National Party leader Christopher Luxon says all three coalition partners have agreed on a policy platform and a formal coalition arrangement.
Luxon has been negotiating with the leaders of New Zealand First and ACT for the past 18 days, ever since the final election result was announced. Election day was almost 40 days ago.
The talks have proven complicated with all three parties wanting to be sitting around the Cabinet table in a full coalition.
Previous governing arrangements have usually involved only two parties in the executive and the others sitting outside with confidence and supply agreements.
On Tuesday, Luxon told reporters ACT and NZ First had signed off on the individual policy agreements struck between National and the two parties Monday.
Media reports have said tax policy and the Treaty referendum have been the major disagreements that have had to be resolved.
He also said they had agreed how they would operate in Cabinet, seemingly confirming media reports that they are forming a three-party coalition government.
Some reports suggested National initially pitched for one of the three parties to sit outside of the Government, which may have slowed the talks during the early stages.
The discussions have now shifted to the allocation of ministerial positions. Everything other than the Prime Minister and Finance Minister was on the table before negotiations began.
David Seymour, leader of the ACT Party, made a public pitch for the job of Deputy Prime Minister earlier on Tuesday. He said the second largest party should get the job.
Luxon poured cold water on that idea, quipping Seymour must have eaten “a lot of Weet-Bix” that morning — a reference to Seymour’s joke about Luxon on Monday.
NZ First’s leader Winston Peters was Deputy Prime Minister while in coalition with Labour and is understood to want the role again.
National would prefer it was held by its own deputy leader, Nicola Willis, but it cannot be seen to be hoarding all of the top jobs. Willis has already been locked in for Finance Minister.
Luxon told reporters he saw Deputy Prime Minister as more of a "ceremonial role" rather than an important role.
NZ First has been said to be interested in the Foreign Affairs, Attorney-General, Regional Economic Development, Energy, and the Māori-Crown relations portfolios.
ACT could want Agriculture, Regulation, Associate Finance, Revenue, Commerce, and Education roles.
Getting the parties to agree on ministerial positions could take some time, but will likely be decided before the end of this week.
49 Comments
Christopher Luxon had not bothered to find out about Winston Peters or David Seymour. May be his Secretary did not produce a position paper on them. Now he is just winging it, on a day to day basis. What little policy positions Luxon has pronounced, I think, are not his own thoughts. But given to him by other functionaries or National big wigs, may be even Key. He has a lot to learn on the job. Especially with Peters and Seymour breathing down his neck for the next 3 years.
For weeks they avoided talk of portfolio rankings and cabinet positions because the quest for sound policy caused them to soar well above all that. Minute they’re to be allocated and it’s like throwing a chip amongst seagulls. Shameless and pathetic…the about to be announced cabinet will be more than usually composed of self interested shonks with no connection or concern for the everyday New Zealander.
Deputy PM isn't ceremonial. When the PM is out of he country or otherwise incapacitated the deputy PM becomes acting PM. That's what Seymour wants.
Having said that, both PM and deputy are only constitutional conventions. You could have several of both positions, or neither.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_New_Zealand#:~:text=I….
Interesting history. And in Maori it's still referred to as the pirimia (Premier)
I think you mean a bunch of PR hacks. Since when did a degree in "communications" equip you to run a country? I fully expect the redundant staff of Stuff to migrate over to running for the Labour/Greens parties in the next election. What else are they going to do?
Well Nicola Willis who is going to run the countries finances appears to be a "communications" expert given her degrees;
She graduated with a first-class honours degree in English literature from Victoria University of Wellington in 2003,[7] and earned a post-graduate diploma in journalism from the University of Canterbury in 2017.[8] She was a member of the Victoria University Debating Society, and competed in international tournaments.
And Mr Seymour doesn't have a lot of real world experience either;
Seymour was born in Palmerston North to a Ngāpuhi mother in 1983.[2] He went to Auckland Grammar School,[3] and the University of Auckland where he graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical & Electronic) and a Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy).[4]
Seymour worked in Canada as a policy analyst for five years for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and the Manning Centre.[5]
all has been good since the election.
rams raids have stopped, dairy owners are not getting robbed every couple of days, potholes have all been fixed, gangs are now under control even inflation is dropping back and fruit and veg is now affortable, healthcare is no longer a problem we have plenty of Gps being trained and plenty of doctors and nurses (no more strikes)
its amazing with a how much better nz has become is such a short space of time.
now all we have to worry about is congestion on our roads
The three amegos
Winston for Foreign Affairs. He has been there before so maybe he doesn't want it again. Give DS a go at deputy.
Another article I posted about DS having an Electrical Engineering background. From vman's post it appears he never worked in that field. Begs the question as to why he ever did that degree in the 1st place.
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