Christopher Luxon took a short and sharp mindset into the National Party conference on the weekend and with good reason: there is much getting back on track still to be done. He arrived in Christchurch amid a blur of bleak headlines, focused mostly on an economic mood epitomised by butter, netball crowds, abrupt Trump tariffs, unemployment numbers, and so on.

Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire assess the state of play. But first: a trio who did school cert in fifth form look at the overhaul of NCEA and electoral reforms that would deny the vote to “deadbeats”, aka those who seek to enrol within a dozen days of the election.

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