Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he is \u201cabsolutely\u201d going to lead the National Party into the next election and is dismissing claims Housing Minister Chris Bishop may be in line for his job.<\/p>\n
It comes after alleged tensions at the top of the party\u2019s leadership. NewstalkZB host Heather Du Plessis-Allan penned in a column over the weekend that Bishop was openly being talked about in Wellington as a better choice.<\/a><\/p>\n After being asked about the claims this morning by NewstalkZB\u2019s Mike Hosking, Luxon said it was hard to take the allegations seriously.<\/p>\n \u201cLook, I don\u2019t think that is the case. He is a great minister, he\u2019s a good friend, and he\u2019s doing an awesome job.<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to take it seriously, as I said before. I\u2019ve been reading this stuff and hearing this stuff ever since I came here. So, but I\u2019m very focused on what I have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he would \u201cabsolutely\u201d be leading the National Party in the 2026 election.<\/p>\n Yesterday, the National Party pledged to lift the default KiwiSaver contribution rate if it were to be elected next year. <\/p>\n Luxon said that the changes would allow savers to contribute 12%<\/a> of their earnings to KiwiSaver, a level to match Australia\u2019s superannuation contribution rate, although in Australia, the whole contribution comes from the employer.<\/p>\n The figure would come from hiking the default contribution rate from 3%, where it is today, to 4%, as it is set to go following decisions in this year\u2019s Budget, to 6% by 2032.<\/p>\n The employer contribution would also rise to 6%, achieving a combined rate of 12% by 2032.<\/p>\n Luxon said under the changes, a 21-year-old earning $65,000 a year today would retire with a KiwiSaver balance of about $1.4 million, about $400,000 more than they would earn under the settings as at the most recent Budget.<\/p>\n Last week, the coalition broke its own record for the worst rating of a Government\u2019s performance in the Ipsos Issues Monitor poll (which has only been going since 2017) at 3.9 out of 10, slumping from the August rating of 4.2.<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n The poll is conducted four times a year and asks voters which issues are most important to them and which party they think is best at handling those issues.<\/p>\n On the top 20 issues facing voters, National was judged best at handling just two: law and order, and defence and foreign affairs. All the rest, from inflation to housing, unemployment, taxation, climate change and M\u0101ori issues, are dominated by Labour, with two appearances by the Greens and one by Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n It came at a time of alleged tensions at the top of the coalition\u2019s leadership.<\/a> Herald columnist Matthew Hooton wrote that senior ministers were complaining the Prime Minister was failing to show the country that a \u201cbold and comprehensive reform programme\u201d, rivalling great reforming Governments of the past, was under way across most portfolios.<\/p>\n