'NZers do not care about this topic' - PM on new Nicky Hager book

The prime minister and deputy prime minister are dismissing claims in a new book that argues the Taxpayers' Union used anti-Māori racism as a political tool - especially during its Stop Three Waters campaign.Christopher Luxon says New Zealanders "do not care" while David Seymour says Hager "does this every three years, and most of New Zealand wonders what the fuss is about".Meanwhile, the Greens are pulling out of all debates being hosted by the Taxpayers Union as a result of the book.Hager's book Dirty Work - launched on Tuesday night - argues the Taxpayers' Union (TU) helped shift the 2023 election campaign to the right. He claims both Seymour and Luxon pivoted toward the anti-Māori rhetoric to gain votes.In the book, Hager said Seymour initially had no interest in "Māori bashing", noting that in 2017 and 2020 campaign materials, the ACT party had no focus on Māori issues.Hager then pointed out that in 2022 Seymour started to assemble "his own race-based policies"."If TU could play the race card and get away with it, and be rewarded with money pouring in from angry and fearful supporters, ACT wanted to get in on it too."Hager also described Luxon changing his tune over time, where initially Luxon would not be drawn on race when it came to Three Waters.Speaking on a TU podcast, Luxon corrected a claim from Williams that iwi would be getting 50 percent governance of the country's water. "They're not actually governors," he told Williams.Later he changed his language, Hager claimed, and declared that National would scrap Three Waters plus other "iwi related policies".Hager quoted a source saying Seymour and Luxon "knew what they were doing... They were jumping aboard because there was power and there were votes there".Asked about the book at Parliament on Wednesday, Luxon said he did not have much to do with the TPU. "They're no fan of the National Party."Asked if he agreed that the TPU engaged in race baiting policies, Luxon said:"Can I be really honest with you? I do not care about some leftwing journalist Nicky Hager and I also don't care about the Taxpayers' Union."What I do care about is what people out there care about, which is actually getting the show on the road, and actually getting an Indian FTA in place, making sure we get resource management laws in place is a good thing."He also said he was "pretty unhappy" about a campaign the TPU ran, which took a swipe at Nicola Willis.Willis told reporters the organisation had a right to exist in free democracy."Their members choose to contribute their money to them and their campaigns. I find some of their campaigns distasteful, but that's a matter for them, not for me."Luxon was quoted in the book as thanking the TPU and its members "for all the work you do"."I really enjoy what you guys do."Asked if Luxon stood by those comments, he said: "I do not care and New Zealanders do not care about this topic."Seymour was also asked about the book, and said he would love to answer but did not want to reward "bad behaviour".It was put to him that Hager claimed that once Seymour engaged in race based politics around iwi ownership of water assets, the ACT Party's polling went up.Seymour said his Maiden Statement included comments around his opposition to the Treaty being used to divide Māori and non-Māori ancestors."It's there in black in white in 2014."He credited a rise in the polls in his own performance improving, the euthanasia legislation, standing up for licensed firearm owners, opposing through Covid and building a strong organisation."This guy should get another job than political commentator because he's missed quite a lot in that story."Hager canvassed that history in his book, saying: "Seymour had proven in his first six years in Parliament, from 2014 to 2020, that he could be successful without stooping to race politics."Asked specifically about the Three Waters campaign, Seymour said he opposed the government's policy that "vital Three Waters infrastructure should be co-governed and people should be put in charge of it based on their race".In regards to his policies and election materials changing, Seymour referenced the Labour government's Māori health authority, Three Waters with co-governance, and the He Puapua report."If you want to know what changed in that period, the government of the day made it an issue by dividing New Zealanders by race as official policy."Seymour rejected the claim he pivoted to race-based policies because there were votes in it.Further questions saw Seymour issue an expletive: "Holy sh*t, you guys."This is the end of a three year term, we've done spectacular things for New Zealand, we have saved money, we have cut red tape."People are worried about the cost of living, they're worried about how we're gonna be safer in this country - happy to talk about any of that," said Seymour.He then dismissed those asking about the book as "obsessed with one guy and a book" that he claimed was "filled with factual inaccuracies quoting disgruntled former staff members of an organisation they've got nothing to do with."Meanwhile, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters told reporters he checked the index of the book, and did not see his name "so I just moved on"."The trouble with publishing is too many people with half a mind to write a book do so," he added.Green co-leader Chloe Swarbrick said the party was pulling out of all debates being hosted by the Taxpayers Union as a result of the book, and called on other party leaders to do the same."Anything that legitimises the Taxpayers' Union and the kinds of tactics that they are using to undermine our democracy, it's just cooked," she said."If the National and ACT Party do not want to be associated with it, then they need to withdraw themselves."The Greens had been set to take part in electorate debates in Auckland Central and Mount Albert, and had already taken part in a Wellington Bays debate.Asked what about the book had prompted the change of heart, she said it was the "fulsome nature of it all"."The fact that now we have in such black and white detail the connection between the tactics that are deployed, the intention, the agenda... it really is just the straw that broke the camel's back."Swarbrick said the thing that distinguished the TU from other lobby groups was "the sliminess of it... the nastiness of it, the astroturfing, the fact that they very clearly are saying one thing with the intention of doing another, drumming up racist division in order to basically undermine the public sector and to provide tax cuts for those at the top".