Christopher Luxon’s year-long mission to get a robotic lawn mower

Thursday, 9 July 2026

Luxon revealed he got the purchase approved by the Capital Expenditure Committee - his wife Amanda.

Christopher Luxon is like so many New Zealanders.

He is just a man, with a lawn, asking his wife if he can have new gadgets to take care of it.

And during a Tuesday night public meeting in Whangārei, he revealed a huge win. After an 18-month battle, Luxon is now the proud owner of an automated machine that mows his lawn for him.

“The last time I was in this stadium was a couple of years ago with Shane [Reti],” he told the 300-strong crowd of locals, who turned out to hear the Prime Minister speak on about the biggest issues facing the country.

“I was so impressed by the seven robotic lawnmowers out there that I went home to my wife and said to her: ‘Honey, you know what we need for our very small backyard in central Auckland? A robotic lawnmower’.”

He succeeded. Luxon revealed that after a year and a half and “quite a bit of cajoling”, he managed to get the purchase approved “by the Capital Expenditure Committee - Amanda”.

Christopher Luxon standing on a lawn. Stuff does not know whether this grass was mowed by robot or human.

In this instance, it appears size does not matter. According to a highly non-scientific analysis conducted in Stuff’s newsroom, the total area of Luxon’s Auckland lawn is approximately 250 square metres - just under the size of a standard tennis court.

Unfortunately, we in Wellington are also inner-city dwellers, meaning we lack the encyclopaedic knowledge needed to work out how long it takes a mow each square metre of lawn.

So we asked Gemini.

“A 250 square meter (sqm) lawn is relatively small,” it responded. “If you decide to stick with a manual push mower, it will take you roughly 10 to 15 minutes per session.”

Luxon used his lawn as a set for this TikTok video in 2024.

According to the AI tool, “a traditional push mower is completely practical” for a lawn this size.

“You won't even break a sweat unless your lawn is on a massive hill,” it said.

That said, the Prime Minister is a busy man. He is short on time - but his pockets are deep.

“I don't need to do this job. I choose to do this job,” he told the Whangārei public meeting.

Luxon did not reveal which model of robotic lawnmower he bought, but a rudimentary Google search shows they range anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 (!).

The $10,000 option, the Navimow X3-Series Robot Mower from Segway, was rated the best robotic lawnmower for large lawns by Consumer.

As we have established, Luxon’s lawn is not large. So he may have been better suited to the Navimow i-Series Robot Mower from Segway - a $2,200 option that was awarded the best robot mower for small areas.