National Party leader and incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, along with ACT leader David Seymour and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters have today released their coalition agreement, describing how the three parties will govern together.
The negotiations for this agreement have been the second-longest in New Zealand political history and have produced a detailed agreement stretching to 30 pages. This briefing will cover the main aspects of the agreement. A full list of the Ministerial portfolios is at the bottom of this briefing.
Key documents
Key roles
- Christopher Luxon will be the next Prime Minister. He becomes the first person to gain the office after only one term in Parliament.
- Winston Peters will be Deputy Prime Minister for the first 18 months of the coming term of Parliament. He will also have the Foreign Affairs portfolio.
- David Seymour will be Deputy Prime Minister for the second 18 months of the coming term of Parliament. He will also be Minister for Regulation.
This is the first time that the DPM role has been split as part of a governing arrangement.
- Nicola Willis will be Minister of Finance. She is only the second woman, and the first in 30 years, to hold the role.
- Brooke van Velden will be Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety.
- Shane Jones will be Minister for Regional Development and Resources.
Cabinet will consist of 14 National MPs, and three from each of ACT and New Zealand First. This is the first three party coalition with each party in Cabinet. There will be eight Ministers outside Cabinet, five from National, two from ACT, and one from New Zealand First. There will be two Parliamentary under-secretaries, one from ACT and one from New Zealand First.
Luxon’s comments
“The Government will manage a strong economy that will ease the cost of living and deliver tax relief, restore law and order, deliver better public services and strengthen democracy.“
“The coalition documents between National and ACT, and National and New Zealand First, provide for both ACT and New Zealand First to support the major elements of National’s policy programme including our 100-day plan, our 100-point economic plan, and our tax and fiscal plans, with some adjustments.”
“The National and ACT agreement provides that the Government will progress a range of ACT initiatives, and these will be supported by New Zealand First. Equally, the National and New Zealand First coalition agreement outlines a range of New Zealand First priorities, which will be supported by ACT.”
Major policies agreed
The parties have agreed to implement National’s eight point commitment card, Fiscal Plan, Tax Plan, 100 day plan, and 100 point economic plan, except where specifically altered or cancelled. They have also agreed to specific ACT and New Zealand First policies. The list of agreed major policies below, therefore, may not include all policies coming from National.
Fiscal/Economic
- Deliver income tax cuts through threshold adjustments and the FamilyBoost childcare rebate
- Continue with National’s policy of 6.5% cuts to ‘departmental outputs’ spending for certain agencies.
- Reduce Core Crown expenditure as a proportion of the overall economy.
- Establish a select committee inquiry into banking competition with broad and deep criteria to focus on competitiveness, customer services, and profitability.
- Explore options to strengthen the powers of the Grocery Commissioner, to improve competitiveness, and to address the lack of a third entrant to remove the market power of a duopoly.
- Increase funding for IRD tax audits
- Rewrite the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003
- The Reserve Bank’s full employment mandate will be removed
- National’s proposal to allow foreign buyers to buy homes priced over $2m with a 30% tax will not go ahead
Luxon says that the loss of the foreign buyers’ tax will not impact the affordability of National’s tax package due to additional savings and contingency money in National’s plan.
Climate Change
- Repeal the Clean Car Discount.
- National’s commitment to supercharge electric vehicle infrastructure with a comprehensive, nationwide network of 10,000 public EV chargers by 2030 will specifically take into account ACT’s concern that there be robust cost benefit analysis to ensure maximum benefit for government investment.
- Restarting offshore exploration and supporting development of hydrogen technology to produce hydrogen from natural gas without co-production of CO2
- Stop the current review of the ETS system
Luxon says the Government will be committed to New Zealand’s emission reductions targets under the Zero Carbon Act.
Transport and infrastructure
- 13 new Roads of National Significant and four major public transport upgrades.
- Cancel Auckland Light Rail and Let’s Get Wellington Moving and reduce expenditure on cycleways
- Work to replace fuel excise taxes with electronic road user charging for all vehicles, starting with electric vehicles.
- A Regional Infrastructure Fund, proposed by New Zealand First, will have $1.2 billion in capital funding
- Establish a National Infrastructure Agency
- Institute long-term city and regional infrastructure deals, allowing PPPs, tolling and value capture rating to fund infrastructure.
