Digging up some dirt
Prime Minister takes control of 14-tonne digger
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has proved to be adept behind the controls of a 14-tonne digger. Luxon visited the award-winning Mills Albert civil contracting headquarters in Paraparaumu on Wednesday and was invited to go on a digger.
Under guidance from operations manager Stace Keen, Luxon did a test scrape along the ground, before moving a half-scoop of earth from a large pile and then a full scoop with ease and precision.
Luxon, who also had a go on a digger at a recent Central Districts Fieldays, said he enjoyed the experience.
“It was great fun and I was glad to have the benefit of a good teacher.”
Luxon learnt about the business from founders Paul Albert, Dave Mills and Lisa Mills-Albert.
He met staff, was presented with a carved piece of andesite stone and greeted Kāpiti Coast District Council Mayor Janet Holborow and chief executive Darren Edwards.
The stone was carved by Wiremu Barriball, a Māori visual artist and a musician in the reggae band Katchafire.
Mills told the Luxon the business, which won the supreme award at last year’s Electra Business and Innovation Awards, had a strong family focus.
“We’ve got a saying here that you don’t have to be blood to be whānau,
It was great fun and I was glad to have the benefit of a good teacher.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon
from wherever you come from, and truly believe that, even though we have a lot of family here.
“But in our business family, we’ve got three generations.
“We came from very humble beginnings, starting with a Hilux and trailer in our basement and now have a number of staff working for us.
“We’re heavily involved in construction and are also focused on getting young people into the industry.
“We’re very passionate about what we do and are very supportive of our district and regional councils, and KiwiRail, who are the type of institutions we like working for, but also private sector work doing subdivisions and more.
“We’re very broad in what we do. One of our latest ventures is a rock farm. We recently bought a dairy farm in Opunake and are taking surplus rock and taking it to varying councils, while making the farm a more productive unit.”
Luxon was impressed and encouraged the company to write a book.
“It’s a great story of entrepreneurship and how to build a great company.”
Afterwards, in a one-on-one interview with the Kāpiti News, Luxon said Mills Albert was “an amazing local company doing incredible things”.
“Just hearing the story of a family business that has grown over a period of time ... and I was also impressed
with their passion for developing the workforce, especially teaching young people skills that will set them up for a future in the industry.”
Asked about the digger experience, Luxon quipped: “If the whole politics thing doesn’t work out, I’ll give it a go.”
He addressed the continuing cost-of-living crisis, saying it was the Government’s No 1 job to “rebuild the economy and lower the cost of living”.
“Already we’ve seen inflation hit 4 per cent, which is almost the lowest it has been in three years, and we’ve seen food prices come down almost 10 per cent, which is good. But we want to see inflation in the band of 1 to 3 per cent, and then we know we’ve got relatively small increases in pricing going forward, which gives the economy so much stability. The problem is that, as the previous Government spent an increase of 84 per cent and drove inflation up, which drives interest rates up, which slows the economy down, which then [increases] unemployment.
“We’ve got to fix this inflation problem, bring it down, then interest rates come down, the economy grows because businesses can invest and it’s cheaper to do so, and then we end up with people staying in jobs.
“We’re doing everything we can to try and make it easier for people but the biggest challenge we’ve got is to get that inflation number down.”
On local government rates hikes, Luxon encouraged councils to “do the must-do stuff really well”.
“That should be their priority at this point of time.
“Obviously we’re working very closely with local government and wanting people to think about how we fund some of the infrastructure that we need to invest in, and how we can share that between central and local government but also bring in private alternative capital as well.”
Luxon was keen to increase the speed limit on the Kāpiti Expressway from 100km/h to 110km/h.
“We’ve got consultation happening until May 30 and will look to make a decision in early September.”
He understood the Ō taki-to-Levin Expressway construction would “commence work, we believe, in 2025, and hope to have it finished by 20293.
He was impressed by how new Otaki ¯ MP Tim Costley was performing.
“He’s got around the community and knows it exceptionally well ... he comes down to Wellington and advocates very strongly in our caucus meetings for the people in the electorate.
“I think he’s doing incredibly well.”