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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

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