Do we like Christopher Luxon?
Our score: 5 out of 10. A decent record on inclusion at work, balanced by a government he leads that restricted trans youth healthcare and weakened climate targets.
Luxon was raised Catholic in Christchurch and Auckland, then spent years at Unilever in Sydney, London, Chicago and Toronto, finishing as head of Unilever Canada. He came home in 2011 to join Air New Zealand and ran it from 2013. In 2020 he walked away from a reported $4.2 million salary to become an MP on a base wage of $164,000.
The nice part of the file is his time at the airline. Former PM John Key says Luxon was “the person standing up for, you know, gay rights and equal opportunity in the workforce.” Under him Air NZ rolled out a diversity strategy, gender-neutral bathrooms, the Rainbow Tick and pay gap reporting. That is a record of doing things, not just saying them.
He calls his faith personal. In his 2021 maiden speech he said “no religion should dictate to the state” and that politicians shouldn't force their beliefs on others. As National's leader in 2022 he said he'd vote for the conversion therapy ban at second reading, after the caucus moved to a conscience vote. Faith alone doesn't count against anyone here, and his words on it don't either.
The harder part is what his government has done. In November 2025 Cabinet approved a halt on new puberty blocker prescriptions for young people with gender dysphoria. Trans health groups called it an “act of discrimination” and said it was driven by a “political agenda”. Family First, a lobby group, called it “long overdue”. The RNZ report doesn't quote Luxon on it, so this is about the government he leads rather than his own words.
On the planet he's a worse fit. When 26 international climate scientists wrote to him about the methane target, he called them “worthies”, then told RNZ it was “a load of rubbish” that he was dismissing science. In December 2025 the coalition rejected the Climate Change Commission's advice and cut the methane goal to a 14 to 24 percent reduction. Former commissioner James Renwick called that response “dangerous”. National did vote down ACT's Treaty Principles Bill in April 2025.
This year has been rough. He apologised in August for telling a Rotorua business breakfast that worried owners had a negative view, saying “I got that wrong”, after first defending it. He called Winston Peters' “go back to your own country” remark to a Green MP racist, but wouldn't rule out Peters keeping foreign affairs. In October he walked back a minister's unevidenced claim that the Greens were joining foreign actors to attack New Zealand.