'You can't be 100% sure': Luxon casts doubt on Peters’ loyalty to National post election

The Prime Minister says while he trusts Winston Peters as a coalition partner he can’t be certain of the NZ First leader’s loyalty after the upcoming election.

“He’s gone 50% of the time with Labour, 50% of the time with us,” PM Christopher Luxon told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast.

“As to what goes through his mind – as to how he selects – I’m just looking at history and saying, you know, you can’t be 100% sure, can you?”

Luxon echoed the message of National’s campaign chair Simeon Brown at the party’s conference, warning a strategic party vote for NZ First could backfire if they went with Labour.

Peters has said his party “won’t do a deal with Labour”, as “nothing has changed” since his 2022 promise to rule out the left-wing party.

“He’s made a very specific statement that he’s not going to … We’ll take him at his word,” he said. “But … if you really want to make sure you do it right, just party vote National.”

Luxon also acknowledged the Government “made a mistake” with its wording of the Conservation Amendment Bill, after Conservation Minister Tama Potaka announced he had scrapped controversial clauses amid a public outcry.

He said the removal of the disposal and exchange clauses from the bill followed a “pretty clear message from the public”.

“We ended up with a bill that didn’t reflect the intentions of what we were saying. People thought we were going to sell off national parks and iconic stuff. It’s not like that at all.”

But Luxon insisted Potaka was doing “a really good job” and on the whole the bill was a good one.

“Obviously, what we intended was, DoC ends up inheriting a whole bunch of crap land from time to time … It ends up in the DoC estate [and] of course it’s got no material value whatsoever.

“So the idea was to dispose of that stuff so you can actually get revenue in and spend it in other parts of the DoC estate.”

However, the Government had gotten the language wrong, meaning that “rightly or wrongly”, the public didn’t have confidence in the bill.

Asked if that showed bad governance, Luxon said “we made a mistake”.

“It’s as simple as that and I don’t get too hung up on the fact we admit them and if we make them, we correct them.”

Luxon kicked off the week with his regular media rounds as electioneering ramped up, with Labour and Act kicking off their official campaigns over the weekend.

It came as the left bloc continued to climb in the polls, while Opportunity – formerly TOP – was polling above 4%, raising questions around where the party would fit in any negotiations if it made it into Parliament.

National’s newest election promise – low-interest loans to help property owners install solar – has been largely welcomed by other parties.

The “home energy fund” announced last Thursday would let property owners secure loans against their property to be paid off through their rates over 10 years. Installation of rooftop solar and batteries, heat pumps, insulation and efficient electric appliances would all be covered.

Planning rules would also be removed to make installation simpler, Local Government and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts said.

Last week also saw a backdown from National over its Conservation Amendment Bill, with the minister, Tama Potaka, scrapping controversial clauses which would have allowed land to be exchanged or disposed of following a public outcry.

Labour held its two-day annual conference in Wellington on the weekend, with members reportedly optimistic about the party’s chances in November following polls showing the left bloc could win.

Core messaging focused on a need for Kiwis to get a “fair go” and rhetoric about New Zealand being broken.

The party also announced it would expand the apprenticeship subsidy for employers to two years and widen eligibility, if reelected.

National’s coalition partner, Act, also kicked off its campaign in Auckland, announcing Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee would replace outgoing MP Brooke van Velden as deputy leader.

A small group of pro-Palestinian protesters outside managed to make themselves heard during the 90-minute rally.

Last week also saw revelations of two complaints from women making historic sexual allegations against Police Commissioner Richard Chambers.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell said he had confidence in his top cop, who was “an outstanding Police Commissioner”.

Mitchell’s office confirmed he had received a complaint last November and another in February this year.

Chambers has strongly rejected the claims, and said in a message to staff he had been advised he did not need to stand down during the investigation, which is still underway.