National party leader Christopher Luxon travelled to Hawaii last week for a week-long family holiday during a parliamentary recess.

His social media said otherwise, with Luxon declaring in a video “Today I’m in Te Puke, the heart of kiwifruit country”.

In the clip, he meets with IT workers, shares a morning tea with community leaders, and describes a “special” automated logging process at a timber business.

“All in all, a fantastic day in Te Puke. I even got to sample some kiwifruit briefly. A wonderful, wonderful time,” he says.

On his return to parliament, he admitted his holiday, saying, “I went to Hawaii with my family as I tend to do in July”, and the discrepancy came as his “social media team released what I’m up to over a given week”.

The former Air New Zealand chief executive said he did not think he had misled Kiwis.

He also denied breaking COVID-19 public health advice by appearing in the clip unmasked throughout.

The blooper recalls a defining moment from Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, who covered up his own holiday in Hawaii taken during savage bushfires in December 2019.

While Morrison’s mistake was a millstone that hung around his neck for the rest of his political career, Luxon’s transgression is nowhere near as serious.

It still overshadowed his party’s announcement on Tuesday, a proposed inquiry into the Reserve Bank for its stimulatory response to virus lockdowns.

“We’ve got a government which is addicted to spending and we’ve had an unprecedented amount of printing of cash by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand,” he said.

“It’s put a heap of cash into the New Zealand economy and I think it’s right we call for a an independent public inquiry.”

Also on Tuesday, two long-serving National MPs Ian McKelvie and David Bennett announced their retirement at next year’s election.