Tim Dower: Has National played a smart card?

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge · Sep 25, 2023 · 2m

Now we've had a day to mull it over... has Christopher Luxon played a smart card or a dopey one?

Up until yesterday we were under the impression Luxon wants nothing less than to have to deal with New Zealand First.

But this feels like an admission of defeat, as though Luxon has realised NZ First may well hit the threshold, and if they do that's going to drag down the number of seats National can have.

He says he'll do whatever it takes to form a coalition and I guess a lot of people will have wanted to hear that, and his reinforcing line about ACT being his preferred coalition partner without…