The Prime Minister wants to 'end the culture of saying no' but won't say whether he now supports or still opposes construction in his own backyard

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon won’t say whether he's now throwing his support behind an economic development opportunity he has previously opposed in his home electorate, after asking New Zealanders to say yes to growth.

The National Party leader and MP for Botany told Parliament on Tuesday that he wants to “end the culture of saying no” to economic growth.

“Because Kiwis want to build and they want to grow and they want to innovate, and all too often they're actually told no,” he said. 

“We must develop a mind-set that says yes to things that are going to make Kiwis better off, and you'll know that as part of that, last week I expressed my view on removing the limits around concerts at Eden Park”.

But while the Prime Minister wants communities in Mount Eden to say ‘yes’ to the economic opportunities that come with noisy concerts, he won't commit to supporting a development in his own backyard.

When running for the Botany seat in June 2020, Luxon helped stymie a project which would transform a closed petrol station into 54 housing units. He joined with a local residents and ratepayers association to say a definitive ‘no’ to this development and others in the future. 

In a video still available on Facebook, Luxon says the area around Howick should "always stay a single-dwelling zone” and that those blocking the development “deserve a medal”.

They were “fighting hard to make sure we don’t set a dangerous precedent, not just here in Howick, but out across all of Auckland as well,” he said. 

Luxon and his fellow nay-sayers won the debate. A fast-track panel blocked the development in July last year, after the newly-elected National-led government changed housing rules to allow councils to restrict development.

Opposition to the project means the Auckland suburb has had an empty petrol station for over five years, instead of construction jobs, new housing, and all the economic growth those things would’ve created.

BusinessDesk reported on Thursday morning that Box Property Investments was still pursuing the development and was challenging the panel's decision in court. But despite Luxon’s new push to say yes to economic development, he won’t come out in support of housing density in Botany.

Interest.co.nz asked the Prime Minister several times whether he would now support that development or similar projects, given he wants a culture of yes. 

While Luxon made general comments about backing opportunities, he would not say anything specific about housing development in his own community. 

You can read the full transcript below. 

Q: You have made this a year of growth, you want to have a ‘yes’ economy. Can I get you to cast your mind back to when you were running for Botany, you opposed the housing development in that suburb. That developer is going to court and still wants to go ahead. In the new ‘yes’ economy, will you now embrace that development in Cockle Bay?

Luxon: What I'd say is, that's a matter before the courts. I understand it's under appeal, and it would be inappropriate for me to comment on a specific case, but you can be reassured we are going for growth, and you've seen that with our fast track legislation, with the projects that we have on the table, we think we can generate 55,000 new houses across New Zealand as a result of that, we can increase our renewable electricity by almost 30% we can build hundreds of kilometers of new roads. That's all good stuff.

Q: If I can take it back from that specific case and just ask, that kind of development which you opposed—now that we have this focus on growth and on saying yes—would you now support those kinds of developments, high-density housing in Botany? 

Luxon: What I’d say to you, is that conflating those two issues is, I don't think, [that's] the right way to look at it. We've got a massive agenda to unlock growth in this country. You've seen that with Fast Track. You've also seen us come back to councils and say, we want council to consent to 30 years of growth. You've seen us say that there's optionality now by making the MDRS [medium density residential standards] optional, within a given city for local government to work through. But you know, we are going to build houses and we are going to grow New Zealand. There are lots of different cases that will have lots of different component parts to them.

Q: If I can push you one more time on that. You want more concerts at Eden Park, some locals oppose that. You want seabed mining in Taranaki, some locals oppose that.  You took the initiative to say ‘no’ to a development in your electorate, but you are now asking people to say ‘yes’ to developments in their regions. Do you think you're showing leadership…

Luxon: I can't comment on an individual project when it's before the courts. That's inappropriate for me to do so, but I don't think you can look at what we are doing as a government and [not] say, this is a government that is unlocking and removing the impediments and the obstacles and the culture of no, because we have no choice. It's not up for negotiation anymore. We are here to grow the joint. So, that is what's needed. Why? Because that's actually how New Zealanders get ahead and how we get a better quality of living for everybody.