Nicola Willis will be the Deputy Leader; Portfolios to be announced
Venkat Raman
Auckland, November 30, 2021
We can now confirm that Christopher Luxon, a long-standing friend of Indian Newslink and the South Asian communities will lead what he called, ‘The New National Party of New Zealand’ into the general election 2020.
We can also be reasonably sure that the Party will at last see some unity and rally behind him to pursue its two primary objectives of halting the inroads being created by ACT Party into its coffers and try and win back the Treasury benches.
The National Party Caucus elected him as the Leader through an unanimous vote after former Leader Simon Bridges withdrew from the contest. He is likely to be suitably rewarded in the allocation of portfolios.
Deputy Leader Nicola Willis
Nicola Willis, the bright and rising Star of the Party from Wellington, has been elected as Deputy Leader. She will satisfy gender equality and also geographic balance. Mr Luxon is from Auckland, a factor, which he have always held to be the raison d’être of political success.
Mr Luxon described his election as a “tremendous privilege to lead our great Party,” and thanked the members of the Caucus for the confidence that they have reposed in him.
“I am delighted that the Caucus has elected Nicola Willis as Deputy Leader. She will do an incredible job and we will be a formidable team. The unified National Party that Nicola and I lead will work every day to represent all New Zealanders, earn back their trust and confidence, and deliver for them. Now, more than ever, New Zealand needs the National Party to offer them hope, ambition and drive to meet the challenges of the coming decade,” he said.
Government of Action
Mr Luxon said that New Zealanders need a government of action, not rhetoric.
“I came to politics because I know how to solve problems and get things done. I have built a career out of reversing the fortunes of under-performing companies and I’ll bring that real-world experience to this role. We are the new National Party that New Zealand needs,” he added.
About Christopher Luxon
Christopher Luxon (51) was elected as the Member of Parliament for Botany at the 2020 election. Until now, he has been the National Party spokesperson for Local Government; Research, Science and Manufacturing; Land Information; and the associate spokesperson for Transport. He is a member of the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee of Parliament.
Prior to entering Parliament, Christopher was Chief Executive Officer of Air New Zealand from 2013 to 2019 and under his leadership the airline delivered record profits, all time high customer satisfaction scores and achieved its highest levels of staff engagement.
Alongside this Air New Zealand won numerous accolades, including several celebrating it as the best airline in the world and others recognising its commitment to key areas such as sustainability, innovation, corporate reputation, employee engagement and customer experience. During his tenure, the company held the No. 1 Corporate Reputation & Trust Company in New Zealand 2015-2019 and No. 1 Corporate Reputation & Trust Company in Australia 2017-2019.
Prior to joining Air New Zealand, Christopher was President and Chief Executive Officer at Unilever Canada. This was one of several senior leadership roles he held during a highly successful 18-year career at the multinational that saw him work in Europe, North America and Asia/Pacific. Christopher has a Master of Commerce in Business Administration from the University of Canterbury.
Christopher served as the inaugural Chair of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Business Advisory Council and has received wide recognition for his leadership including a Blake Leader Award, Deloitte CEO of the Year, Orient Aviation Person of the Year, and Deloitte Company of the Year.
Christopher is married to Amanda and they have two children, William and Olivia.
About Nicola Willis
Nicola Willis (40) is a List MP based in Wellington, having entered Parliament in April 2018. She is currently National’s spokesperson for Housing and Urban Development, and RMA Reform (Housing). She is a member of the Environment Select Committee of Parliament and has previously served on the Education and Workforce, Regulations Review and Finance and Expenditure committees.
Prior to becoming a Member of Parliament, Nicola held a number of senior management roles at New Zealand dairy co-operative Fonterra. Her work at Fonterra included leadership of the business’s global trade strategy team, permanent membership of the global incident management team, operational management of Fonterra-owned farms and work on a number of major projects alongside Fonterra’s global customers, manufacturing teams and farmer shareholders. Nicola also served on the boards of Export NZ and policy think-tank the New Zealand Initiative.
Nicola was a Senior Advisor to Prime Minister John Key during his first term in government, having been a member of his winning 2008 campaign team, a Senior Advisor during his time as Leader of the Opposition and a researcher for then Opposition Education Spokesperson, Bill English. She has also worked in a number of small businesses selling everything from shoes to clothes to bagels.
Nicola graduated with a first-class honours degree in English literature from Victoria University of Wellington in 2002. She was a successful university debater, captaining teams and competing around the world.
Nicola grew up in Wellington, where she lives with her husband Duncan and their four children aged ten, nine, seven and five.
