On the Tiles: After the campaign - coalition negotiations, potential Cabinet makeup

National leader Christopher Luxon, Act leader David Seymour and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters. Photos / NZME

After weeks of intense campaigning by both sides of the political aisle, the post-election period has been marked by relative radio silence.

As parties await the release of the final vote count - including special votes - next week, the country has heard little from National, Act or NZ First as they enter early-stage negotiations about the shape of the next Government.

It is believed negotiations are taking place in Auckland, where incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Act Party leader David Seymour are based, and NZ First leader Winston Peters owns a house. Peters hosted Luxon for a dinner earlier this week.

And while little has leaked about negotiations at this stage, Peters did go public this week with a series of tweets accusing former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern and her office of a “lack of transparency” over the Christchurch terror attacks, and doubled down after people pointed out his error.

In this week’s episode of On the Tiles, host Thomas Coughlan said the comments give Luxon more rationale for his decision to move negotiations to Auckland, and “consciously uncouple” Peters from the Wellington-based Press Gallery.

“It’s quite helpful to have shifted negotiations to Auckland under the pretext that all three of them have a base there, because keeping Winston out of the public eye for as long as possible while these negotiations transpire makes the Government look a bit more stable than it currently is.

“I have it fairly well informed that no one was that happy with the way Winston Peters looked on television walking through Wellington Airport last week. He seemed petulant and grumpy. The whole thing looked like a bit of a circus. That’s not the image of stability.”

Elsewhere on this episode, Coughlan and Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls discuss the high and lowlights of the campaign, and speculate about what Cabinet positions could go where once the negotiations are settled. Plus, they try to make sense of a cryptic text Peters sent Coughlan.

Listen to the full episode of the On the Tiles podcast for more

On the Tiles is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are available on Fridays.