Who’s in charge of NZ until the next government?

11 Nov 2026

Now You Know, season two, episode 84

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What is the caretaker convention and why does Christopher Luxon only have 23 days to choose his next finance minister? Robbie Nicol is here to explain.

After a general election, New Zealand's incumbent government remains in office, but their power is diminished by something called the "caretaker convention". Basically, a caretaker government keeps things ticking over, but tries not to make any significant decisions that might tie the hands of the next government.

New Zealand first codified its caretaker convention in the Cabinet Manual after Robert Muldoon nearly caused a constitutional crisis in 1984, refusing to devalue the New Zealand dollar as outgoing prime minister. The written guidelines of New Zealand's caretaker convention have since become the blueprint for other countries in times of transition, like when the United Kingdom found itself with a hung parliament in 2010.

With New Zealand's final election results not announced until November 27 and the election still too close to call, this particular caretaker government could be in power for many weeks to come.

Filmed and edited by Isaiah Tour.
Written and presented by Robbie Nicol.
Made with the support of NZ On Air.

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