The deal, which has not been released yet, will be signed by the parties at Parliament this morning and then made public.
A jubilant prime minister-designate, Christopher Luxon, would give nothing away about the deal, including who has been given the role of deputy prime minister, which was one of the final sticking points in negotiations.
‘‘All of that will be revealed tomorrow,’’ Mr Luxon said yesterday.
‘‘I won’t get into any of that until the deal has been ratified by the respective parties,’’ he said, adding he was ‘‘100%’’ confident the deals would be ratified by the parties’ respective boards.
Act’s board had already been consulted on a deal as required under that party’s constitution. National’s board had signed off the deal as of late afternoon yesterday, leaving only NZ First.
Mr Luxon promised to announce the shape of his Cabinet later today, after briefing MPs.
He called the Governor-General, Dame Cindy Kiro, yesterday to say he was on the verge of announcing the deal, and was set to call her again last night after the parties’ respective boards had ratified the deal.
Mr Luxon said he wanted to have a swearing-in ceremony for ministers on Monday.
Rehearsals for the state opening of Parliament took place there yesterday. Mr Luxon said he wanted Parliament open by December 5, allowing three weeks of sitting time before the House rises for Christmas.
Act leader David Seymour told the Herald the Government would announce a 100-day plan shortly after the announcement of the coalition deal. Mr Seymour hinted some of this would include repealing legislation, potentially under urgency.
‘‘There may well be some things where the existence of legislation that we no longer want to exist and that is costing a large amount of money and therefore, it actually requires urgency to stop that waste,’’ Mr Seymour said.
National had promised to repeal the Government’s RMA reforms by Christmas and revert to the old system. It also wants the Clean Car fee or ‘‘ute tax’’ gone by the end of the year.
Mr Luxon defended the length of negotiations, the longest bar one since the advent of MMP in 1996, saying the deals were detailed enough to justify the length of time spent negotiating them.
‘‘I’m really proud of the negotiations . . . When you see the deals tomorrow. . . you will understand how comprehensive they are, we cover a tremendous amount of policy.
‘‘I’ll take as long as it takes. It’s been important for me to go through this in a really disciplined way,’’ he said.
