Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has called comments by NZ First deputy leader Shane Jones about the India free trade agreement "crass and unprofessional," in a rare public rebuke of a senior coalition partner figure.

Speaking on RNZ's Morning Report, Luxon was responding to remarks Jones made at the NZ First annual convention the weekend before. Jones told the gathering he would "call out" the levels of Indian migration into New Zealand "every day, every week, every month."

Jones went further, naming specific industries. "It is not foundational Kiwi culture to have foreigners running slave gangs in our kiwifruit industry, never paying tax, owing more to the IRD than the GDP of Kaitaia," he said. "Put them on the first plane and send them home."

Jones also told the leaders of Labour, National, ACT and the Green Party to "take off your knee pads" over their attendance at what he called an "ethno-nationalist rally" to receive Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (RNZ)

Luxon labelled NZ First's opposition to the India FTA "hypocritical," pointing out that NZ First Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson was in India selling tariff-free New Zealand wool under the same agreement. A free trade agreement, or FTA, is a treaty between countries that reduces or removes taxes (tariffs) on goods crossing their borders, making exports cheaper. (RNZ)

NZ First does not support the FTA. The party cites concerns over immigration and questions whether the $34 billion investment promotion clause in the agreement is a firm commitment with real consequences for non-compliance.

The clash is the sharpest public split yet in a coalition relationship strained over the India deal for months. In February, Luxon described his disagreement with NZ First leader Winston Peters over the agreement as a "mature disagreement." (RNZ) Peters had earlier said the FTA was "for political purposes." (RNZ)

The agreement removes tariffs on 95 per cent of New Zealand's exports to India, according to Beehive announcements. (Beehive) Luxon's office described the conclusion of the deal as "a landmark moment for New Zealand" in a press release last December. (Beehive) Legal verification was completed and a signing date agreed in April, with Jones himself listed among the ministers tagged on that announcement. (Beehive)

Formal negotiations for a comprehensive FTA were launched by Luxon and Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay in March 2025. (Beehive)

Luxon's rebuke of Jones also came on a day when the latest RNZ-Reid Research poll put National at 28.7 per cent, its lowest result since Luxon became leader and a fourth consecutive decline. Asked about the result, Luxon said: "I don't talk about your poll." (RNZ)

The broader context here is a coalition managing two pressures at once. The internal policy dispute has escalated from leader-to-leader tension into a prime ministerial dressing-down of a deputy leader, while a polling trajectory that will sharpen caucus nerves runs alongside it. Luxon's decision to invoke Patterson's trade promotion work in India as evidence of hypocrisy is a pointed tactic, using a junior NZ First minister's actions to undercut the party's stated position.

For NZ First, the convention speech signals the party is leaning into its anti-immigration posture as a point of difference from its coalition partners. Jones's language, particularly the framing around "foundational Kiwi culture" and the call to deport, goes well beyond the party's stated policy objections to the FTA's investment and immigration provisions. Whether that gap between rhetoric and policy substance widens or narrows in the lead-up to the FTA signing will shape the next phase of the coalition dynamic.

For National, the poll result compounds the pressure. A fourth consecutive decline to 28.7 per cent puts the party in territory where backbench restlessness becomes a factor, and Luxon's brush-off of the question on Morning Report suggests he is not yet prepared to engage publicly with that trajectory.