll provide tax relief by lifting the tax
brackets so the average earner will keep an extra $800 a
year. And we’ll restore discipline to government
spending. But I’m particularly worried about
families with young children. Families are getting
hammered by inflation and, if they have a mortgage, by
rapidly rising interest rates. Parents are sleepless,
running the numbers over and over in their heads about their
mortgage payments when they have to re-fix. Or their
bigger rental has come with a bigger rent, and they are now
worried about their budget stretching to skyrocketing
grocery bills, and the rising cost of everything
else. Most families need two incomes these days to
keep the household afloat, but to go to work, most parents
also have to pay for childcare. In New Zealand, early
childhood education is among the most expensive in the
developed world. For a typical family, it accounts for
roughly a quarter of household income. These are
parents who are trying to get ahead. But after paying for
food, petrol, clothing, and maybe the plumber or dentist or
another of the bills life throws at all of us, they are
going backwards. Some of you will have read the story
of an Auckland couple who cut out every additional expense
and went through the heart-breaking decision – that was
their word, heart-breaking – to shift their kids to
cheaper childcare so the parents can afford the
mortgage. It is not right that you have to choose
between your childcare or your house. That is not a decision
that Kiwi families should have to make. But after five and a
half years of Labour, these are the decisions that families
are making around Kiwi kitchen tables right now. So
today I am pleased to announce a policy that will make a
huge difference to many young families. National is
going to take some of Labour’s wasteful spending which is
achieving nothing, and use it to create the FamilyBoost
childcare tax rebate to make early childhood education more
affordable. Our plan will specifically target lower
and middle-income families, to make their lives a bit
easier. National’s FamilyBoost childcare tax rebate
will help 130,000 low-and-middle-income families keep more
of what they earn, with up to $75 more in their after-tax
pay each week. That’s $3,900 every year, depending on
their income. Families will receive a 25 per cent
rebate on their early
childhood