NZ First Has No Bottom Lines for Coalition Talks, Peters Says
New Zealand First has no bottom lines for coalition negotiations, leader Winston Peters says.
He said it on RNZ's Morning Report on 7 October 2026, in an interview covered in RNZ's election live blog. RNZ
A bottom line means a policy a party says it will not drop as the price of joining a government. Peters said his party had none.
He talked up the party's place in the final stretch of the campaign. He said New Zealand First will do "much better than people think". The latest RNZ-Reid Research poll put support for the party at 10.6 percent.
He played down polls as a guide to the result. Peters said "polls are going to be turned into confetti on election night".
The interview came alongside two other campaign stories. New Zealand First released a revamped party list, which ranks newcomers above sitting MPs, according to RNZ reporting on 6 October. RNZ The list is the ranked order parties use to fill seats in Parliament under MMP, the proportional voting system.
National and Labour's finance spokespeople also debated on RNZ. Nicola Willis and Barbara Edmonds took part in the Morning Report debate. RNZ
The no-bottom-lines line differs from language Peters has used before. In older, undated reporting, Peters said keeping superannuation eligibility at age 65 would be a bottom line for NZ First in coalition talks. In a 2014 interview on TVNZ's Q+A, he discussed NZ First's foreign home ownership policy without calling it a coalition bottom line. Those earlier statements are background. The stated position on 7 October is that the party has no bottom lines.
The broader context here is how small parties manage leverage under MMP. A public bottom line sets a clear test for entering government. It can firm up the core vote, but it also leaves less room after the election and gives larger parties a fixed point to negotiate around. Saying there are no bottom lines keeps that room open. It leaves trade-offs to the negotiating table rather than the campaign.
Looking at what this means for other parties' strategists, the list matters alongside the negotiation line. Ranking newcomers above sitting MPs sends a succession signal. It tells supporters and possible coalition partners the caucus could look different after the vote, even if the leader and the approach to talks do not. For a party polling in double digits, that mix of continuity at the top and renewal down the list is aimed at showing stability and longevity.
In my view, the polling rhetoric should be read the same way. Playing down polls while saying the party will beat them is normal late-campaign positioning for NZ First. It steadies supporters and protects bargaining power. The test, as Peters himself put it, will be election night.
