The National Party wildly underestimated how popular its leader would be when he visited New Plymouth on Friday and had to turn people away at the door. Political editor Jo Moir found a patch of wall to lean against as Christopher Luxon got all sorts of questions and advice, not least, to “grow some balls and get some mongrel in him”.
Analysis: There were not enough seats, nor time, for the close to 400 people who wanted to hear from and question Christopher Luxon in New Plymouth on Friday.
The venue seated 110 but 220 squeezed their way through the door before organisers raised health and safety issues and told the rest they could leave or wait for the next session.
More than 100 were committed to wait a couple of hours but at least another 50 reluctantly turned and left, not prepared or able to hang around.
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For 30 minutes Luxon sold his vision for New Zealand to plenty of nods and claps – some were so eager to dig deeper into his comments that questions started getting shouted from the floor, prompting Luxon to politely ask people to wait until the end.
Some of the biggest applause came in response to his remarks to put youth offenders into military academies, ban gang patches in public places and sanction people on benefits who refuse work.
The loudest audience participation came from local businessman, John Rae, who warned Luxon he might not like what he had to say, because it was “tough”.
“You come across on TV as a super nice guy, but you need to grow some balls and get some mongrel in you.
“If you come across more mongrel, you’re going to get more votes,” he yelled from the back of the room.
Many in the audience cheered Rae on as Luxon took the critical feedback in his stride, replying, “in a six-second soundbite on the 6pm news, it’s a bit difficult sometimes to get everything across”.
New Plymouth’s National candidate, David McLeod, had kicked off the session with Luxon by talking about New Zealand becoming a society people no longer want to live in.
“We’ve become the most fragmented and polarised we’ve been in a long time,” he told those gathered.
It set a tone for a meeting that could have been centred on division, but Luxon mostly stayed clear of it in his own remarks, bar some brief comments about identity politics and people being “pitched against each other”.
“I appreciate many in this room haven’t learnt te reo, I personally am trying to learn because I want to learn and I should be allowed to go and do that and have free choice to do that." - Chris Luxon
The first question Luxon faced when he opened to questions was from a man in his 40s concerned about the “sexuality agenda being pushed” in schools and the use of puberty blockers, something he said, as a Christian, Luxon should be able to answer quite easily.
He also wanted Luxon’s view on free speech, which he believed was being “clamped down on”.
On sexuality Luxon replied that it was a matter for parents and was between them and their children, which received a big applause, and he snuck past the puberty blockers question by moving straight into freedom of speech.
Luxon told the crowd he was a champion of free speech but didn’t accept hate speech.
“You can disagree in a debate without being disagreeable,” he said, and pointed to the fact people might not like what others had to say, but providing it wasn’t hateful, then everyone had the right to say their bit.
At this point, Muzz McDowell, who had arrived super early to get a front row seat, split open his popcorn alternative – a large packet of Bluebird chicken chips – and started munching away, in-between sips of a gigantic can of energy drink.
Other audience questions centred around the housing crisis and why National had ditched bipartisanship with Labour, red tape and duplication, and concerns around mental health.
Luxon used that last question as an opportunity to speak to the mostly senior and male crowd, telling them stigma around mental health was a huge problem and they needed to “give it up”.
Issues specific to Taranaki were raised, such as oil and gas, which Luxon promised to end the ban on.
He also carefully laid out his party’s renewable energy policy and reminded the audience of the very real reductions in carbon emissions that needed to happen, and that he was committed to achieving.
Two of the last questions before Luxon wrapped up asked whether he thought it was right that Māori consortiums, like Ngāi Tahu, made billions of dollars but didn’t seem to pay the same tax, and whether new frontline police were equipped to deal with the many social issues they faced in the job.
Then a Pākehā woman with grandchildren she said were aged nine and 10 years old, asked why they were being made to learn Māori at school when they “can’t spell or write English”.
Luxon started by addressing the fact the average age of New Zealanders is 38 and “most of us came through learning te reo or at least a little bit with respect to the national anthem and other things”.
That sparked a huge groan from the crowd, prompting Luxon to tell them to “calm down” as that’s “the reality of New Zealand”.
“I appreciate many in this room haven’t learnt te reo, I personally am trying to learn because I want to learn and I should be allowed to go and do that and have free choice to do that,” he said.
Prioritising maths, reading, and writing was National’s policy on making sure children were learning the basics right in school and “anything else should come after that”, Luxon said to a lot of nodding from the crowd.
He also explained the need for using both English and Māori names for things like government departments, so they’re easy to navigate for all age groups, but also provided choice.
There wasn’t enough time for the many questions that remained in the room, but some were planning to stick around for the second session to get another chance.
Myriad topics were covered in little over an hour and those who made it inside the room seemed pleased with what they’d heard.
None were as pleased as McDowell though, who was one of very few who managed to get a photo with Luxon after – both empty chippy bag and energy drink in tow.
