Luxon's comms team need to step up, and the PM needs to listen to them

PremiumOpinionOpinion byBrent WeblingNZ Herald·12 Aug, 2026 06:53 AM4 mins to readBrent Webling is a former National Party ministerial press secretary, serving in the first Key Government. He is a member of NZME’s Editorial Advisory Board.Luxon’s media trainer, Rachel Smalley, his chief of staff, Cameron Burrows, and the rest of his comms team now need to step up and ensure they have the best processes in place.Now that National’s second ugly failed leadership coup in four months is out of the way, and sanity has prevailed, the party needs to urgently look closely at how it manages its communications.

I say sanity because from National’s point of view it surely would have been crazy to have