Luxon's Big Calls

Is the PM getting tougher?

One of the more common colloquial calls to the Prime Minister during his eight months in office has been “to grow a pair.”

This is in response to what’s perceived among strong right-wing voters as the PM being a bit soft, a bit woke and not being prepared to engage in conversations about difficult subjects like climate, race relations and gender.

But twice in the space of twenty four hours Luxon made definitive and courageous statements on matters which will improve his appeal among not only the National Party faithful, but also those former National voters who left, frustrated, for the welcoming bosom of either Act or New Zealand First.

First, in Question Time – in response to a series of goading questions from Greens co-leader Chloe Swarbrick - Luxon said “the position is clear: Maori ceded sovereignty to the Crown.”

To be fair, it took him a while to get to the point. Swarbrick had to ask him twice if Maori ceded sovereignty. What should have been a straightforward answer  - yes – was circumnavigated with “the Crown is sovereign.”

Finally after her third question Luxon made his definitive statement.

When pressed further as to whether his government’s Treaty Principles Bill considered the Waitangi Tribunal finding of 2014 that chiefs who signed the Treaty did NOT cede their sovereignty to Britain, Luxon sidestepped with “we haven’t seen a Treaty Principles Bill yet.”

So it wasn’t a fearless performance but he made a very significant statement.

Read his lips. In the Treaty of Waitangi “Maori ceded sovereignty to the Crown.”

This is the first time a New Zealand Prime Minister has pushed back against the Waitangi Tribunal and their reinterpretation of kawanatanga, the word the Williams interpreters used  to translate from the original English text. Quite clearly that says “The Chiefs .. cede to Her Majesty the Queen of England .. all the rights and powers of sovereignty.. “

This particular debate has raged on and off for a decade and until today nobody, apart from Winston Peters, has had the courage to say the Waitangi Tribunal is reinventing what the Treaty actually says.

But Luxon’s definitive statement is there on the record. He has said it. He has laid down the challenge to the activism of the Waitangi Tribunal. He cannot walk it back. It is an important line in the sand in the forthcoming Treaty Principles debate.

While that statement was made under some pressure in Question Time and may have been an accidental truth from the PM, what happened the following day at the Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) conference was deliberate and obviously designed to put mayors and councillors firmly in their place.

In a prepared speech Luxon, in cricket parlance, went off the long run in his criticism of LGNZ.

Ratepayers expect local government to do the basics and to do the basics brilliantly. Pick up the rubbish. Fix the pipes. Fill in potholes. And more generally, maintain local assets quickly, carefully, and cost effectively.

But nothing in life is free, and ratepayers expect to pay for it in exchange. But what they don’t expect to pay for is the laundry-list of distractions and experiments that are plaguing council balance sheets across the country.

The building we’re in today is a classic example. With pipes bursting and other infrastructure under pressure, Wellington City Council decided to spend $180 million of ratepayers’ money on a convention centre, which, according to public reporting, is now losing money.

It looks very nice, and it’s very nice that politicians like us have another expensive room to deliver speeches in, but can anyone seriously say it was the right financial decision or the highest priority for Wellington given all of its challenges?

Ratepayers are sick of the white elephants and non-delivery. 

Hear bloody hear. And it got better.

It’s unacceptable that the rules as they stand today allow unelected officials, in many cases, to prevent elected members from accessing the information they need to represent their communities. We will review those settings.

There have been too many absurd scenarios in which ratepayers are effectively shut out of decision-making because elected members’ rights to access information are treated as a secondary consideration.

My expectation is we find a way to end those practices.

Go line by line, stop the wasteful spending, remove the bureaucracy, focus on better customer service, and end the projects that aren’t delivering value for money.

Ratepayers don’t expect much – they just want the basics done brilliantly.

Luxon was telling  delegates to LGNZ – the organisation that neither Auckland nor Christchurch City belong to anymore – to stop fleecing ratepayers with unsustainable annual rates rises.

After Luxon had finished the President of LGNZ, the Mayor of Selwyn District Sam Broughton, had the temerity to tell the conference that criticism of local government is “not productive.”

Really Mr Broughton, it’s about time an influential leader like the PM gave local authorities the serious serve they’ve needed for some years. You and your ilk need more of the same.

These two incidents are far from irrefutable proof that Luxon has, in the modern vernacular “grown some cajones.” After all, previous form suggests his fallback position is to sit on the fence or just not engage at all.

But if the National Party’s internal polling returns numbers showing Luxon’s much bolder persona on these matters resonates with voters across the wider right-of-centre political spectrum, then hopefully he’ll be emboldened to try more of the same.

The country needs it.