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Welcome to the Politics Briefing. Events of the past week show why Christopher Luxon should strongly press thecase for his National Party deputy, Nicola Willis, to become his Deputy Prime Minister.
NZ First leader Winston Peters and Act leader David Seymour might both have a claim to the position after the final results are released in a week, but both would be problematic for quite different reasons.
Peters, who showed relative constraint, discipline and good humour throughout his election campaign, has snapped. His tweet on Wednesday night suggesting the inquest into the 2019 mosque massacre had revealed secrets previously withheld by Jacinda Ardern was pure conspiracy. And instead of accepting he was wrong when presented with the evidence, he became more inventive in his conspiracy. That is the big worry - less the error itself, but the inability and unwillingness to recover from it.
Incidentally, Peters’ tweet was posted about 7pm on Wednesday night, just a short time before Luxon and his wife, Amanda, arrived at the home of Peters and his partner, Jan Trotman, for dinner, and the follow-up tweet came just after 11pm.
Rod Emmerson's cartoon - October 27.
Seymour would be less of a worry for Luxon as deputy PM, but his free-wheeling comments in the media this week suggest that he may be too free a political spirit to speak for the Government rather than for Act.
He is clearly not following Luxon’s example of steering clear of any policy discussion. He has been talking about the economy, the Reserve Bank and tax policy - not Act’s tax policy, but National’s. He suggested that National’s promise of tax cuts might not happen for another three years, which is not exactly the way to win friends.
Before the election, Luxon talked about National’s preferred governing arrangement as being a two-way coalition with Act. But Seymour and Peters could benefit from the freedom of being support partners outside of Cabinet where their individualism would be less problematic.
Willis has been an able deputy to Luxon in Opposition and could certainly make a seamless shift to Deputy PM in Government.
There has been a certain degree of grumpiness in the media for Luxon misrepresenting previous coalition talks as having included regular updates on the state of the negotiations. This has never been the case.
But doing his relationship-building and pre-coalition maneuvers in Auckland is different and not a bad idea. Luxon himself is not making public appearances every day, but often enough to remind people he is preparing to take office. No doubt he will be on hand on Sunday to celebrate success if the All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup final.
Quote unquote
“You’ve got to read very carefully what National have said on their pledge card, that the average earner will receive $100 per household per fortnight without specifying the time - so that could be in the 2026-27 financial year” - Act’s David Seymour talking tax this week (The Working Group podcast).
“Gang members have to wake up in the morning and they have to apply foundation to cover offensive tattoos that they have put on their faces” - National’s Mark Mitchell explains that what happens in Australia could happen in New Zealand too after the incoming Government moves to ban gang patches in public (RNZ).
Micro quiz
Who was National’s most recent agriculture spokesman? (Answer below.)
Brickbat
Goes to Winston Peters. No contest. It’s not forgetting something he once knew; it’s refusing to put it right.
Christopher Luxon has given the green light for outgoing Sports Minister Grant Robertson to go to Paris as the Government's representative at the Rugby World Cup final. Photo / George Heard
To Christopher Luxon for approving outgoing Sports Minister Grant Robertson going to Paris as the Government representative at the RWC final. And let’s not forget, Luxon mentioned the possibility of Sir Fozzie during the campaign.
Audrey Young is the New Zealand Herald’s senior political correspondent. She was named Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards in 2023, 2020 and 2018.
For more political news and views, listen to On the Tiles, the Herald’s politics podcast.
