'I am sorry if my comments did not properly acknowledge the challenges that many small business owners are facing'
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has apologised to business leaders after his "parent-child mentality" comments in a recent chamber event drew backlash from the public.
Luxon expressed his apology in a post-Cabinet meeting on Monday.
"I do want to take this opportunity to apologise for my remarks at the Rotorua Business Chamber breakfast last week. I know many small business owners are doing it tough right now. They're working long hours. They're managing financial pressures, looking after their staff, and doing everything they can to grow their businesses," he said as quoted by Stuff.
"I am sorry if my comments did not properly acknowledge the challenges that many small business owners are facing, and that I got that wrong."
Controversial 'adult' remarks
The prime minister issued the apology after receiving backlash from his controversial response when he was asked how long could businesses "hang on" as they face the challenge of extra costs.
"I think that's a negative view, to be honest," Luxon said in response to the question, in a transcript published by Stuff.
The prime minister said that his job is to make sure that the government is setting up conditions for businesses to grow, before calling out the "parent-child mentality" that New Zealand businesses have.
"I have literally sat in boardrooms across New Zealand, and the conversation goes: 'I wonder what the government's going to do. I wonder what the government's going to think,'" Luxon said.
"Who cares what the government thinks or does? Our job is to be adult, adult, adult."
But Luxon's remarks were not taken lightly by business leaders, who felt that the prime minister gave them a "lecture."
"We don't mind getting told straight, you know, there's no two ways about that, but we just really wanted some acknowledgement rather than that lecture," Paul Ingram, head of the Rotorua Business Chamber, told Stuff.
"What's really been focused is that parent-child relationship and the references to reinventing yourself as a business and all those sorts of things. And I really think that Rotorua businesses are some of the most resilient in the country, and we are embracing the opportunities."
No intention to offend
Luxon, in an earlier interview with Newstalk ZB, clarified that his point was that the role of the government is "to empower and enable businesses."
"I actually think that there's government, there's business, there's community - three equal actors in our society that we do different things, but we've got to work together," he said in the interview.
"You know, I said to someone the other day, it's like we run the operating system and businesses create the apps and the two work together."
He added that it was not his intention to offend business leaders with his comments.
"I fully acknowledge, you know, I said upfront I'm a great admirer of business people because they've led through difficult times. They got a people to lead," he said.
"I've been in that situation as a business leader myself, so I've got huge admiration for business leaders and I try and see many small businesses up and down the country every week … and a lot of what I've got to do is get the settings right so they can get on and crack on and do it."