Workplace relations
- Repeal the Fair Pay Agreement regime by Christmas 2023.
- Expand 90-day trials to apply to all businesses.
- Commit to moderate increases to the minimum wage every year.
- Strengthen obligations on Jobseeker work ready beneficiaries to find work and make use of sanctions for non-compliance with work obligations, and consider time limits for under 25s.
- Remove median wage requirements from Skilled Migrant Category visas.
Resources and energy
- Assess and respond to the impact that energy prices have on inflation including consumer led institutional improvements.
- Repeal the Natural and Built Environment Act 2023 and the Spatial Planning Act 2023.
- Amend the Resource Management Act 1991
Housing
- Legislate to make the MDRS optional for councils, with the need for councils to ratify any use of MDRS, including existing zones.
- Introduce financial incentives for councils to enable more housing, including considering sharing a portion of GST collected on new residential builds with councils.
- Restore mortgage interest deductibility for rental properties with a 60 per cent deduction in 2023/24, 80 per cent in 2024/25, and 100 per cent in 2025/26.
- Allow landlords to issue a 90 day notice to a tenant to end a periodic tenancy without providing a reason or applying to the Tenancy Tribunal.
Law and Order
- Train 500 more frontline Police over the next two years
- Restore Three Strikes legislation, with amendments to tighten the definition of strike offences and ensure some benefit for pleading guilty.
- Introduce boot camps for serious young offenders, and stronger sentencing
- Re-write the Arms Act
Education
- The Fees Free Tertiary policy will move from the first year of study being free to the third year being free
- Reintroduce partnership schools and to allow state schools to become partnership schools.
- Classes taught an hour each of reading, writing and maths every day.
- Removal and replacement of the gender, sexuality, and relationship-based education guidelines.
- Maintain the Apprenticeship Boost scheme
Health
- Abolish the Māori Health Authority.
- Repeal the Therapeutic Products Act 2023.
- Make pseudoephedrine a non-prescription medicine.
- Full cost benefit analysis must be presented before any binding agreement is made with respect to the Waikato medical school.
Other
- Keep the superannuation age at 65. This reverses National’s policy to increase the age to 67.
- Reverse the recent ban on live animal exports
- Cease implementation of new Significant Natural Areas
Constitutional
- National has agreed to support ACT to “introduce a Treaty Principles Bill”, so it makes to select committee, but it has not agreed to support it all the way to becoming law.
- Commit that in the absence of a referendum, the Government will not change the official name of New Zealand.
- Support to select committee a bill that would enact a binding referendum on a four-year term of parliament.
- Legislate to make English an official language of New Zealand.
- Ensure all public service departments have their primary name in English, except for those specifically related to Māori. Require the public service departments and Crown Entities to communicate primarily in English – except those entities specifically related to Māori.
- Remove co-governance from the delivery of public services.
- A new agency, accountable to the Minister for Regulation, will assess the quality of new and existing regulation. This agency, proposed by ACT, will be funded by disestablishing the Productivity Commission
What happens next?
The Prime Minister and his Ministers will officially be sworn in and receive their Ministerial Warrants from the Governor-General, Cindy Kiro, at Government House next week. Luxon has indicated this will happen on Monday and Cabinet will formally meet for the first time later that day, and several more times in the coming week.
The coalition agreements indicate a 100 Day plan will be agreed and announced. This will presumably include the ‘mini-Budget’ Nicola Willis has promised.
Parliament will resume the week after next. The first opening day of Parliament, the Commission Opening, is purely ceremonial and involves Parliament being summoned by Commissioners (the Chief Justice and two other judges) on behalf of the Governor-General. MPs are then sworn in.
The next day the State Opening of Parliament takes place, where MPs listen to the Speech from the Throne, a speech delivered by the Governor-General outlining the Government’s plans for the coming term of Parliament. This is then debated by Parliament in the 19 hour Address in Reply debate, which includes Luxon’s first speech in Parliament as Prime Minister, new MPs’ maiden speeches, and the first confidence vote in the new Government.
