National leader Christopher Luxon is set to meet Winston Peters this afternoon to discuss ministerial positions, which he expects to be done quite quickly.
Act and NZ First will now be looking at the respective deals National has signed with them. Luxon doesn’t believe there will be major issues through that process.
Despite what he called significant progress, Luxon wouldn’t say whether it was likely a government could be formed by the end of the week.
Luxon told reporters: “We’ve achieved, I think, a significant milestone overnight and that is that we have actually closed down and agreed policy programmes with both Act and also with New Zealand First.
“That’s a major achievement.”
Luxon said he would continue conversations to make sure Act and NZ First could also both sign on to each party’s policy programmes and agendas “that we’ve agreed with them individually”.
Luxon said the negotiations would “kick on” and move to ministerial responsibilities and Cabinet.
”I don’t think that needs to take a long time. We’re going to work very quickly through it as fast as we possibly can.
”There is very good intention from all three party leaders to resolve this as quickly as possible.”
Luxon said the negotiations had included going “through every line item of all three parties’ manifestos” and working through all the policy positions and “the differences and different mechanics for achieving the same or different goals”.
”We’ve done the policy work first and foremost before we’ve had any conversation around Cabinet positions and we’ll now kick that off.”
Luxon said he was “very relieved” to reach this point in the negotiations.
”I really do appreciate everybody’s patience with the process, but I do believe it will actually make for a much stronger government.”
Luxon said he wasn’t aware of any concern expressed by Act or NZ First about the deals that had been agreed to, but didn’t “expect that to be a major”.
He still wouldn’t offer a potential date when the next Government might be confirmed.
“I can just tell you, it just got a lot simpler, it’s getting a lot closer.
Luxon said all parties had had to make trade-offs, which would be revealed when the final announcement was made.
“But from our point of view, I think all parties are getting the major parts of their agenda away.”
One of Act’s key policy promises was a referendum on the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, something National considered “divisive”.
Asked whether the referendum had been accepted by National, Luxon first referenced the trade-offs made by the parties. He later said he wouldn’t discuss specific policies.
Luxon confirmed National would deliver tax cuts but refused to say whether the proposed foreign buyers’ tax had survived negotiations.
He believed the process, lasting more than five weeks since election day, had been done quickly given he had sought agreement between all three parties.
“We actually want NZ First and Act to be able to support each other’s programmes when we get to government.
“We have a very, very big work programme, a very clear agenda laid out for the next three years.”
