Christopher Luxon has laid out details of tomorrow’s formal announcement of a new government – but is keeping his cards close to his chest as to specifics.

Speaking at parliament this afternoon, the incoming prime minister confirmed a formal coalition signing ceremony will take place tomorrow morning (pending sign-off from the individual parties this afternoon). He said he was 100% confident this would be able to happen on Friday.

Then, Luxon said, the announcement of ministerial postings will be announced tomorrow afternoon. “I’d like to push on and announce all of that,” he said. Those who had missed out on picking up a cabinet position were still not aware, said Luxon, and conversations around this would take place tomorrow.

As to who will be deputy prime minister, that won’t be revealed until tomorrow, said Luxon.

The formal swearing in ceremony will, at this point, take place on Monday. Luxon said he expected government to resume on December 5 and run “right up until Christmas”.

The coalition agreement will be released in full tomorrow and it will include all aspects of the incoming government’s planned policy agenda. Asked whether people would be surprised by any concessions made by any parties, Luxon said that was the nature of our MMP system but wouldn’t go into detail.

Luxon walked away from the final few questions from reporters, but said that the purpose of this afternoon’s (brief) press conference was to say thank you to New Zealanders for having patience while negotiations took place.

It’s finally happening. Forty days after polls closed, coalition talks have concluded, the incoming prime minister Christopher Luxon has confirmed.

In a tweet, Luxon said that the parties – that being National, Act and New Zealand First – will spend this evening signing off the various agreements before a signing process expected tomorrow.

It’s now looking more likely the announcement of the next government will be made tomorrow, with all three coalition party leaders in Wellington and signalling that talks are wrapping up.

As reported by The Post, National’s Nicola Willis said that while the “initial” plan was to unveil details of the next administration this afternoon, that would no longer be possible.

Winston Peters, who earlier ignored reporters after landing in the capital, has just held an impromptu press conference where he said he was no longer negotiating.

“We’re still required to catch one or two people because of circumstances that are on the road that couldn’t be at our meeting today in terms of being updated,” he said, as reported by Newshub.

“We’re not trying to be difficult here, but until we spoke to them, we can’t answer your questions.”

That would suggest that while talks have concluded, a few minor formalities still need to be ticked off. 1News has reported that National has briefed its caucus on the coalition deal, which needed to happen before any announcement was made.

The Herald has similarly reported that the last remaining major impasse – that being who would become deputy prime minister – has been settled. There’s no sign yet who may have come out on top or whether a co-sharing agreement has been decided upon. David Seymour told 1News that a so-called squabble between himself and Peters had been “overstated”.

But he wouldn’t elaborate any further. “I’m not going to go into who’s got what roles in the new Cabinet but that will be announced as soon as we’re ready.”

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has touched down at Wellington Airport and appears to be on his way to parliament. But he won’t speak to reporters. Footage from the airport showed Peters ignoring questions around the impending coalition agreement and who could be deputy prime minister.

By contrast, David Seymour has been around the parliamentary precinct this morning, chatting to reporters and dining at Huxley’s Bar and Eatery.

Winston Peters is currently heading to Wellington – not on a horse, but on a plane.

It’s a promising sign that the new government could form today.

The New Zealand First leader was spotted by media at Auckland Airport at 10:15am this morning.

Peters didn’t let much slip to journalists who bombarded him with questions. When asked “Are you off to Wellington?”, he responded, “Take a wild guess”.

Christopher Luxon and David Seymour both arrived back in the capital last night.

There is still no official word of an announcement planned for today.

Police are responding to “concerning” emails sent to a number of organisations across the country, including schools and hospitals.

“We are working to establish the origin of the emails and have yet to establish any actual threat to any organisation,” said a statement from police.

“Staff are working with those impacted and each organisation may respond differently according to their individual circumstances and the information available to them.”

Police said it wouldn’t be disclosing the names of the organisations that received the emails, but acknowledged “how unsettling” the messages had been for those concerned.

Rents rose 6.1% in the year to October, nearly double the long-term average growth rate of 3.2%, according to new figures from CoreLogic. Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton, and Tauranga were among the centres where growth accelerated, while Wellington and Dunedin experienced a drop in rents, The Press (paywalled) reports. Average rental yields were at their highest level since late 2020, edging back up to 3.2% after languishing at 2.6% for much of 2022, reports 1 News.

Auckland rental yields remain the lowest, while yields in Wellington are also sitting below 3%. Along with the prospect of lower mortgage rates and more investor-friendly tax policies, rising yields may lure investors back into the market, but don’t expect a mad rush, says CoreLogic’s Kelvin Davidson. Meanwhile the company found that national property values saw their first rise in 19 months, signalling the market downturn is “officially over”.

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It’s sunny with a chance of a new National-Act-NZ First government today.

The incoming prime minister Christopher Luxon is in Wellington. As recently as yesterday afternoon, that felt like a sure sign that a new government would be announced imminently – but it’s reportedly just because of flight disruptions prompting a mass exodus from Auckland.

Also in the capital is David Seymour along with senior representatives from all three coalition partners. But Winston Peters is still, it’s understood, in Auckland. He’s due to make the trek south today.

According to Stuff’s Tova O’Brien, the chance of a government deal being announced today is “over 50%”, or so sources have told her. “Cabinet positions, including the hotly contested deputy prime minister role, are the final fish hooks to de-snag,” wrote O’Brien.

Speaking to Newstalk ZB, former cabinet minister Peter Dunne said he believed Seymour would be the next deputy PM. “You could have two deputy prime ministers, but one is always going to be more senior than the other,” he said. “That’s where I think David Seymour has got a point, he has the larger party of the two so therefore by right he’s got a premier claim to the role than Peters, but it doesn’t always work that way.”

Having two in the role would be a “recipe for confusion,” posited Dunne.

Former deputy prime minister Grant Robertson went a step further, telling O’Brien it would be “woke” for Peters and Seymour to share the 2IC role.

“If at any point the prime minister is incapacitated, and obviously that can happen very suddenly, the deputy prime minister needs to step up. If there were two of them, it might be a little hard to know who was stepping up and definitely would create some constitutional difficulties,” said Robertson.

Writing for Newsroom, Jo Moir has taken a look at some of the more technical logistics around the incoming government. Today, she’s reported that Air New Zealand has been helping ensure MPs can make it into Wellington owing to that backlog of flights.

According to Moir, Luxon spent last night “hammering out the last of the jobs with Seymour and Peters”, with the hope that a deal can be unveiled today and a swearing-in ceremony could happen on Monday.

Not to jinx things, but we may actually be on the home stretch – though Newshub has prepared an extensive eight-minute montage of all the times Luxon, Seymour and Peters suggested things could be close to completion.