National's Christopher Luxon admits social media posts shared last week suggesting he was in New Zealand when he was actually holidaying in Hawaii were a "mistake" and the videos should have been captioned differently.
Luxon on Tuesday morning confirmed that while Parliament was in recess last week he jetted off to the United States for a holiday with his family.
While it's not unusual for MPs to take a winter holiday during the three-week-long July recess break, posts shared on Luxon's social media accounts gave the impression he was still in New Zealand.
That includes a video of Luxon saying, "today, I'm in Te Puke the heart of Kiwifruit country", and a picture of him with University of Auckland vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater. In reality, those visits had occurred the week prior.
While Luxon initially denied the posts were misleading, on Tuesday afternoon he told reporters they should have been captioned differently "to make clear it was in recent days, not on the day". He said he didn't personally make the posts, but took responsibility for it.
"We made a mistake and we own up to it, we front it," he said. "We should have captioned the post differently. That's what we should have done.
"But I can tell you right now what I'm not losing sleep over this. I am losing sleep over the rising cost of living. I'm losing a lot of sleep over a failing healthcare system and losing a lot of sleep that only 45 percent of our kids are actually going to school regularly at the moment, though. They are the big issues that we need to be focused on."
He doesn't regret taking a holiday though, saying he's been doing a "pretty intense job".
"I think when you work as hard as we do, that you get some personal leave with your family for five days is actually really important. I think it's really important you get a break with your family. One of the ways to do that in this job is outside the country."
Both the Prime Minister and Finance Minister agreed it was important MPs have breaks.
"My view is that, Members of Parliament, they do need to look after themselves," Jacinda Ardern said.
"They, of course, deserve like all New Zealanders to take a break and spend a bit of time with their family members. How MPs, ministers or others, how they then communicate what they are up to, that is a matter for them."
"I think every politician needs to take a break," said Grant Robertson. "This is a very stressful place to work. However, when you take a break, you probably should be honest about where you go."
Ardern wouldn't make any judgement on what Luxon had said in his social media posts, but Robertson suggested it wasn't a good look.
"I think a post that says you're in Te Puke on a particular day published on a day when you're actually in Hawaii is misleading," he said.
ACT leader David Seymour said there are other matters Kiwis care about more.
"I have been out listening to the real New Zealanders and not one person raised Christopher Luxon's Facebook posts. I am focused on crime, the cost of living and co-governance," he said.
Asked whether Luxon's posts could be misleading, Seymour said: "The number one bit of advice I give to all of ACT's MPs is be authentic, be real, don't pretend to be something you're not and you'll find you get a lot of support."
