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Christopher Luxon

Christopher Luxon

Prime Minister of New Zealand

Appears in 2 stories

Born: July 19, 1970 (age 55 years), Christchurch, New Zealand
Party: New Zealand National Party
Education: University of Canterbury and Howick College
Previous office: Leader of the Opposition of New Zealand (2021–2023)
Office: Prime Minister of New Zealand
Previous campaigns: New Zealand general election, 2023 and New Zealand general election, 2023 - Botany
Nationality: New Zealand

Notable Quotes

"Extreme weather continues to cause dangerous conditions across the North Island. Right now, the government is doing everything we can to support those impacted." — Social media post, January 22, 2026

"We are standing with these local communities in the response – and we will stand with them in the recovery too." — Statement from Mount Maunganui, January 23, 2026

"The country is heavy with grief after the profound tragedy caused by the extreme weather in the last 48 hours." — Public statement, January 23, 2026

Stories

Nuclear fusion's levitated dipole dark horse emerges from New Zealand

New Capabilities

Publicly backed OpenStar at demonstration

For the first time, a commercial company has confined plasma using a levitated dipole reactor — a design where a single half-tonne superconducting magnet floats freely inside a vacuum chamber, held aloft only by magnetic force, while superheated gas swirls around it at over one million degrees Celsius. On February 17, 2026, Wellington-based OpenStar Technologies publicly demonstrated this feat in its five-meter-wide "Junior" prototype, with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon triggering the final stage of the experiment.

Updated Mar 6

Deadly landslides hit New Zealand's North Island

Force in Play

Coordinating national response

Nine people died during catastrophic storms that struck New Zealand's North Island from January 16-22, 2026. Six victims—Lisa Anne Maclennan (50), Måns Loke Bernhardsson (20), Jacqualine Suzanne Wheeler (71), Susan Doreen Knowles (71), Sharon Maccanico (15), and Max Furse-Kee (15)—were killed when a hillside collapsed onto Mount Maunganui's Beachside Holiday Park at 9:30 a.m. on January 22. All six have now been formally identified through the coroner process, with Wheeler confirmed as the final victim on January 31. A grandmother and grandson—Yao Fang (71) and Austen Keith Richardson (10)—died when a 4:50 a.m. landslide struck their Welcome Bay home; Yao was a Chinese national and architect, Austen a gifted musician who called her 'Nai Nai.' A 47-year-old Kiribati migrant worker was swept into the flooded Mahurangi River on January 21.

Updated Jan 31