Luxon told Short her view was “quite negative”.
New Zealand businesses needed to move away from a “parent-child mentality” of waiting to see what the Government would do, he said.
“Who cares what the Government will think or do?”
Productivity, technology and innovation to remain competitive amid global economic uncertainty were key discussion points at the event.
Short told Luxon of the Rotorua Business Chamber’s twice-yearly Business Pulse survey of 85 local businesses.
The survey revealed optimism about the economic outlook over the next 12 months dropped 62 percentage points for both New Zealand and Rotorua, while confidence in respondents’ own businesses fell 43 percentage points.
Short also noted inflation rates topping 4% – the worst in more than two years.
Businesses were absorbing rising costs rather than passing them on to customers as foot traffic continued to decline.
Luxon said if businesses were not “retooling and radically disrupting” their business – “you ain’t doing your job”.
He said he knew the “reality” of running a business.
“The last person I wanted to ever talk to as a CEO was the Government.”
He never wondered whether he could “get some grant money to do something”.
“No,” he said. “I was building a kick-arse business” like an “adult”.
He urged businesses to “go out there and smack it and go create the road”.
As Prime Minister, his job was to “set up the conditions for you to be able to go and create that growth”.
Some “big mistakes” were made during the Covid-19 pandemic when “the teenagers in charge [were] feeding the kids with sugar”.
“We’ve taken that lesson … the economy’s on an upswing,” he said.
Luxon said his comments were “really blunt”, but he stood by them.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at a Rotorua Business Chamber event on Friday. Photo / Michelle Cutelli Photography
After a question-and-answer session, the Rotorua Daily Post asked Short what she made of his response.
Short said her concerns reflected the reality facing Rotorua businesses.
She regularly spoke with local businesses through the chamber, its board and as the owner of two businesses herself.
“Fundamentally I understand what he’s saying … but it’s still hard … it’s still tough,” she said.
“We do do it ourselves,” Short said.
She said the Government had a role in providing confidence and direction.
“It’s knowing the Government has a plan.”
The Rotorua Daily Post asked Luxon how the Government was helping those in the community facing financial hardship.
Luxon said the Government had focused on bringing inflation and interest rates down to get wages growing faster than prices.
He said that, in Rotorua, this would mean a “better quality of life”.
The community would benefit from the Government’s support through measures including more affordable housing, stable rents and help with early childcare costs, Luxon said.
The PM said he saw the “chaos that was ensuing” in Rotorua when he first came into office in 2023 and told the community they would “sort out Fenton St and emergency housing”.
He believed the Government had delivered on resolving housing issues.
Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.