Luxon has his snout in the trough.

[king1]

It is a weird world when someone can say $450,000 is not much.

And no, money probably isn't his motivation. Power is. So what does that say about his personality type?

Its not much for the job.
So Ardern and Hipkins didnt want the job for the power?
That woman had so much power and look what she did to this country, and then just walks away when she doesnt want to deal with the repercussions.

I doubt she walked - quite likely she was nudged, given labour probably wanted a fighting chance at winning the election - unfortunately there was too much hate and vitriol associated with her at the time.