Protests, evictions, Fast-track and fluffed lines: Luxon's busy night in Christchurch

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon visited Christchurch for a public meeting last night, as the campaign trail for November’s election heats up. Herald senior journalist Mike Thorpe reports from a raucous and fractious event. 

Christopher Luxon must have expected some opposition in Christchurch when his visit was first planned, not least of all from the residents of Pegasus, in North Canterbury. 

Just last month, a delegation had travelled to Parliament to present a petition of 16,000 signatures opposing the use of the Fast-track Act to turn their town’s golf course into a residential development of 1000 homes. 

But just hours before Luxon took the stage at Addington Raceway, that application from Wolfbrook Residential, the current owners of the former championship golf course, was declined by Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop. 

The convoy from north of the Waimakariri River was called off, and the Prime Minister could surely have expected a quieter conversation with the 450 people who gathered for Wednesday night’s public meeting. 

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon speaking to a room of around 450 people at Addington Raceway in Christchurch on Wednesday evening. Photo / Anna Heath 

Not so. An orchestrated protest event interrupted the Prime Minister on six separate occasions across multiple issues – leading the MC and Minister for Tourism, Louise Upston, to ask if anyone else wanted to speak out before being kicked out. 

Even before the Prime Minister took the stage – or the crowd filed in, veteran activist John Minto aimed his megaphone at the entrance. Whilst he didn’t make it inside, his pro-Palestine supporters did. 

But it was a climate protester who was first to find his voice, comparing the plans for the Denniston Plateau to a landmark of Middle Earth. 

A protester is removed during the Prime Minister's speech. Photo / Anna Heath 

“We are Mordor,” he screamed as he was ushered out shortly after Luxon’s opening speech began. His exit prompted another to stand and continue the climate change message. 

He, too, was removed before Luxon picked up where he left off, delivering his assessment of New Zealand’s economy and the difficulties it has faced with worldwide events. The mention of global politics sparked another protester with another cause. 

“Genocide in Gaza!” yelled the next protester from the middle of the crowd. 

“You’ve disgraced New Zealand, blood on your hands!” 

MC for the evening and Minister for Tourism, Louise Upston. Photo / Anna Heath. 

The crowd grew restless when the fifth interruption came with a call to “sanction Israel”. 

Shortly after Upston’s invitation to speak up, and Luxon’s oratory resumption, another voice momentarily found the courage to voice her discontent with New Zealand’s foreign affairs. 

But she fluffed her rehearsed lines. Deflated, she voluntarily turned for the exit before security arrived at her row, delivering a half-hearted “sanction Israel” as the audience groaned with displeasure. 

Luxon was largely unperturbed by the intrusions – though he was also questionable in his delivery. He recounted a recent dinner table discussion with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that apparently started with “Narendra, what’s going on in India?” 

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Photo / Anna Heath 

He rolled out statistics and anecdotes that supported his claims that the current government has delivered on crime reduction and is boosting education. The apparent achievements were celebrated with enthusiastic applause – like his assertion that ram raids are down 85%. 

Luxon also spoke about the amount the previous government had borrowed before suggesting that it was possibly beyond the crowd’s comprehension. He says “it’s late” and the crowd had “glazed over”, going, “Chris, I don’t understand millions or billions”. For the record, it was 7.45pm and the crowd appeared to be quite familiar with those numerical values. 

No mic, no question. A woman's attempt to ask a question after the meeting had ended was shut down by the MC, Louise Upston. Photo / Anna Heath. 

The evening finished with roughly half a dozen questions that ranged from rates caps to Covid vaccines and eventually that potentially sticky subject – Fast-track. 

Luxon wouldn’t speak directly about Pegasus, but he did defend the intent of Fast-track legislation. 

The Prime Minister had arrived on stage at 7.25pm and by 8.16pm it was all over. 

The final act of the evening was denying a woman the opportunity to have her question heard by the room – instead Luxon made time immediately afterwards to speak with her face to face. 

It was a busy night for Luxon – but a busier night for security. 

Mike Thorpe is a senior multimedia journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.