Luxon’s office told the Herald the Prime Minister had initially planned to stay the night in Whanganui and fly to Auckland the next day on a commercial flight. However, the funeral of former National MP Bill Birch required a last-minute change to his schedule.
Hipkins accused Luxon of using the NZDF like a “private fleet”.
“Taxpayers should not be paying for Christopher Luxon to travel from swanky National Party fundraising events at golf courses,” he said.
Hipkins said Luxon should not be using the planes while campaigning.
“Once you start doing campaigning and fundraising events for your political party, that’s a bright line, and Air Force resources should not be used for that under any circumstances,” he said.
Former Prime Minister John Key was quick to defend Luxon today. Speaking on Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive on Newstalk ZB, Key said the “reality is that successive PMs – all of us have used military assets”.
He said they were practical, given how busy it is being Prime Minister.
“There’s virtually no cost – the pilot is already being paid for by the Air Force, the plane is being depreciated whether you use it or not,” he said.
Key said a Prime Minister’s time was spent getting to as many meetings as possible rather than “in the back of a car” driving between centres.
“We’ve got to be one of the only developed countries in the world where the leader doesn’t have a fulltime plane,” he said.
Former Prime Minister John Key has defended Christopher Luxon over the use of an NZDF plane. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Key led Luxon’s National Party between 2006 and 2016.
The Herald asked Luxon’s office for further details of the flights. The office said Luxon flew out of Whanganui airport and that Luxon travelled to the airport in a Crown car, as is normal for Prime Ministers, given their security requirements.
The nearest base for Crown cars is Wellington.
Luxon’s office said through a spokesman that “the PM was originally due to stay overnight in Whanganui on the Thursday before traveling back to Auckland on the Friday morning via Air Chathams but had to change plans to represent the Government at Sir Bill Birch’s funeral on the Friday, which in turn meant an event he had committed to with Simpson Grierson in Auckland was brought forward to 7.30am”.
“He flew back with the NZDF to ensure he could attend these Auckland events in the morning. He attended a range of ministerial events in the Whanganui region on Thursday until the early evening before attending the National Party event,” the spokesman said.