The incoming prime minister has visited his old primary school in Auckland’s Cockle Bay, while still refusing to comment on ongoing negotiations between National, Act and New Zealand First.

Christopher Luxon was welcomed to the primary school, which is in his Botany electorate, with a waiata and a kapa haka performance from the young students. He then toured several of the classrooms and looked at an exhibition of art. “This was a very special place and I loved school, I had amazing teachers, great headmaster… it was a great place,” he told reporters as he arrived.

The tour was led by a group of “student ambassadors”, a couple of whom Luxon claimed to remember from a previous visit. The National leader was mobbed by dozens of students and asked to sign autographs.

In one classroom of year one students, Luxon knelt down on the floor and helped read a book. “Is this the biggest book you’ve read so far,” he asked a student.

Fronting for media after the visit, Luxon said being at the school brought back a few memories for him. “I’ve visited a lot of schools over the last year and a half… it’s special to come back to your old school. I love this place.”

Moving onto politics, Luxon told The Spinoff that spending the day in his electorate was a chance to “reconnect” following the campaign trail – and it wasn’t a victory tour. “It’s a chance to catch up with what’s happening in the electorate… acknowledging I’ve been around the country a lot during the campaign and probably haven’t spent as much time in Botany as I would like.”

Luxon reiterated his intention to have a “world class education system” and doubled down on his campaign pledge to ban phones in schools and focus on reading, writing and maths. “We want to move quickly because we need to turn the country around,” he said.

On coalition negotiations, Luxon remained coy as to whether any discussions with Act and New Zealand First would be happening while he was out of Wellington. He wouldn’t even confirm whether or not he had seen Winston Peters in person after the New Zealand First leader arrived in the capital yesterday.

The construction contract for Wellington’s Golden Mile is “literally days away” from being signed, Wellington mayor Tory Whanau says.

National Party transport spokesperson and likely minister Simeon Brown promised during the election campaign to scrap the project if the contract remained unsigned.

Whanau said the work would be locked in before the new government could be formed. “He won’t be able to cancel it. It’ll be well signed by the time they’re sworn in, as it should be”.

“The Golden Mile has been voted through, it has followed democratic processes, and would be irresponsible to unwind it at this point.”

Initial minor works began before the election, but the council was still negotiating for the major construction contract.

The project includes major pedestrian improvements along the 2.43km stretch, with new trees and green spaces, and bus lanes running directly along the city’s central spine. Private vehicles will be mostly restricted from entering the area. Loading vehicles will still be allowed, and cars will be able to access the nightlife hub of Courtenay Place after 7pm and before 7am.

Part of the Let’s Get Wellington Moving programme, the Golden Mile improvements are estimated to cost $139 million, and will be funded 51% by Waka Kotahi with the remaining 49% from the council.

Thanks to the generous support of The Spinoff Members, we were able to cover this election more expansively than ever before with writers reporting from Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, New Plymouth, Wairarapa, Gisborne, Auckland and Northland. With the results in, we will continue to interrogate and report on those who lead this country with rigour, range and humour.

If you value The Spinoff’s political coverage, now is a great time to join the thousands of people who support The Spinoff by becoming a member or making a donation.

– Madeleine Chapman, The Spinoff editor

The Electoral Commission has confirmed the election worker facing a complaint over alleged inappropriate behaviour is no longer in their role with the entity.

The Spinoff reported this morning that a polling booth worker reportedly contacted a voter on social media after helping them to enrol. The commission clarified this was during the advance voting period and said a complaint was laid. “As soon as we were made aware of the complaint, we addressed the matter and took appropriate action,” a spokesperson for the commission said.

In a further statement this morning, the spokesperson said that while this was an employment matter, they could confirm “the employee is no longer engaged by the commission for casual work”.

Read the full story here

Incoming prime minister Christopher Luxon is spending part of the day in Auckland, thanking voters in his Botany electorate for throwing their support behind him.

In what could be an early launch to his 2026 election bid, Luxon will visit local businesses and a school later this afternoon – moves that wouldn’t be out of place during a campaign.

It’s interesting timing given Luxon has been in negotiations with Act and New Zealand First this week, while also welcoming more than 20 new National Party MPs to parliament.

There was some speculation on Newshub last night that negotiations could shift to Auckland in order to avoid the prying eyes of the press gallery, but it seems more likely that Luxon just wants to get some air time that doesn’t involve him not answering questions about negotiations.

The Spinoff has picked up to nominations at this year’s television awards.

Comedian Alice Snedden has been nominated for best entertainment presenter for hosting duties on The Spinoff’s series Alice Snedden’s Bad News, while documentary Scratched has received a nod for best sport’s programme – it’s fourth nomination in the category.

Scratched won the category back in 2020.

Meanwhile, drama series The Gone received the most nominations of any single production with nine including in best drama, best actor and best actress.

Newshub has been nominated for five top categories after scooping up best news coverage for the past four years in a row. It’ll face off in that category again opposite 1News, while presenter Patrick Gower and reporter Lisette Reymer have been nominated for their work across multiple programmes.

TVNZ news has received eight nominations this year, including two nods in the best news coverage category for work following the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle. Mark Crysell and Thomas Mead are both finalists for reporter of the year, while both Jack Tame and Jenny-May Clarkson will face-off for best presenter.

Good pick up from Newsroom Pro’s Andrew Bevin on the evolution of New Zealand’s medicinal cannabis regulatory regime. Bevin reports (paywalled) that the Ministry of Health’s medicine safety unit Medsafe has reclassified cannabidiol (CBD) products from prescription only to a restricted medicine, meaning pharmacists could sell it.

The ministry’s Medicines Classification Committee had previously advised against over-the-counter CBD sales. The CBD compound doesn’t have psychoactive effects like the more commonly known THC and is used to treat pain, anxiety and sleep disorders. Hold your horses, though, as there are no CBD products currently approved for use in New Zealand. It’s a bit complicated. A medicinal cannabis product that was not approved by Medsafe but did meet the minimum quality standards of the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) regulations has been able to be accessed via a prescription from a registered medical practitioner.

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Could the Greens and Te Pāti Māori overtake Labour in the polls? That’s what a former Green MP reckons.

While early polls had the Greens on track to pick up its largest ever caucus, sitting at around 14%, preliminary results on election night showed the party on 10.78% and picking up three electorates. The party’s caucus has increased by five since Election 2020.

But speaking to RNZ this morning, former MP Sue Bradford thinks the the party could do better if Labour doesn’t improve its performance. “Over and over again they keep making the same mistake… of going into the middle ground,” Bradford said of Labour. “In full power, they couldn’t even reform the welfare system.”

Bradford said the Greens made a good partner of Te Pāti Māori and could continue to build support by listening to the voter base and pushing for policy on key pillars like the environment and redistributing wealth. Opting to enter into any confidence agreement with National could risk destroying the party, she added, unless it was in a single situation like a member’s bill.

The decision by the party to run more than one two-tick campaign was a good move, said Bradford. “When I was in the party they were very reluctant to run more than one two-tick campaign,” she said.

If Labour continued to “go on like it is”, Bradford said there was every chance that it could slump below the Greens. “Are they there to just be softer managers for big business?” queried Bradford of Labour’s approach.

“The problem for Labour is this focus group politics like putting up the GST removal on fruit and veges in the face of what the Greens put up is just laughable… Where is the leadership coming through in Labour that would take the party in a much clearer direction? Are they even sure of what their voter base is anymore?”