Legislative business may begin the following day, assuming legislation is ready, alongside the Address in Reply. By tradition, Parliament rises on the Wednesday of its last sitting week of the year, after an adjournment debate – the last Wednesday before Christmas this year is the 20th. This means there would be only five ordinary sitting days for legislation before Christmas for the Government to pass its mini-Budget and make good on its commitments to repeal Fair Pay Agreements and the Clean Car Discount before the end of the year. The Government could squeeze more time by putting Parliament into Urgency, having the ceremonial openings of Parliament on non-sitting days, or delaying adjournment.
Full Ministerial list
National Cabinet ministers
Christopher Luxon
Prime Minister
Minister for National Security and Intelligence
Minister Responsible for Ministerial Services
Nicola Willis
Minister of Finance
Minister for the Public Service
Minister for Social Investment
Associate Minister of Climate Change
Chris Bishop
Minister of Housing
Minister for Infrastructure
Minister Responsible for RMA Reform
Minister for Sport and Recreation
Leader of the House
Associate Minister of Finance
Shane Reti
Minister of Health
Minister for Pacific Peoples
Simeon Brown
Minister for Energy
Minister of Local Government
Minister of Transport
Minister for Auckland
Deputy Leader of the House
Erica Stanford
Minister of Education
Minister of Immigration
Paul Goldsmith
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage
Minister of Justice
Minister for State Owned Enterprises
Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations
Louise Upston
Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector
Minister for Social Development and Employment
Minister for Child Poverty Reduction
Judith Collins
Attorney-General
Minister of Defence
Minister for Digitising Government
Minister Responsible for the GCSB
Minister Responsible for the NZSIS
Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology
Minister for Space
Lead Coordination Minister for the Government’s Response to the Royal Commission’s Report into the Terrorist Attack on the Christchurch Mosque.
Mark Mitchell
Minister of Corrections
Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery
Minister of Police
Todd McClay
Minister of Agriculture
Minister of Forestry
Minister for Hunting and Fishing
Minister for Trade
Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs
Tama Potaka
Minister of Conservation
Minister for Māori Crown Relations:
Te Arawhiti
Minister for Māori Development
Minister for Whānau Ora
Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing)
Matt Doocey
Minister for ACC
Minister for Mental Health
Minister for Tourism and Hospitality
Minister for Youth
Associate Minister of Health
Associate Minister of Transport
Melissa Lee
Minister for Economic Development
Minister for Ethnic Communities
Minister for Media and Communications
Associate Minister for ACC
National ministers outside of Cabinet
Simon Watts
Minister of Climate Change
Minister of Revenue
Penny Simmonds
Minister for Disability Issues
Minister for the Environment
Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills
Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment
Chris Penk
Minister for Building and Construction
Minister for Land Information
Minister for Veterans
Associate Minister of Defence
Associate Minister of Immigration
Nicola Grigg
Minister of State for Trade
Minister for Women
Associate Minister of Agriculture (Horticulture)
Andrew Bayly
Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing
Minister of Statistics
ACT Ministers
David Seymour
Deputy Prime Minister (from 31 May 2025)
Minister for Regulation
Associate Minister of Education (Partnership Schools)
Associate Minister of Finance
Associate Minister of Health (Pharmac)
Brooke van Velden
Minister of Internal Affairs
Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety
Nicole McKee
Minister for Courts
Associate Minister of Justice (Firearms)
Andrew Hoggard (outside Cabinet)
Minister for Biosecurity
Minister for Food Safety
Associate Minister of Agriculture (Animal Welfare, Skills)
Associate Minister for the Environment
Karen Chhour (outside Cabinet)
Minister for Children
Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence
Simon Court – Parliamentary Under-Secretary to
Minister for Infrastructure
Minister Responsible for RMA Reform
New Zealand First Ministers
Rt Hon Winston Peters
Deputy Prime Minister (until 31 May 2025)
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Minister for Racing
Hon Shane Jones
Minister for Oceans and Fisheries
Minister for Regional Development
Minister for Resources
Associate Minister of Finance
Associate Minister for Energy
Casey Costello
Minister of Customs
Minister for Seniors Associate Minister of Health
Associate Minister of Immigration
Associate Minister of Police
Mark Patterson (outside Cabinet)
Minister for Rural Communities
Associate Minister of Agriculture
Jenny Marcroft, Parliamentary Under-Secretary to
Minister for Media and Communications