AMAC Exclusive – By Ben Solis
Just over two months into his tenure, new conservative New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has ushered through a series of dramatic policy reversals from the prior liberal government in yet another sign of the declining power of the global left.
Last October, following six years of uninterrupted liberal rule, most of which came under Prime Minister Jacinda Adern, New Zealand voters ousted the incumbent Labour Party and handed a decisive victory to the conservative National Party.
The Labour Party has become increasingly unpopular in recent years due to both a series of far-left policies that have caused the cost of living to skyrocket on the island nation and Adern’s implementation of some of the most extreme COVID-19 lockdown policies anywhere in the world.
Amid mounting public backlash, Adern stepped down in January 2023 and was succeeded by Chris Hipkins. But the change in leadership was not enough to convince voters to stick with the Labour Party, which saw their vote share drop from nearly 50 percent in 2020 to less than 25 percent in 2023.
Luxon officially took over as prime minister on November 27 last year and immediately embarked on an ambitious campaign to reverse his predecessors’ policies, including rapidly passing tax cuts, cutting regulations, and taking action to lower the cost of living.
“Our government will rebuild the economy to ease the cost of living and deliver tax relief to increase the prosperity of all New Zealanders,” Luxon said shortly before taking office. “It will restore law and order and personal responsibility so that Kiwis are safer in their own communities.”
The Luxon government immediately set about reducing the exorbitant spending that had characterized the prior Labour government’s rule. This included canceling construction of a light rail line that had been one of Adern’s top pet projects. The project had already swelled from $15 billion to at least $30 billion, and was running well behind schedule.
Over his first 30 days in office, Parliament also backed Luxon’s bills scrapping the Clean Car Discount, a $7,000 rebate for electric vehicle buyers funded by taxpayers; pulled out of a $16 billion battery project that showed little promise of providing any practical results; halted a $45 billion bridge project in Auckland; and cut funding for a ferry project which had quadrupled in cost since it started.
Following these successes, Luxon repealed the so-called “Fair Pay Agreements” that had expanded union bargaining power to the point where it jeopardized entire sectors of New Zealand’s economy. New Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden argued the agreements were “never about fairness” and instead allowed a minority of union workers to impose their views on every other employee.
Luxon has also reversed course on social policy, particularly when it comes to sports. The government has taken action to ensure that males cannot compete in women’s sports, although some sports leagues are now pushing back. Luxon has threatened that any sports clubs which fail to comply with the policy will lose access to government subsidies that many rely on to exist.
In addition, Luxon has led a series of reforms to New Zealand’s central bank designed to lower inflation and bring down the cost of living. Beginning in 2018, the Labour government under Adern had tasked the bank with a new mandate to target “full employment” – a departure from the bank’s historical role of keeping inflation under control.
That policy led to runaway spending which sent New Zealand’s economy into a tailspin only further exacerbated by the pandemic. Luxon immediately canceled the central bank’s employment mandate soon after taking office and strengthened its power to combat inflation.
Responding to critics, David Seymour, the leader of ACT Party, which is part of the National Party’s governing coalition, said that the government has one job: price stability. He emphasized that the Roman Empire collapsed in part because of hyperinflation and added that the government must “reassure the people that a dollar in your pocket this year will be worth a dollar next year.”
In his first speech as prime minister, Luxon pointed specifically to his Christian faith as one of his main motivators – a public display of faith that has become increasingly rare in New Zealand politics. “Throughout history, Christians have made a huge difference in public life,” he said. The comment was seen as a sign of hope for many that Luxon will begin reversing the trends of radical secular leftism which have taken hold in New Zealand under liberal rule.
Luxon represents a pro-free market and pro-liberty attitude which has for decades been difficult to find among Western leaders. But as voters now see first-hand the alternative to failed liberal policies, more conservatives like Luxon may suddenly find themselves with renewed opportunity to break the left’s hold on power.
Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.
