New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has said that Kiwi voters will decide what the government looks like post-election, in response to National leader Christopher Luxon saying he would be open to working with Peters.
In a video posted to social media today, Luxon said: "My strong preference is to form a strong and stable two party coalition government between National and ACT.
"However, if New Zealand First is returned to Parliament, and I need to pick up the phone to Mr Peters to keep Labour and the Coalition of Chaos out, I will make that call."
Peters responded to Luxon's announcement this morning on Breakfast.
It comes after the party's leader has previously refused to say whether he would cut a deal with Winston Peters or not.
"I don't know why we're running this stuff," he said. "It's not about photo opportunities and speculation.
"Voters will decide this issue, the voter's our master here. Politicians are the servants.
"Why can't people get that clear in their heads?"
Asked which way the party's supporters would want NZ First to go, Peters said that would be determined after the election.
However, he said New Zealand's had "chaos" from the Government since 2020. Peters was deputy prime minister in the Labour-led government from 2017 to 2020.
"You have to work with people that you may have had differences with in the past," Peters said.
"There's a bigger responsibility. If you don't understand that, you should not be in politics.
"The voters are the master here... and yet they've been sidelined in a cacophony of speculation."
The NZ First leader was tight-lipped on whether he would have any bottom lines for an agreement after the election.
National-ACT coalition 'our top preference' - van Velden
The ACT Party's deputy leader stressed that "no-one has voted yet" after National said it would work with NZ First.
The ACT Party's deputy leader Brooke van Velden said this morning that her party would prefer a two-party coalition with National.
"The question really comes down to who you can trust," she said.
Van Velden added she didn't hear a "straight answer" from Peters on who he would work with.
"We would like to work as a strong, stable two-party coalition with the National Party," she said. "But of course, we don't know what the election results will be on the day, so we will have to make a decision based on [that]."
ACT and NZ First have clashed in the election lead-up.
ACT Party leader David Seymour has said he won't work with NZ First after this year's general election.
Seymour took aim at Peters: "He can't work with anybody."
In response, Peters refused to say Seymour's name during a campaign stop in Auckland's Epsom, Seymour's electorate.
"We'll work with the cards that are dealt," van Velden said, adding "the voters have not yet voted".
Speaking on Breakfast after van Velden's comments, Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said: "Everyone's going to ring everybody if that's going to get them in.
"I have no doubt that on the 14 [of October, election day] or 15th there will be phone calls all over the place.
"We have to focus on inter-generational accountability, not the triennial transaction relationships that we see going on now.
"Our message to our people and our voters is, just ignore the blue and red chaos that's going on at the moment."
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