The Prime Minister has released a “fresh set of targeted Government actions”, with Christopher Luxon reminding New Zealanders “cost of living remains [a] priority” for ministers.

The Herald revealed last month that the latest Ipsos NZ issues monitor survey, conducted immediately after the May Budget, found National had lost voters’ confidence in managing inflation/the cost of living. Labour was more trusted with what is the main issue for the country.

Luxon today acknowledged that it’s “still tough out there” and said the Government’s focus on “unlocking economic growth is starting to show some progress with key indicators up across the board”.

“Backing Kiwis to get on top of the cost of living is critical to that pro-growth agenda. It’s not enough for businesses to grow and invest – New Zealanders deserve an economy that works for them, with more competition and lower prices.”

In last month’s Ipsos NZ issues monitor survey, Labour was considered more capable in handling 11 of the top 20 issues Kiwis were grappling with, including health, housing, education, transport, immigration and unemployment.

The Government has now released its third-quarter action plan, listing off what it intends to get done over the coming months.

However, there are fewer actions than in recent plans. This quarter’s plan has 28 individual actions, compared with the 38 last quarter, 40 in the year’s first quarter and 43 in the last quarter of 2024.

Asked by the Herald whether he was giving himself a breather, Luxon responded: “I wouldn’t interpret [it like] that.

“Each action has a different set of workloads associated with it. It wouldn’t be the right way to look at it, just on sheer numbers. There is some complexity to a lot of those actions that we’ve got on. They are big pieces of work.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the cost of living remained a priority. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Some of the actions in the plan are just next steps on policies that have been included in previous plans.

For example, the Government will “progress legislation to make stalking an illegal and jailable offence” this quarter. The fourth-quarter plan last year had a line about how the Government would “introduce legislation to address stalking”.

Another example is the Government’s commitment to “progress legislation to specifically criminalise foreign interference and strengthen espionage offences”. In the quarter-four plan last year, the Government said it would “introduce legislation to support government agencies to combat foreign interference in New Zealand”.

Luxon identified some of the actions the Government is planning to take this quarter in the areas of “cost of food, housing, banking or energy”.

“That includes the Government’s next steps to promote supermarket competition, ensuring more families have a shot at lower food prices and more choice.

“The cost of housing is also a priority, with significant improvements to the RMA enabling more construction in our biggest cities expected to become law.

“This quarter we’ll also set out rules to enable and unleash open banking in New Zealand which will increase competition, transparency, drive down fees, and help Kiwis get a better deal on their mortgage.”

One action is to repeal the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration. The Government has been talking about this since it came to office nearly two years ago.

The Government got work started on the legislation to reverse the ban early this term, but it was slowed down when changes were necessary. As the Herald reported last month, Resources Minister Shane Jones said he expects it to return to Parliament within weeks.

Elsewhere in the plan is a commitment to introduce legislation on Auckland Transport, to strengthen its governance and planning arrangements.

The Government wants to start “delivery of rehabilitation and reintegration services to remand prisoners” and “take Cabinet decisions to strengthen border and supply chain security”.

There are several health-related actions, like starting the delivery of an additional 21,000 elective procedures, such as hip replacements and cataract surgeries.

The Government also released a checklist of what it got achieved from its quarter-two plan. It fully achieved 36 of 38 actions.

Still in progress are:

• Take Cabinet decisions on capital markets settings to remove barriers to listing, reduce costs to firms and enable greater investment in private assets from KiwiSaver providers.
• Publish the first Government AI strategy to help drive adoption of AI to boost productivity and grow the economy.

Here are the 28 actions for quarter three:

1. Announce next steps to improve supermarket competition.
2. Repeal the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration.
3. Take Cabinet decisions to approve regulations enabling open banking.
4. Pass legislation to ratify the New Zealand – United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
5. Launch a one-off Major Events fund to further boost international visitor numbers and drive economic growth.
6. Publish the first standards allowing the use of more high-quality overseas building products in New Zealand.
7. Take Cabinet policy decisions on changes to earthquake prone building requirements.
8. Pass the Public Works (Critical Infrastructure) Amendment Bill to streamline the land acquisition process for major infrastructure projects.
9. Pass the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill to provide resource management system improvements and enable housing growth in our largest cities.
10. Take Cabinet decisions on the first Housing Investment Strategy to improve value for money from Government investment in the housing system.
11. Introduce legislation on Auckland Transport to strengthen governance and planning arrangements.
12. Take decisions on the Skilled Migrant Category visa to attract and retain skilled and experienced trades and technicians.
13. Establish two new Public Research Organisations (Institute for Bioeconomy Science and Institute for Earth Science).
14. Finalise Export Exemptions Regulations under the Food Act.
15. Progress legislation to make stalking an illegal and jailable offence.
16. Introduce legislation to deter antisocial road use.
17. Introduce legislation to support the timeliness, efficiency, integrity and resilience of the electoral system, and introduce a ban on prisoner voting.
18. Take Cabinet decisions on legislation to affirm Police’s authority to collect, use and retain information about individuals in public places for lawful policing purposes.
19. Start delivery of rehabilitation and reintegration services to remand prisoners.
20. Progress legislation to specifically criminalise foreign interference and strengthen espionage offences.
21. Take Cabinet decisions to strengthen border and supply chain security.
22. Start delivery of an additional 21,000 elective procedures like hip replacements and cataract surgery in 2025/26.
23. Open expression of interest for 120 nurse practitioner training places, as part of the Primary Care Action Plan.
24. Implement the largest-ever annual funding increase for GP clinics to help more Kiwis access the primary care they need faster.
25. Implement the first prototypes for the expansion of Urgent and Unplanned Care rollout for rural and remote areas.
26. Provide the Government’s response to the Education Review Office’s report into NCEA Level 1.
27. Introduce the Education and Training (Early Childhood Education Reform) Amendment Bill to give effect to the ECE Regulation Sector Review.
28. Take key policy decisions to tighten benefits eligibility for 18/19-year-olds.

Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in theNZ Heraldpress gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. In 2025, he was a finalist for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.