Opposition National Party leader Christopher Luxon says there are more important issues facing Aotearoa New Zealand than the controversy over a party social media post while he was holidaying in Hawai’i.

He has admitted he was holidaying in Hawai’i last week despite his social media posts suggesting he was visiting provincial New Zealand.

While he was away, a video was posted on his Facebook page where he claimed to be in Te Puke visiting businesses.

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“We should have posted it closer to the date and we should’ve at least captioned it that it was in recent days, not implying that it was on that day,” Luxon told RNZ Morning Report.

“We got that wrong, and we own that.”

He said he had expected the video to be posted on the day of the visit or soon after.

It was “honestly a mistake”.

Cost of living
He said there were more important things to focus on, like New Zealand’s cost of living and crime, than the social media post.

“There are more things that I’m lying awake at night worrying about in New Zealand than a social media post.”

And while the country was facing a cost-of-living crisis, he said his family deserved a vacation away from New Zealand.

“New Zealanders are doing it incredibly tough,” he said pointing to record-high inflation.

“And that’s because this government doesn’t have an economic plan. Lots of band-aid economics.

“We’ve got dumb and wasteful spending going on in the government not getting outcomes.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.