{"id":509365,"date":"2026-07-04T11:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T11:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/509365\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T11:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T11:13:09","slug":"pm-christopher-luxon-blames-nz-first-for-high-energy-prices-during-hawkes-bay-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/509365\/","title":{"rendered":"PM Christopher Luxon blames NZ First for high energy prices during Hawke\u2019s Bay visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

During that meeting<\/a>, Peters took a swipe at the current crop of Hawke\u2019s Bay MPs, Catherine Wedd (Tukituki), Katie Nimon (Napier), Mike Butterick (Wairarapa) and Cushla Tangaere-Manuel (Ikaroa-R\u0101whiti).<\/p>\n

\u201cAs they say in the deep south of the United States \u2013 they\u2019re long on the lip and slow on the hip,\u201d Peters said at the meeting.<\/p>\n

In response, the Prime Minister was blunt.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolute rubbish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can you sit there as the party that ended the oil and gas in this country that caused huge problems for regional economies, including McCain\u2019s<\/a> and others in this region because of high energy prices caused by New Zealand First and Labour?”<\/p>\n

He said that his Government had given $50,000 to local growers<\/a> to explore whether the McCain\u2019s facility was something \u201cthey could come together on and actually purchase or acquire\u201d.<\/p>\n

Luxon said NZ First put a Labour Government into power that had \u201cruined our economy and we\u2019ve been dealing with it ever since\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"ChristopherChristopher Luxon with Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce chief executive Karla Lee (left). Photo \/ Jack Riddell<\/p>\n

Luxon said Wedd and Nimon were the \u201chardest-working MPs this region\u2019s ever had\u201d and encouraged Peters to attack National on its policies but not its people.<\/p>\n

He said the Government had made \u201cbig investments on infrastructure, whether it\u2019s health<\/a>, education<\/a> and transport<\/a>\u201d in Hawke\u2019s Bay.<\/p>\n

He described the India Free Trade Agreement<\/a> as a massive expansion for New Zealand internationally that would bring jobs and profits to the region. <\/p>\n

He said apples would be able to be sold in India at double the rate they currently are \u201cat half the tariff rate\u201d, which he said would raise agriculture profits across the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s huge opportunity for horticulture in Hawke\u2019s Bay.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked why Hawke\u2019s Bay wasn\u2019t funded to be included in the judging of restaurants for the coveted Michelin Star, Luxon said both Nimon and Wedd \u201cmade the case very, very strongly\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope it will expand out across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said National would be \u201cvery open\u201d to funding a future concert at Mission Estate through the events fund<\/a> if a future return on investment could be demonstrated, and it created economic opportunity and growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just encourage anyone to make an application.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke\u2019s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During that meeting, Peters took a swipe at the current crop of Hawke\u2019s Bay MPs, Catherine Wedd (Tukituki),…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1561,34353,29024,16426,2837,1667,1888,2082,1976,2959,16427,6722,111,43,139,69,16422,12937,415,312,9863,80,2963],"class_list":["post-509365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-bay","tag-blame","tag-blames","tag-christopher","tag-during","tag-energy","tag-first","tag-for","tag-hawkes","tag-high","tag-luxon","tag-minister","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pm","tag-prices","tag-prime","tag-says","tag-visit","tag-zealand","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}