His attempts to convince the public former gun lobbyist Nicole McKee is the best person to lead on gun law reform, and Casey Costello is the heroine of anti-smoking measures, are almost laugh-out-loud absurd.
The man who seems to see himself as the commanding chief executive of the country looks more like a weak boss being pushed around by a
couple of Johnny-come-lately employees with axes to grind.
The situation around associate health minister Ms Costello’s handling of heated tobacco products (HTPs) has become beyond farcical.
RNZ has revealed the products cannot be sold because they do not meet safety standards which came into force this week.
The excise tax on the HTPs was halved from July, a move instigated by Ms Costello without fanfare, with the idea it might offer another alternative to smoking for hardened smokers not attracted to vaping.
RNZ has now reported Ms Costello sought to have regulations, which involve such measures as having removable batteries and child safety mechanisms, delayed for two years, but the Cabinet only agreed to six months.
Now that time is up, it appears Philip Morris, the sole supplier, does not meet the standard and will not be able to sell its HTPs.
This raises more questions about Ms Costello’s decision-making process. What did she rely on to propose a two-year delay, and what does that say about her attitude to child safety?
This week RNZ also revealed officials told Ms Costello Philip Morris would be the only commercial beneficiary of the tax cut.
Treasury has said there is clear evidence HTPs were more harmful than vaping, and a plethora of health advocates have said there is not credible evidence supporting HTPs as a smoking cessation tool.
It became an issue because of her refusal to release it or even answer questions on it.
It beggars belief that earlier in the week Mr Luxon continued to distance himself from the issue.
Instead of publicly insisting Ms Costello release the advice, he waffled on to RNZ about his faith in the minister and her and the government’s commitment to lowering smoking rates.
Would any chief executive commanding a big salary be happy to support a project that could cost a company millions of dollars without wanting to see the information supporting that move?
Is turning a blind eye to the expensive behaviour of junior executives which bring the company into disrepute the way Mr Luxon believes companies should roll (to use his business lingo)?
We are unclear how robust the evaluation of the 12-month trial (now likely to be shorter without the Philip Morris product) will be.
In Cabinet documents, Ms Costello recommends a review of the changes after 12 months to understand their impact, "that is that HTPS have helped more people to stop smoking".
She says she wants to be sure reducing the excise duty will contribute to the smokefree goal. We have written before about Ms Costello falling foul of the Official Information Act and being reprimanded by Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier for acting contrary to the law. Since then he has also expressed concern she was unable to provide any records about the provenance of the mystery document which turned up in her office last December and which she passed on to officials.
In an unusual move, Judge Boshier notified the chief archivist about the record-keeping issues in the case.
Ms Costello may have chutzpah to burn (or even heat), but being a minister of the Crown should involve transparency around decision-making processes, processes which should be based on evidence rather than resembling propaganda from interested parties. It should not look like a competition to see who can be the most brazen in the face of valid criticism. It is time Mr Luxon understood that.
