Labour MP Tangi Utikere says the Prime Minister "slagging off" members of previous overseas New Zealand delegations as C-listers is "not a good look" for the country.
Yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon conceded his comments about previous overseas business delegations being "sort of the C-List" could have been expressed in a better way.
Labour's Utikere, who appeared on Breakfast today, said the C-listers comment was "not a good look from the Prime Minister" given the important ties to Japan.
"I know we're getting used to the Prime Minister travelling overseas and slagging Kiwis off, but none of us thought it would mean that his own travel companions would be the ones being slagged off this time.
"For the Prime Minister to basically reflect on chairs and CEOs of companies like Fonterra [and] Air New Zealand like that is rather unfortunate," Utikere said.
Representatives from Fonterra, Zespri and Christchurch Airport were on Jacinda Ardern's 2022 trip to Japan, as they were on this one with Luxon.
Asked whether the Prime Minister was harsh in his description, senior National MP Chris Bishop said the Prime Minister had already admitted he "could have expressed himself better".
"He's really trying to lift our game on the world stage and is doing quite a lot of international travel and taking business delegations with us."
This isn't the first time Luxon's remarks overseas have raised eyebrows, after comments on a trip to Southeast Asia earlier in the year were labelled "unhelpful" by Comvita chairperson Brett Hewlett.
"We are open for business, we are under new management because we are driving very positively into a much bigger future for New Zealand," Luxon said at the media conference in the Philippines in April.
At the time, Hewlett was reported by interest.co.nz as asking Luxon to stop using phrases like New Zealand is "open for business" and "under new management" as he argued the country was never closed for business.
Plane breakdown 'pretty embarrassing, frankly'
Bishop said overall it "sounds like it was a great trip. Notwithstanding the plane drama… again," he laughed.
He called the plane situation, which saw the NZDF plane break down in Papua New Guinea, "pretty embarrassing, frankly".
"But this is what happens when you push decisions down the road for years and years really.
"We are going to have to bite the bullet on this eventually."
Utikere said it's something that "needs to be sorted as its not a good look on the international stage".
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