New Zealand welcomed its new right-of-centre government on Monday, with parliament expected to begin next week and marking a shift in policies, including alterations to the central bank mandate and lifting the ban on oil and gas exploration.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon was sworn in as the country’s 42nd prime minister, accompanied by his cabinet ministers. The coalition, formed by the Centre-right National Party, libertarian ACT New Zealand, and populist New Zealand First, concluded six years of left-wing governance in the country.
“We’ve got the team, we’ve got the ideas, we’ve got a clear policy program for the next three years,” he said. The incoming government’s policy plans, detailed in coalition agreements, involve a unified mandate for the central bank, a plan to roll back the use of the Maori language, and a lifting of the ban on oil and gas exploration.
Despite these changes, the New Zealand Green Party has launched a petition to maintain the ban on oil and gas exploration, vowing to reintroduce it when they return to government. “We ask everyone to stand with us to tell this government that the oil and gas ban has to stay,” Green Party co-leader James Shaw said in a statement.
