New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has defended missing a self-imposed deadline to announce a decision on post-election negotiations, but has promised to make an announcement today. Below is an outline of what he has said since the election.
• August: Peters is asked in an interview with Newsroom about
a comment he made in 2005, when he told an audience NZ First would make its post-election decision public by the day the writs are returned, which is three weeks from election day.
He told Newsroom he would take the same approach to this year's election: "There's no reason for it not to be similar thinking at this point...I can tell you that looks exactly sort of the position we will be in."
• On election night: "The writs aren't in until the 12th of October, and nothing can change until that time. We'll have a decision well before that, so we invite you to be patient."
• September 27: Peters holds a press conference and is asked if intended to stick to the October 12 deadline: "What I said what I'm going to do is precisely what I'm going to do. And you will know that date is Thursday the 12th of October. It so happens that the 7th is a Saturday. But we have got all that in train. We have been around here a long time. We have a rough idea of what we are going to do. Maybe not as highly tuned or intelligent as you people. But we do know what we are going to do."
