Christopher Luxon: Prime Minister's last in studio chat with Mike Hosking for 2024
2024 is coming to a close and with it the Coalition Government’s first year in power. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon joined Mike Hosking for the last time this year to reflect on his first year as Prime Minister. In response to the reports that say New Zealand faces an investment gap with a growing population, Luxon says that it's a marvellous set of challenges. "The last 30 years, what we've had is a productivity disease," Luxon said. He said countries with similar populations are wealthier than New Zealand. "I've studied this for about 20 years and it comes down to about five things, it's education, science, technology, innovation. What you're seeing at Fonterra, they're really adding a lot of value to their product services, it's definitely infrastructure..." Luxon said as a country we are bad at attracting foreign investment. Hosking asked Luxon if he thinks people "truly understand how troubled this country is." "No," Luxon responded, referencing the past six years of previous government policy. "We run the country like it's 1975," Luxon said. Hosking said the mentality in the country is "the government will wipe my bum." There needed to be a "better quality economic engine" in place for New Zealand to be able to fund its public services better, Luxon said. In regards to his first year as Prime Minister, Luxon said it's been a great 12 months, but you don't really have time to digest it while you're in it. Hosking said his criticism of Luxon was that he hasn't gone hard enough, but the Prime Minister says problems are often more complex than they seem from the outside. "You can get very lost in it if you don't have great clarity," he said. "This Spotify wrapped of yours, are you a fraud?" Hosking asked, referencing that Luxon had previously said he was a country music fan and there was a lack of country music on his list of most listened-to songs and artists. "That was quite an accusation..." Luxon responded. Luxon defended himself by saying Post Malone and Dua Lipa have created a country song together and is one of his favourites. He called Post Malones new album the "best album of the year." He gave a shout-out to "Day of the Jackal," a TV series he was enjoying and joked with Hosking that they were supporting TVNZ+ by doing so. While the Prime Minister was in, Hosking gave him a Christmas gift that was "one of one" and a "prototype." It was a book titled "The Complete Guide to Surviving a Mike Hosking Interview." "That is genius," Luxon said. Luxon gave Hosking a Christmas card with a family photo on it and some "furikake seasoning," a Japanese seasoning typically made with toasted sesame seeds and nori. "People like me, who are men of the people, just use salt, I mean I come from a very humble background. "This is what really posh people do," Luxon said. "Absolutely love it," Hosking said in response to the gift. Luxon also gave Hosking a "special energy Voost" that was described as "posh Berrocca." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.