National Party leadership, a local tourism dividend, and voluntary student services fees w/ the ACT Party’s Simon Court: 17th August, 2026

Last week saw the National Party go through a period of suspected internal conflict, after a leadership challenge was mounted against Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Following a multi-hour long caucus meeting, Luxon spoke to media, claiming he has the full support of his caucus. National MP and former minister Chris Penk was subsequently stripped of his portfolios. The incident has raised concerns over Luxon’s ability to lead both his party and the country, especially as this is not the first leadership vote this year.  Also last week, the ACT Party proposed two new policies they would campaign on in the leadup to this year’s election. First, thanks to calls for a bed levy in Auckland, ACT has instead posed a local tourism dividend that would come directly out of central government funding. They say this dividend would be better suited to address the problem of local government funds for tourism and arts/culture, though some have been sceptical.  The second ACT party proposal is to make student services fees at universities voluntary, so that students can choose the services they’d like to pay for from a checklist.  To discuss each of these issues News Director Castor spoke with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, beginning with the National Party leadership.