Christopher Luxon on tour: Cost of living, crime, and campaign advice in Tawa

Michelle Cam says she thinks of closing down her Tawa cafe. Ryan Ohlsson says someone stole a tip jar from his restaurant last week. Ashok Patel isn’t so concerned, even though his diary has been robbed for cigarettes.

National Party leader Christopher Luxon and party deputy Nicola Willis were on Tawa’s main street on Monday, talking to supportive business owners who had their frustrations at the ready, and – in one case – receiving some blunt campaign advice.

The “walkabout” was a chance for Willis to campaign alongside her boss in Ōhāriu, the electorate she’s standing for. And it was another stop for Luxon’s “Get NZ Back on Track” tour, where he could talk almost exclusively about two issues: the cost of living and crime.

“I’ve been out doing these tours because you actually get a chance to bypass media and actually talk straight to people, and it’s really awesome,” Luxon said to cafe owner Cam, while surrounded by reporters and cameras the National Party invited.

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Cam told Luxon the costs of running her cafe, Urban Eatery, were rising. Bacon was $60, now it’s $150. Ice cream was $20, now it’s $48.

She said the Labour Government was “making it so hard” for family businesses, and she felt she was “constantly drowning” with taxes and costs. “It can’t keep going like this.”

But she had an equally blunt assessment of Luxon: “It’s coming time when people need to know you. What I’ve heard is, ‘We want a change, but we don’t know who you are’.”

Luxon said, “Yeah, that sounds good.”

Willis said, “That’s really good feedback, thank you. That’s what this campaign is all about.”

Without leaving the cafe, Luxon and Willis found Ohlsson, who spoke of someone stealing the tip jar from the restaurant across the road on Friday, taking off with about $5 as staff were closing up for the night.

“We thought it was problem mainly in Auckland,” Ohlsson said. They were now considering more security.

Luxon said, “You feel unsafe, eh.”

At the Tawa Central Diary, owner Patel had been taken “a couple of hits” – people smashing into his store for cigarettes. But he said he was “not really” worried about his safety, maybe a little bit more than before.

“It’s just one of those things,” he said.

Across the road, David Gray was behind the counter at his Streetwise Coffee cart. He said people were talking about rising costs, but they weren’t “screaming” out in difficulty.

While Gray wouldn’t share his political views, after Luxon and Willis moved on he said local Labour MP Greg O’Connor was “pretty popular” in Ōhāriu, especially so thanks to the little red Morris Minor he drives around.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Willis said she had an “uphill climb” to beat O’Connor, who has held the seat since 2017. He beat the former National candidate by 12,000 votes in the 2020 election that delivered Labour a landslide.

Willis also lives outside the electorate in Karori, but said she would move into Ōhāriu if successful.

“I’ll be asking for the party vote, first and foremost. That is the most important vote because it’s a party vote for National that will change the Government … What I’m here to do is earn every vote we can.”