Christopher Luxon’s parting words for outgoing National MPs

Detailed summary

Christopher Luxon has paid tribute to “giants of the National Party” who are leaving Parliament after the party’s third-worst party vote performance of the MMP era. Several of the…

Christopher Luxon has paid tribute to “giants of the National Party” who are leaving Parliament after the party’s third-worst party vote performance of the MMP era.

Several of the party’s most senior and high-performing members are out of politics after last week’s election performance resulted in the party target="_self" rel="" title="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/election-2026-clutch-of-senior-ministers-including-nicola-willis-paul-goldsmith-likely-out-of-parliament/QYIWXJ4CJZFUPBFJMHMTCWF3NM/">not being entitled to any list MPs.

“One of the hardest parts of this election came this week, when we said goodbye to some giants of the National Party. These are my colleagues, but more than that, they’re my friends.”

The party held a caucus meeting on Tuesday, where it presented an engraved silver tray to each of its seven departing MPs, as per party tradition.

Deputy National leader and Finance Minister Nicola Willis was the highest-ranked National MP to lose her job after the election – she was number two on the party’s list.

“Nicola,” Luxon wrote, “we started out as two newcomers with a big job to do, and she’s been beside me every step of the way.

“As Finance Minister she took on the toughest job in government at one of the toughest times.

“She got the books back in order, brought inflation down and put New Zealand back on the path to surplus, so our kids aren’t left with the bill.”

He described Willis, who has been an MP since 2018, as “super smart and hardworking”, saying she “never stopped caring about the people behind the numbers”.

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