Cam Slater: Of Course He Will, He Won’t Have Any Choice Either

The media luvvies are starting to act all unhinged now that they’ve realised that Winston Peters is back. They are hollering for Christopher Luxon to say whether or not he will work with Winston Peters. So far the calls are falling on deaf ears as the media try to manipulate a result they want, and that is seeing Winston frozen out by everyone.

The results are in – voters want the major parties to be upfront with who they will – and won’t – work with after the election.

While voters are relatively clear on where Labour stands, the thundering question remains – will National work with New Zealand First?

The pressure is now mounting on Christopher Luxon to make that clear to voters, with the second 1News Verian poll in a row to show comeback king Winston Peters appears on-track to make yet another return to Parliament.

Today’s poll also asked 1001 eligible voters if political parties should be upfront about coalition agreements prior to the election.

Of those polled, 82% said yes, 10% said no and 8% didn’t know or refused to answer.

Women aged 18 to 54 were more likely to say yes, as were people with a household income between about $70,000 and $100,000.

Men aged 55 and older and all aged 70 and over were more likely to say no.

1News

Pressure? Mounting? Really?

The only pressure is coming from the Media Party.

Christopher Luxon will have had advice from his pollsters that a one-seat majority can evaporate in an instant, and the last three weeks of polling will usually see the two major parties drop back a bit.

On current polling a National/Act government is tenuous and there is every likelihood that they will need NZ First to give them a good buffer.

That’s why you are starting to see David Seymour dial back his anti-Winston rhetoric, and Christopher Luxon saying not much at all.

The only thing certain is that Winston Peters has emphatically said he will not be entering into a coalition or anything with the Labour Party. He refuses to have anything to do with racists and liars, something he accuses Labour of being.

With three weeks to go there will be more changes. I expect National to fall short of 40%, and Act to slide back a bit too. All that means that NZ First is going to be in the mix whether the media or David Seymour like it or not.

Cam Slater is a New Zealand-based blogger, best known for his role in Dirty Politics and publishing the Whale Oil Beef Hooked blog, which operated from 2005 until it closed in 2019. Cam blogs regularly on the BFD - where this article was sourced.