National leader Christopher Luxon has hit back - with humour - at a jab ACT leader David Seymour made yesterday.
It followed Luxon's announcement yesterday policy discussions had concluded and coalition negotiations had moved on to ministerial responsibilities.
In response Seymour had said he suspected Luxon had got ahead of himself, having had "too many Weet-Bix" that morning.
Today, in an interview with media, Seymour said he believed the second-biggest party in government had a good case for securing the deputy prime minister role.
ACT leader David Seymour says he expects the second biggest party in the new parliament would have a strong case to secure the role of deputy prime minister. (Source: 1News)
In response to that, this afternoon Luxon turned Seymour's prod back on him.
"[Seymour] probably got out and ate a lot of Weet-Bix this morning I'd just say.
"That's great because Weet-Bix powers this nation and it's a great product, by the way.
"I do all my conversations in the room, as you have observed, and when I say I do something that way, that's how we do it."
Under the Cabinet Manual, no minister - which includes the prime minister - "should endorse in any media any product or service" - but this did not apply to Luxon yet as he has not yet been sworn in as prime minister.
Luxon said the deputy prime minister position was "largely a ceremonial role" which existed to "fill in for when I'm incapacitated or away or not in the House".
He announced today - again, as he did yesterday - that the only outstanding coalition talk issue was ministerial responsibilities, confirming all three parties had agreed on policy issues.
Also remaining was "minor admin stuff to tidy up in the documents", he said.
"We've come such a long way.
"We've got three parties all agreeing with each other's policy programmes and we've now agreed how we're going to operate in Cabinet and how we're going to work together."
He said while ministerial roles were important he was aware people wanted the parties to move through it quickly and form a government.
"It will take as long as it takes ... there is massive urgency from my side."
Luxon wouldn't confirm if arrangements would be a coalition or something else - such as confidence and supply - but said "irrespective of format ... all three parties have got to work together".
"There are pros and cons of lots of different arrangements but it's actually important that we get the stability that we want to see."
SHARE ME