New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has arrived in Wellington but is refusing to answer any questions about his planns.
While NZ First is not yet needed by National and ACT to form a Government, it may be required after the special votes are counted on November 3.
Prime Minister-elect Christopher Luxon said on Tuesday that he will not be updating media on the "blow by blow" of what negotiation discussions he's having.
What you need to know:
- National and ACT can form a Government on the preliminary numbers, but that may change after the special votes are counted, requiring NZ First to be needed.
- Vote breakdown with 100 percent of preliminary results counted: National (38.95%), Labour (26.9%), Greens (10.77%), ACT (8.98%), NZ First (6.46%), Te Pāti Māori (2.61%)
- Special votes will be counted and released by November 3.
These live updates are now over, thank you for following along.
2:30pm - New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has stationed himself in an office near Parliament. Associates Darroch Ball and Fletcher Tabuteau - both former NZ First MPs - have been coming and going.
Mark Patterson, a returning NZ First MP, is also there. He was caught by media attempting to get into the office, though he had issues getting his swipe card to let him inside. He wouldn't answer questions about his party's plans for the next few weeks.
1:55pm - After a chase through Wellington Airport, Peters found himself faced with further questions on the streets of Wellington central.
After exiting his taxi, Peters again faced multiple questions, but stayed silent.
1:32pm - New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has arrived in the capital, welcomed by a media pack at Wellington Airport.
Peters has kept a low profile since the election result. On Wednesday Peters told media nothing. Faced with a number of questions from the media, Peters smirked in silence.
He did though say "kia ora" to someone who said the same to him.
10:31am - Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw, along with their new MPs, have spoken to media after a great election result on Saturday.
Davidson is "absolutely stoked" to be welcoming their "staunch heroic warrior" new MPs to the 54th Parliament.
When asked what Shaw and Davidson's plans are for the future, neither of them committed to three years for the full term.
Shaw said a decision will be made "in the future" about the party's leadership. The leadership vote will take place at the party's annual general meeting (AGM), which is in the middle of next year.
The leaders said the National Party have not been in touch with the Greens since the election.
Davidson shared her "thoughts and prayers" with Luxon as he faces a potential three-way coalition with ACT and New Zealand First.
9:38am - The new intake of MPs, class of 2023, are spending their morning in the debating chamber as their induction into Parliament rolls on.
9:15am - Former deputy leader of New Zealand First Fletcher Tabuteau, who appears to now be working with the party, has told Newshub Winston Peters should be in the capital today.
While taking the new NZ First MPs into the Grand Hall for their induction, Tabuteau was asked where Peters was.
"Coming to Wellington today?" he replied.
Asked again if he was coming to Wellington on Wednesday, he replied: "I think so".
8:26am - Hipkins name-dropped his new partner Toni in his concession speech on Saturday, piquing the interest of Kiwi across the motu.
He told AM it's been a "little bit of an adjustment" for Toni being in the spotlight and they're working through it together.
"It wouldn't have felt right to thank my family and not thank the person who has just been such an amazing support for me over the last couple of weeks."
He described the campaign trail as "tough", especially for him, and to have Toni by his side supporting him was a "pretty amazing thing".
"It has meant now she's been subject to a lot of questions in the last little while."
8:17am - If Hipkins remains leader of the Labour Party for the entire term of opposition, he told AM it's important for his party to be a "good, robust" opposition.
"Over the next three years, there are three things that we need to do," he said.
"We need to be a good opposition, that is now our job, we'll need to scrutinise what the Government are doing, we need to hold them to account, we'll need to challenge them on fulfilling the commitments that they put before the electorate because they've made some very big commitments."
He said his party also needs to spend time reflecting and listening to communities who have previously supported Labour but did not this time.
"I'm committed to making sure that Labour transitions well into opposition and that we hit the ground running."
He agreed with Little and said there is "plenty" of talent among the Labour Party who would make "outstanding leaders" in the future, though he would not say who – not wanting to give them "that particular kiss of death".
"Generally speaking, when you get identified as a potential future leader of the party it actually does your future career prospects more harm than good, but look, there are plenty of people in our team who I think will make outstanding leaders in the future."
7:26am - After announcing his retirement on Tuesday, Little told AM Hipkins' "inner mongrel" came out during the election campaign and believes he's the best person to lead a Labour Party in opposition.
"For leader of the opposition you need to take the fight to the Government of the day," Little said.
"But it is the job of the opposition to hold them to account, call them out, and hold them to the promises they made, and to represent an alternative positive vision for New Zealand."
Little believes a leader of opposition has to have a "good strong gut instinct" and be able "to take that fight", he believes "Chippy is the one to do that".
He "couldn't pick" who the next line up of Labour leaders would be, if a leader contest was held, though he's confident in the line up the party has.
"We're not short of talent."
Little doesn't have his next gig lined up but told AM he loves litigation and would want to return to law.
"I'll go through the processes of getting my practising certiicate back and being able to practice, and kinda see what happens. But I'm a big fan of the law and practicing the law and would love to go back to it."
7:00am - Ata mārie, good morning and welcome to Newshub's live updates. Outgoing Labour MP Little will speak to AM at 7:05am after announcing he's calling time on politics.
Labour leader Hipkins will also join AM at 7:40am after tough day on Tuesday.
