Closing in on deal to form next Govt

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Negotiations between the three parties trying to reach agreement to form the next Government have progressed well in the latter half of this week, from soundings given by their respective leaders. There is a good chance the trickiest final parts could be locked in this weekend, ready for an announcement on Monday.

Not only would this deliver a new National-led Government in relatively short order since official results were released last Friday — boding well for a three-way coalition keen to “crack on” with the changes it was voted in to deliver — but it would allow National leader Christopher Luxon time to be sworn in as Prime Minister on Tuesday then jet off with his Foreign Minister to attend the Apec summit hosted by US President Joe Biden in San Fransisco.

With smart money on NZ First leader Winston Peters being keen to reprise the foreign affairs role he held in 2005-2008 and 2017-2020, and Peters and his negotiating team holding the trump card in negotiations — the balance of power, without which National and its preferred coalition partner Act would not be able to govern — there is added impetus to wrap this all up by Sunday night.

The focus for National this week has been negotiating with NZ First, which it had been hoping it would not need to form a government. Voters had other ideas, though, with National and Act’s slim majority on election night evaporating after special votes were counted.

Act’s David Seymour told RNZ on Monday they were close to reaching a draft agreement with National, having used the three weeks before official results were released to nut out their areas of agreement and disagreement.

After revelations last weekend of NZ First not responding to Act’s attempts to make contact since the election, they met three times this week — their chiefs of staff on Wednesday, then the two leaders spoke directly on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Yesterday Seymour emerged from a 10-minute meeting with Peters, saying he was “very happy” and had got “a lot of useful things done in a short space of time”.

The scene seems set for the negotiating teams of the three parties to now come together today with the aim of making a final deal in time to allow for consultation with their respective caucuses and boards tomorrow.

Of course, while the desire to get to Apec will be a powerful motivator, it is easy to imagine roadblocks emerging at the pointy end of negotiations  that take time to traverse. All parties have said that reaching the right agreement, which secures change they all want and that much talked about “strong and stable government” for the next three years, is their main focus.