Source: Radio New Zealand
The Prime Minister continues to insist he has the backing of his party and colleagues, and that he has only discussed last week’s disastrous poll “in passing”.
The Taypayers Union-Curia poll last week put National on 28.4 percent – its lowest result since he became leader.
Speaking at his post-Cabinet media conference this afternoon, Christopher Luxon said polling was not a major focus of discussion with his ministers and fellow National MPs.
He said the media had “gone a bit bananas” on the poll result, and his support amongst the caucus was solid.
He said he did not need to talk to members of his party over the weekend to know he had their support.
“I talk to my ministers and MPs all of the time. In passing I talked about the poll results, but I talked about lots of other things.”
He said the poll had not been a “major focus”.
“I can reassure you I’ll be the leader going into the election on November 7.”
Luxon said the poll result was just one of many, and that only one poll really mattered to him.
“Every day I’m talking to Kiwis and the key thing is their poll – and they tell me they’re frustrated with the cost of living and frustrated with the speed of the economic recovery, and that’s what they want us to do.”
He added that the kinds of numbers seen in last week’s poll were “not going to happen” on Election Day.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Riding the economic shockwaves
Finance Minister Nicola Willis also spoke at this afternoon’s press conference, and sought to give reassurance the government could respond to any economic shocks caused by the conflict in the Middle East.
Willis said the potential impacts to GDP depended on how long the conflict lasted – saying it could be between -0.2 to -0.4 percent, but beyond that it depended on the global trajectory for growth.
She said there were so many different scenarios that she could not give precise figures.
“We are already seeing impacts in the price New Zealanders pay for petrol and we can anticipate a range of potential consequences for supply chains, trade, inflation and future economic activity.”
Willis did say it was unlikely the government will cut fuel excise taxes.
“I’d love to be able to say I can take away the pain right now, but I’m conscious that short term gain could lead to longer term pain, and I’m mindful that any immediate actions do come with a longer term cost.”
She said while there is a lot of volatile in global oil prices, the government does not expect fuel companies to take advantage of rising prices.
“We have asked the Commerce Commission to step up its monitoring of fuel prices and if necessary to call out any suspect pricing behaviour by retailers.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
