National leader Christopher Luxon touched down at Wellington Airport shortly after 10pm last night saying he would continue late into the night to decide who will fill the role and secure a new government. He said if the final stage coalition talks "take into tomorrow, so be it".
"They’ll be more phone calls this evening, more work this evening and also tomorrow," Luxon said. "We’re going to get this thing done."
"We work hard to do that throughout tonight and tomorrow and hopefully be in good shape from there."
The remarks came as a new poll showed New Zealanders are losing patience with the incoming government. A poll by Talbot-Mills, who also poll for the Labour party, found 66 per cent of voters think that it has taken too long to form a Government. That poll, taken between 17-22 November, shows the number of people who think it is taking too long up six points on the last poll, taken between 10-16 November.
Luxon confirmed the deputy role was one of the last sticking points before the parties can announce their deal and set up the Government.
Yesterday, it was confirmed National deputy leader Nicola Willis was not in the running as deputy prime minister, with her and Luxon saying that was a decision they had made early on.
Luxon said that was because the general practice with coalitions had been for a coalition partner to be the deputy PM.
However, in the past, there has only been one other coalition partner, whereas Luxon has two.
Luxon would not say whether he is considering a measure such as a co-deputy model, or job-sharing with one leader doing half a term each in the job.
"Our conversations on ministerial responsibilities have been actually about using the talent across all three parties," Luxon said.
"You know, there’s amazing skills, abilities and experience in all the talent that sits in all three parties.
"We want to put the right people on the right assignment."
Luxon said he had no regrets about how long negotiations had taken, "but it would feel good too" to have a Government form.
Seymour also arrived in Wellington last night. Peters is expected to arrive today. Both will want to meet with their caucuses ahead of any announcement.
Other MPs who are likely to be senior figures in the next Government have also migrated to the capital, some doing everything they could to get on a flight after the chaos at Wellington Airport following this week’s fog.
Luxon said that almost all of the ministerial positions had been decided on, barring the deputy job.
He is not expected to unveil his new Cabinet when he releases the coalition agreements, although it is possible the portfolios given to NZ First and Act will be set out in their agreements.
Luxon is expected to call his Cabinet ministers and those National MPs who may have lost their portfolios - and their chance of being a minister - as a result of the negotiations.
National is also likely to have an online caucus meeting ahead of the deals being announced, although the caucus does not have to agree to the terms of them. National’s board does need to sign off on the terms but has been kept abreast of the agreements during negotiations and it is likely to be a quick process.
National MPs have not yet been told to travel to Wellington for a caucus meeting and instead are waiting - some nervously - to find out whether they will be ministers or not.
The only confirmed positions ahead of talks were Luxon as prime minister and Willis as finance minister.
Willis said yesterday she was not in the running to be deputy prime minister, telling the Herald it was up to Luxon to decide who his deputy was "and I’ve made it clear to him I don’t have any expectation whatsoever of getting it".
As talks dragged on, a large international economics consultancy stuck the boot into the incoming Government for its tardy formation.
BMI, part of the Fitch Group, one of the big three international ratings agencies, downgraded New Zealand’s score in its political stability index to the lowest score since 2010.
The downgrade to 78.5 out of 100, down from 79.4 out of 100 reflects risks to "policy-making" and the "potential of a snap election".
The accompanying report warned "internal divisions within the coalition could limit or slow policy-formation". The "policy-making process score" which feeds into New Zealand’s overall score dropped from 86.7 to just 83.3.
