Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says a preliminary decision on whether our country will recognise Palestine’s statehood has been made but a final decision will not be announced until later this week.

He spoke to Newstalk’s Mike Hosking and HeraldNOW’s Michael Morrah that Foreign Minister Winston Peters would announce the decision later this week at the UN General Assembly in New York after a final sign off from the Cabinet.

Overnight, Britain, Australia and Canada have recognised a Palestinian state as Israel comes under huge international pressure over its war against Hamas in Gaza.

Luxon told Herald NOW he did not feel we were now trailing behind.

“It’s not a race,” he said.

He told Newstalk ZB the government had made “a preliminary decision, which we will look to confirm and also continue to monitor developments through the course of this week. We’ll make a final cabinet decision towards the end of the week and then he’ll give his address at the UN General Assembly”.

The prime minister remained tight-lipped on what the decision might be.

“But the bigger issue… it’s not whether you are pro-Palestine or pro-Israel, it’s actually about being pro-people,” Luxon told Hosking.

“And irrespective of the decision we ultimately make on state recognition, the bigger issue is actually what the hell are you going to do to actually get that region stable, calm, and actually peaceful again.”

Meanwhile, Luxon said he did not see the massive drop in the GDP coming, but upon reflection it is not surprising.

“We could feel it, you could see it, and that is a function of just uncertainty caused by those Trump tariffs in that period of time.

“For six months we were growing strongly. We’re growing again now. We’ll grow even stronger as we go into Christmas.”

It comes after Friday’s revelations that New Zealand’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.9% in the June quarter, a reduction well over market expectations.

“We’ve inherited a situation with the biggest recession for 35 years… we’re dealing with a difficult global trading environment. Having said all of that, we are now growing again this quarter.

“We’re projected to strengthen before Christmas again.”

Luxon told Herald NOW that the senior doctor’s strike is going to cause grief to 13,000 patients and reminded the public that they are “some of the most well-paid public servants we have in the country”.

“We’ve put another offer from health New Zealand on top just recently, another $160 million of taxpayer funding to get 5,500 senior doctors’ contracts resolved.

“Our view is stay in the bargaining process, don’t go into strikes.”

He said the strike was disappointing and he wanted the doctors to get back around the bargaining table.

“And when you’ve got 13,000 people and you think about all the pain, the suffering, all the hope that they had in getting their issues resolved this week being disrupted because that union does not want to go to binding arbitration, because that union does not want to stick at the bargaining table.

“That’s not good enough.”

Yesterday, Health Minister Simeon Brown said that the Government will spend $100m on upgrades to hospital facilities at 21 locations across the country.

Brown said projects will be delivered from “Whangārei to Queenstown, each reflecting local priorities”.

The money, which was set aside in Budget 2025, will fund local projects to expand and modernise clinical spaces and supporting services.

They include upgrades to emergency departments and oncology wards, additional clinical spaces, extra car parking, new transit lounges and laboratory refurbishments.