National Party leader Christopher Luxon has refused to rule out a coalition government involving the Māori Party but deemed the talks premature.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon and Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi Photo:
The sky-rocketing cost of living is being seen as taking a political toll on Labour, which has slipped behind National in the latest poll.
The Newshub Reid Research poll has Labour dropping into the high 30s, with National nudging into the 40s.
This year is proving a tough one, with the pandemic, a cost of living crisis and the war in Ukraine.
And that's reflected in the government's popularity, a continuation of Labour's slide and National's revival.
Labour has dropped six points to just over 38 percent.
National has jumped nine to 40.5.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon is also up in the preferred prime minister stakes - just below 24-percent, but still behind Jacinda Ardern on about 36.
"It's going to be very very tough for the next two-to-five years." - Christopher Luxon
Luxon told Morning Report the poll showed New Zealanders did not have confidence in the government and Finance Minister Grant Robertson to combat the cost of living crisis.
"We're going to spend $52 billion dollars more this year than we did in 2017 and we're largely through post-Covid," he said.
"He's pushed out the delivery of the surplus for another year and that's because he can't get the spending under control, despite the OECD despite the Reserve Bank governor asking him to do more in that space."
However, Luxon acknowledged the Covid-19 pandemic had contributed heavily to the higher financial outlay.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson told Morning Report the government had done what was necessary in terms of spending in a tough period.
"From our perspective we feel like we got New Zealanders through Covid well, both from a health and an economic perspective, we've got a really good base to build from ... we've got the Budget coming out in May with a big focus on New Zealanders' economic security and making sure that we create good jobs and reduce our emissions.
"I understand we're in a challenging time, even in the tough times though, our job is to get on with supporting New Zealanders and that's what we're doing."
Robertson said the pandemic and global inflationary pressures had created an overall challenging situation.
Meanwhile, Christopher Luxon would not confirm whether National would support the continuation of the Fees Free scheme that means the first year of University is free.
National would address the issue in the context of a comprehensive package on education policy, he said.
However, he said "everything's on the table" when it comes to cutting spending.
"Our economy is really struggling and it's going to be very very tough for the next two to five years I would suspect, we are going to need to be really clear about having policies that will actually transform and help New Zealand get to higher incomes and wages."
The latest Newshub-Reid political poll shows the Māori Party is up a fraction, at 2.5 percent, a 0.5 increase.
The latest poll could mean the Māori Party would decide who would run the country.
Luxon refused to be drawn on whether National would consider forming a coalition government including the Māori Party.
He said conversations around aligning with the party, who are in kingmaker position, were premature.
"Jury still out" on Luxon
"We're mature about where we're heading politically" - Rawiri Waititi
Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi told Morning Report a coalition would only work with ACT if that party could have an honest discussion about the Treaty of Waitangi.
"We're mature about where we're heading politically for our people... I think they're (ACT) mature enough to be able to see that there's a contract that needs to be honoured.
"If they come to the table and have mature and honest discussion about what that might look like for a Te Tiriti centred Aotearoa then we'd have those discussions."
Waititi said ACT's current stance on the issue showed this was not their intention.
"They believe that New Zealanders should be divided into two types of people" - David Seymour
ACT leader David Seymour told Midday Report he would not support the Māori Party's position on Te Tiriti o Waitangi in any coalition talks next year.
Seymour said Waititi's proposed Te Tiriti-centric future future would be divisive.
"They believe that New Zealanders should be divided into two types of people, Tangata Whenua here by right and Tangata Tiriti here by the grace of the treaty.
"I'm here to make ACT's position and say to people look if you like the idea of New Zealand being divided along their lines then that's where we're going, if you don't like that idea it's essential to support ACT."
Meanwhile, Rawiri Waititi said the jury was still out on the prospect of working with Christopher Luxon.
"If they can start to re-align to catering to a more Te Tiriti-centric Aotearoa... then we can have those discussions but at this particular time we're not hearing that."
Waititi said collaboration would not require a "change of course" but rather a "realignment" of their approach to Māori issues.
"There was strong (Māori) support for National once upon a time, if there is a realignment to those days to the fundamental part of politics where there's more equal and equitable decision making... Te Tiriti o Waitangi allows us to create a system that is fair, that is just, that is equitable for all."
He said the decision on who the Māori Party would align themselves with was not solely up to himself and his fellow co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
Waititi said Labour's Māori policies were a step in the right direction but they may not go far enough.