KEY POINTS:
Victorious National Party leader and Prime Minister-elect John Key arrived just before midnight to scenes of wild celebrations among supporters at Auckland's Sky City last night.
Flanked by wife Bronagh, Key was escorted through the packed crowd by a phalanx of security and a team of Indian drummers and dancers. He joined his children, party president Judith Kirk and chairman Steven Joyce on stage.
"What a man," roared one supporter. "Go John, go!"
"I can't tell you how good it feels to be here," Key told the boisterous crowd. "New Zealand has spoken in their hundreds of thousand. Across the country they have voted for change."
He offered special thanks to National's long term supporters. "Some of you have stuck with National for nine long years. Your patience has been rewarded."
Key was gracious to retiring Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark, thanking her for her contribution to the country.
Earlier, Joyce had indicated that Key might still seek arrangements with parties other than his expected allies of Act and United Future. That will give the Maori Party hope.
National desperately needed victory to end their wilderness years, marked by infighting and ideological battles. National MPs are in a hurry to make up for lost time.
Key has already published an action plan for the party's first 100 days in office. "National is ready to deliver a fresh approach. That will start almost straight away."
North Shore MP Wayne Mapp, eyeing the defence portfolio, said some things on the plan could be enacted immediately, including "quite a lot of the justice stuff". What about opening the books on hospital waiting lists? "Heck, yes. How long does it take to call in a few CEOs?"
Key is keen to move quickly to start imposing National's vision for the country, particularly on economic issues. He wants to push through the party's tax package before Christmas, so the promised tax cuts can be implemented on April 1. He will also want to look at the Government's books to gauge the state of the economy and the effects of the economic crisis.
The so-called "razor gang" could also be busy in the next few weeks, going through Government spending.
Nelson MP Nick Smith has no illusions about the challenge they now face. "There is some nervousness about what the Treasury will tell us tomorrow. My instinct is it will be bad. We have a clear sense of where we are going, but there is a sense of trepidation. It's going to be hard work."
Key will also have to organise his cabinet. Some close collaborators, like Bill English and Gerry Brownlee, have already staked out their positions. Rising star Steven Joyce is tipped for the new infrastructure portfolio and newcomer Hekia Parata has been spoken of as a possible Maori Affairs minister.
Some old faces like Lockwood Smith and Maurice Williamson, who blotted their copybooks during the campaign with gaffes on race issues and road tolls, may not feel so secure.
But Key may be benevolent in victory, at least for the first few months, if only to avoid the acrimony of the past.
Nick Smith sees the victory as a culmination of nine years of sometimes "incredibly divisive" trial and error for the party.
Smith traces the journey back to 1998 when Jenny Shipley as leader tried to "defy history" by launching a massive process of rejuvenation, resulting in an election defeat in 1999. "A strategic mistake was made," said Smith.
National got "absolutely dorked" again in 2002 under Bill English. "But the one good thing about 2002 was it gave the National caucus a good clear-out." The party moved to the right under Don Brash and was narrowly defeated again in 2005. "05 was more dramatic but more risky," said Smith. "It was a two-edged sword; 2008 had to be absolutely on-message and disciplined."
Smith describes Key and English as a "lethal team", who have resolved the traditional National tensions between city and country, the business world and the rural heartland.
He says this National Government is not infused with radical reforming zeal, but will be moderate - "more in the mould of Keith Holyoake".
In comparison to veteran Smith, newcomer Hekia Parata, who won the Mana seat, and is touted as the next Maori Affairs Minister, actually deserted the party in disgust in 2004 after Don Brash's controversial Orewa speech. Now she's back.
"I did leave the party, but I came back because of John Key and his vision. It's one I absolutely share."
Parata said it was a "huge opportunity" for people like her, who have run their own businesses, to lend their expertise and experience to the Government.
"It's not an academic exercise for us. We understand what the difficulties and challenges are in these economic times."
Mapp said the long years in opposition had not been wasted. "We have done a lot of thinking. You have to learn lessons in opposition and you have to think hard about it. Until you understand why you lost in the first place you can't get re-elected."
National MP for Northland John Carter said there was no question in his mind that the party was ready for government. "We're well prepared, we've got a great leader with a great team behind him."
Carter said National's ranks were comprised of a mixture of people, with experience in government and opposition. "We've got a whole lot of fresh ideas. This is the best prepared caucus for a long time. We've learned from the mistakes made by others and the mistakes we have made, so we won't get ambushed."
He admitted National was taking power in a difficult economic environment. National list MP Pansy Wong said she was excited by the challenge ahead: "Obviously the party has a great programme, an action plan. We want to be able to carry out that action plan to weather the economic crisis."
Wong said she believed Labour had "wasted nine years of golden opportunities".
"We know what the challenge will be and we are determined ..."
She said it was obvious from the diversity of candidates that the National party had changed.
"We have people from a lot more ethnic backgrounds and more younger people coming in. But representation is beyond ethnicity. I would love to think that we as a country have fair-minded people who choose candidates based on their commitment and personality rather than their ethnic background."
Katherine Rich was a National stalwart throughout their years in opposition, before standing down earlier this year.
Asked what it meant for the party to finally achieve power she said: "Quite simply it means they are in government and they can start to effect the changes they want to see.
"I think the party is ready for government now, they are very disciplined and they have a legislative programme ready to go.
"This National is a true National Party, centre-right, not pretending to be the Act Party. It has learned to work with MMP, it doesn't have a first-past-the-post mentality."
Rich expected to see many of National's planned bills put to Parliament before year's end. "It's a good way of hitting the ground running."
