With Labour's landslide defeat, he led his party to win 15 seats and a plurality of 48 at the 2023 general election, following polls narrowing and then strongly favouring National from the middle of the year onwards.

Luxon defended using taxpayer money to pay for his Māori language lessons, stating that "developing better skills in te reo was highly relevant to his role as Opposition leader and a potential Prime Minister.

[48] On 11 February 2024, Luxon and Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced that the Government would contribute NZ$63 million to aid the removal of sediment and debris caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in the Hawke's Bay and Gisborne District.

Luxon also stated that his Government would focus on restoring the economy by reducing public spending and "red tape" while also finding a balance between economic growth and environmental protection.

[52] That same day, Luxon attended the annual Big Gay Out festival in the Auckland suburb of Point Chevalier but left early after encountering opposition from transgender rights and Palestinian solidarity protesters.

Notable policies and priorities have included reducing wasteful spending, investing in "frontline" services, legislating on income tax relief, childcare tax credit, improving the rental marketing, and reintroducing charter schools, keeping agriculture out of the Emissions Trading Scheme, reversing the ban on offshore gas and oil exploration, restoring three strikes legislation, reviewing the firearms registry, establishing a Youth Serious Offender Category, improving teacher training and school attendance, and replacing mega polytechnic Te Pūkenga.

[56] At the end of the same month, a 1News-Verian poll was released, showing the National-ACT-New Zealand First coalition government convincingly behind the left bloc of Labour, the Green Party and Te Pāti Māori.

[65] As early as February, Luxon was noted to have experienced no "honeymoon bump", as newly incumbent prime ministers tend to, especially immediately after successful elections, but rather held steady, according to 1News.

[81] In mid-April 2024, Luxon undertook a tour of Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines as part of a "very deliberate" foreign policy reset meant to shore up Southeast Asia's strategic and commercial importance to New Zealand.

[83] On 16 April, Luxon met with Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin to promote bilateral business links and trade, and encourage travel and tourism in Thailand.

[84] On 18 April, Luxon along with Filipino-New Zealander MP Paulo Garcia met with Philippines President Bongbong Marcos to discuss bilateral defence, trade, people-to-people, and climate cooperation.

On 5 June, Luxon announced an agreement to enhance the free association relationship between the two countries and that New Zealand would invest NZ$20.5 million into a new large-scale renewable energy project on Niue.

[87][88] In mid-June, Luxon led a business and media delegation consisting of representatives from Air New Zealand, ANZ Bank, Fonterra, Silver Fern Farms, Zespri and Rocket Lab on a state visit to Japan.

[89] During his visit to Japan, Luxon met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and signed a bilateral information security agreement to improve intelligence sharing between the two governments.

[93] On 11 July, he attended a White House dinner and spoke to US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Republican Senator Bill Hagerty.

[96] On 2 September 2024, Luxon arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in a three days official visit where he met with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in discussing strategic partnership.

On 16 November, he also met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss human rights, tensions in the South China Sea and cooperation with the Pacific Islands Forum.

[102][103][104][105] Luxon supports low taxes,[106][107] making cuts to the Ministry of Social Development,[108] establishing military-style boot-camps for young offenders, and introducing stringent anti-gang legislation, and is opposed to welfare dependency and to co-governance with Māori.

[136] On 8 January 2022, Luxon talked to National MP Harete Hipango about a photo that she had posted on social media, which showed her posing with members of the anti-vaccination group Voices for Freedom.

[137] In early February 2022, Luxon called for rapid antigen testing to be conducted in schools twice a week for both students and teachers, citing the examples of New South Wales and Victoria.

[143][144] Paul Spoonley, a sociology lecturer at Massey University agreed with Luxon's remarks, stating that New Zealand's population growth had reached below replacement level of 2.1, with a birth rate of 1.6.

"[147] In January 2024, he authorised depolyment of 6 NZDF personnel to support military action against Houthi forces in the Red Sea, saying "it's about us standing up for things that we believe in, and we can either talk about them or we can actually do something about it as well and make sure that we put real capability alongside our words".

[148] In early September 2024, China's Ambassador to the Pacific Qian Bo successfully lobbied for the Forum to remove references to Taiwan in the final communique of the 2024 leaders' summit in Tonga that week.

Notable examples of this pro-US shift included the Royal New Zealand Navy sending a ship to sail through the disputed Taiwan Strait and the National-led government's expressed interest in partnering with AUKUS and NATO.

Luxon's remarks came in response to media coverage of the agency's recent dawn raid tactics against visa overstayers, which had attracted criticism from Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni for re-traumatising the Pasifika community.

[164][165] On 25 January, Luxon stated that the existence of Māori seats "doesn't make a lot of sense" but reiterated an earlier commitment in March 2022 that the National Party would stand candidates in one or two of them.

University of Auckland Professor Claire Charters and Te Wānanga o Raukawa head lecturer Carwyn Jones said that the different English and Māori translations of the Treaty of Waitangi caused confusion.

[185] In early July 2022, Luxon stated that a future National Government would work with community providers to sponsor job coaches for young people under the age of 25 years who have been on the Jobseeker benefit for three months.

[189][190] National's proposed boot camp policy was criticised by Prime Minister Ardern, Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson, and the New Zealand Psychological Society, who described it as ineffective and counterproductive as a deterrent to crime.

[193] In early March 2024, the Government confirmed plans to launch a pilot Military Style Academy run by Oranga Tamariki (the Ministry for Children), focusing on a rehabilitative and trauma-informed care approach.