he apologised<\/a>, saying he was sorry his comments “did not properly acknowledge the challenges that many small business owners are facing”.<\/p>\n“I didn’t want to cause any offence. That’s not what I intended to do.”<\/p>\n
President of the Rotorua Business Chamber Paul Ingram welcomed the apology, but hoped there was “genuine reflection behind it”.<\/p>\n
Ingram told RNZ small and medium businesses were the backbone of the New Zealand economy, and it was important that the sector was taken seriously by “every government”.<\/p>\n
![\"Rotorua](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4JKGCN8_Paul_Ingram_jpeg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Rotorua Business Chamber president Paul Ingram.<\/p>\n
Supplied \/ Rotorua Business Chamber<\/p>\n
“Because collectively we have the ability to enable the growth and success that we’re collectively looking for.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think we’re looking for a handout. We’re looking for understanding,” Ingram added.<\/p>\n
The reflection he wanted Luxon to consider was that there was an understanding of what these business owners were going through.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged some of the comments last week may have been “unintended”, or as “sharp and as pointed as they were”, and he understood the prime minister came from a business background.<\/p>\n
But he hoped there’d be a consideration that whatever was going on in the economy translated into what was real for New Zealand businesses.<\/p>\n
“For mum and dad businesses that have got a mortgage, the house is on the line.”<\/p>\n
In welcoming the apology, Ingram said he would look forward to seeing what actions the government would take now to support small businesses going forward.<\/p>\n
Overall Ingram said other parts of the discussion he “totally” agreed with, it was just the “whole parent-child narrative that came out that didn’t really land very well”.<\/p>\n
The Rotorua mayor told RNZ the business community really appreciated having the prime minister in town.<\/p>\n
![\"Christopher](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783998852_300_4JM6535_260701_Bridge_6_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.<\/p>\n
RNZ \/ Baz Macdonald<\/p>\n
Tapsell was the National Party candidate for the East Coast electorate in 2020.<\/p>\n
She acknowledged it was “tough times, and that was the context in which the question was answered”.<\/p>\n
She said Luxon didn’t need to apologise because “he had a room full of people that was taking on his advice”.<\/p>\n
Tapsell, who wasn’t at the event herself, was told that the feeling in the room afterwards was “definitely that they appreciated his thoughts on it”.<\/p>\n
“We need to get real in New Zealand,” Tapsell said. “Sometimes it is us that actually needs to solve our own problems, and I feel like that’s what he’s doing not only in those comments but also actually in Parliament.<\/p>\n
Tapsell said Luxon was being honest, and that was “the best thing we can ask from people”.<\/p>\n
“At least he’s not running us around in a circle, not answering the question, and honestly, that was appreciated and valued on the day in the room.”<\/p>\n
She said it was “very lovely” that he did apologise, and reflected Luxon’s honesty and integrity, “he’s being honest as he was in the room”.<\/p>\n
“It’s a pretty big thing for a politician to apologise. This doesn’t happen very often.”<\/p>\n
Tapsell said from the business perspective, he was answering a question in the context of difficult times.<\/p>\n
“Yes, things are bad, but don’t rely on government handouts – I can understand that as a mayor from a council as well.<\/p>\n
“We’ve got limited resource. They’ve been quite clear at that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rotorua Business Chamber responds to PM\u2019s apology Morning Report The Rotorua mayor says the prime minister’s comments to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-558104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558104","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=558104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}