Mood of the Boardroom: Christopher Luxon breathes new life into the party

National party leader Christopher Luxon, a former chief executive of Air NZ and of Unilever Canada, brings a business focus to politics. MPs are measured by KPIs and New Zealand business leaders say his focus on discipline is an important skill set for the current environment.

In the 2022 Mood of the Boardroom CEOs survey, respondents were asked to rate Luxon’s performance as Opposition leader, by holding the Government to account on critical national issues, on a scale where 1= not impressive and 5= very impressive.

He received a score of 3.24/5; 6 per cent of respondents gave Luxon a “very impressive” score. The majority (70 per cent) rated him at 3 or 4/5.

Luxon took over as leader of National after just a year in Parliament when Judith Collins was toppled amid poor polling and a chaotic move to demote political rival Simon Bridges. In last year’s survey, her rating was a mere 2.06/5.

Luxon’s rise coincides with a time when the gloss is coming off the Labour Government.

Recent opinion polls show National and Labour neck and neck. The latest Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll, released last week, had National and Act able to form a government.

National was up 3 points on last month’s poll to 37 per cent and Act up 1 point to 12 per cent.