Political leaders engaged in coalition talks may return to Wellington when the time comes to announce a new government, 1News Senior Political Reporter Benedict Collins told Q+A this morning.
Speaking from Parliament, Collins said he expects National, ACT and New Zealand First will leave Auckland to make the announcement at Parliament, given the obvious significance of the location.
"This is the capital and this is the Parliament, I'd expect to see them back here pretty much once they've done that deal to launch the government and get things rolling in Parliament again," he said.
More meetings are expected to happen today, though there is no clear timeframe for when a deal or multiple deals may be formed.
1News understands National will be bargaining by phone this morning, and Prime Minister-elect Christopher Luxon and his party will not be at the Cordis Hotel, where he has been based the last couple of days.
1News also understands that ACT and New Zealand First met in-person this morning, respective leaders David Seymour and Winston Peters speaking directly.
ACT said that there are still "a couple of things to iron out" and it was continuing to meet with National and Zealand First.
ACT has worked with National by phone for the last two days.
Collins said Luxon and Seymour did not meet yesterday, suggesting most of the remaining loose ends may lie between National and New Zealand First.
"It looks like [National and ACT have] squared away that side, it's really just National and New Zealand First working on that final part of the deal," he said.
Collins had been stationed outside the hotels where negotiations were taking place throughout the past week, telling Q+A it was not clear how fast talks were progressing.
"On Thursday, Christopher Luxon was coming out, he was telling us they were now in the 'final stages' of this deal, David Seymour was saying they were now 'on the cusp' of a deal.
"On Friday they held more meetings and came out and said they were 'making great progress', and then on Saturday they came out and said they're in the 'last stages' of cutting a deal.
"We know they're meeting again today, [but] not sure of how much progress they're making here."
Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis arrived in a taxi at Christopher Luxon's Auckland home this morning.
Neither would comment when asked if they could say what is happening today.
Q+A is Public Interest Journalism funded by NZ On Air
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