Grant Robertson lets rip at Christopher Luxon, says 'National's Mr gaffe man' suggested his MPs 'bit thick'

Labour's Grant Robertson has let rip at Christopher Luxon, saying the National Party leader suggested MPs in his party are "all a bit thick".

The Finance Minister's speech in Parliament on Wednesday had his Labour colleagues in hysterics, but National's Erica Stanford hit back, saying Robertson was concerned about his party's latest poll results

After attacking National as "out-of-touch" with "reheated policies", Robertson said a "seismic shift" was coming for Luxon's party.

"If they manage to win the seat of Tauranga then true diversity is about to arrive, according to Christopher Luxon. He tells us that his National candidate has something unique and different, and it is not a subtly lighter blue suit."

Robertson then referenced reported comments from Luxon over Sam Uffindell, National's newly-selected candidate for the upcoming Tauranga by-election, a safe seat for the party.

"He's going to bring something really different to our caucus and some diversity to it in that in that he's really well educated, he's had a local and international finance background, he's a local agribusiness owner, and he's a very committed family man from Tauranga," Waateanews.com reports Luxon as saying

Robertson said "finally we know what has been missing all along in the National Party, somebody who is really well educated".

"Here was me thinking that the problem with the National caucus is that it has just two Māori members or it only has 11 MPs or no Pacific MPs or no Rainbow MPs.

"But, no, according to Mr Luxon, it is just they are all a bit thick."

Luxon has been open in the past about National having a diversity problem. The party lacks significant Māori representation in its shadow-Cabinet and lost MPs from different ethnic communities at 2020 election, where National had a disastrous result. 

He repeated on Tuesday that "we've got work to do after a poor election result".

"We haven't got the diversity that we want. But what I can tell you is I am super excited, because as you've seen with a great candidate in Sam Uffindell, who will be additive to our caucus, bring a lot of skills that we don't have. That will be very helpful."

National has had "some really, excellent diverse candidates reaching out saying they want to explore candidacy with us" and Luxon said he had two meetings with diverse candidates last week.

Robertson said on Wednesday he expects Luxon will "slam himself into reverse gear about" his statement on Uffindell and diversity "just as he has done about many other statements".

He referenced Luxon's suggestion to "cancel" Labour Day, which National later clarified he wouldn't do. Luxon said he was just being facetious with that comment.

"National's Mr gaffe man is an Olympic-level back-peddler," Robertson said.

"At least with Judith Collins, we knew if we could look at her eyebrows we could tell if she was joking. With Mr Luxon, I presume we have to look at the luminescence of his head to tell whether or not he is joking."

Stanford, a National MP speaking after Robertson, said "if I ever heard a speech that showed just how much the polls hurt, that was it".

"He spends half his time talking about the Opposition and attacking our leader, who is doing a really great job, rather than talking about issues that matter to New Zealanders, the squeezed middle who feel they are behind every month, every pay cycle cause they can't afford to put the basics on the table.

"That is a speech that shows that they are worried." 

Labour is down in the latest Newshub-Reid Research poll released on Tuesday night. It fell 6.1 points to 38.2 percent, compared to National, which jumped 9.2 points to 40.5 percent. 

Jacinda Ardern, the Labour leader, is down 7 points as preferred Prime Minister. Meanwhile, Luxon jumped 6.1 points to 23.9 percent. Of those surveyed, 50.2 percent believed Ardern should stand for a third term as Prime Minister at the next election, while 41.4 percent don't.

The poll also found Kiwis want the Government to do more to tackle the rising cost of living. Asked, 'Do you think the Government has done enough to address the cost of living crisis?', 15.2 percent said yes, while 77 percent said no, and 7.8 percent didn't know. 

National has been piling the pressure on the Government in recent weeks with regards to skyrocketing prices. 

Last month, StatsNZ revealed annual inflation jumped 6.9 percent in the year to the end of March, the largest increase since 1990. The Government said this was largely down to international factors like COVID supply chain issues and the war in Ukraine, but the Opposition called on Robertson to rein in his spending.