National Party leader Simon Bridges has taken a shot at Hannah Tamaki's new party, Coalition NZ.
Grilled on The AM Show whether he could form a coalition with the Christian-focused start-up next year, Bridges questioned whether they had any policy platform.
"We don't have a sense - let's be honest, I don't think she has a sense - of what that policy platform for them is," he told host Duncan Garner on Monday.
Tamaki showed a stunning lack of knowledge during a Friday appearance on The AM Show, suggesting net immigration numbers should be cut from 2000 a year to 200 - it's actually presently around 60,000 a year. She also suggested more children from troubled households should be rehomed with other family members, despite a recent report finding most abused children who've been handled by Oranga Tamariki are abused by whanau.
But with ACT unlikely to bring in any extra MPs like it used to and the Māori Party nowhere to be seen, National is desperate for new potential coalition partners. So Bridges is not ruling out working with Coalition NZ or any other Christian party.
"I'm not going to give you a yes or no, and I'll tell you why: because I barely know her. I've had nothing to do with this... I don't know about the Coalition yet. Let's see where we go."
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Coalition NZ leader Tamaki is married to Brian Tamaki, self-described 'apostle' and head of the controversial Destiny Church, which is vehemently opposed to social progressivism, such as abortion law reform and same-sex marriage.
Bridges voted against making same-sex marriage legal in 2013, and has expressed support for the status quo when it comes to abortion - which is that it's technically a crime, with loopholes.
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National list MP Alfred Ngaro is presently considering splitting away to form another Christian-based party. He's open to teaming up with Tamaki, telling Newshub Nation at the weekend it would probably be the only way to get across the 5 percent threshold required to enter Parliament.
Newshub.
