Christopher Luxon has formally ruled out National working with the Opportunity Party (TOP) after an election, saying the minor party's push for a land tax is a fundamental barrier to any coalition deal (RNZ).

Under MMP, a party usually needs either an electorate seat or 5 percent of the party vote to get into Parliament. Minor parties that clear that bar can become coalition partners, giving larger parties the numbers they need to govern. A land tax is a levy on the value of land itself, separate from rates or income tax.

The announcement came without notice at the very end of Luxon's usual Monday media briefing on July 27, 2026, following initial news coverage of the conference (1News; NZ Herald). Luxon declined to give a direct yes-or-no answer at the conference, but his office later confirmed the statement amounted to a formal rule-out (RNZ).

Luxon took questions for about three and a half minutes before walking away from reporters. He described the Opportunity Party as wanting 'extreme policy on taxes' while calling National 'a party of low taxes.' Of Opportunity's centrist self-positioning, he said: 'They're as centrist as I am an All Black, frankly.'

The move is a shift from Luxon's previous stance. Until now, he would only say that a vote for Opportunity looked 'like a vote for Labour and the Greens' and that he had not 'given them any thought.' Luxon told reporters the position on ruling out Opportunity had been discussed among National's caucus and board 'for several months.'

National deputy Nicola Willis said Luxon's position reflected 'widely held views' across National and distinguished him from Labour leader Chris Hipkins, who 'refuses to be clear about who he would work with.' National campaign chair Simeon Brown said National had long been 'very clear' it would not work with parties with 'radical left' policies.

Hipkins described the announcement as 'rushed and haphazard' and said Luxon 'got caught on the hoof and just made it up as he went along.' Hipkins said he will lay out which parties Labour could work with before Parliament rises near the end of September.

Opportunity Party leader Qiulae Wong responded that she was certain Luxon would change his tune if the alternative was going into opposition. She said in reality Opportunity had a lot of common ground with both right- and left-wing parties, and that the party would lay out its clear bottom lines closer to the election so voters knew its priorities in negotiations.

Prior to Luxon's confirmation, RNZ reported on July 27 that Opportunity remained 'still open to working with National' despite his ruling it out. Earlier, on June 24, Wong told the NZ Herald she was willing to discuss common ground with National (NZ Herald).

The context for the exchange is a poll environment in which the Opportunity Party is polling close to the 5 percent threshold. An NZ Herald poll published on July 24 predicted the incumbent coalition would be re-elected while Opportunity held close to 5 percent (NZ Herald). A separate NZ Herald poll published on July 8 showed Hipkins and Luxon neck and neck in preferred prime minister rankings for the 2026 election (NZ Herald).

This is not the first time Luxon has used a media conference to formally exclude a potential coalition partner. In the lead-up to the 2023 election, he called a special media conference to formally rule out working with Te Pāti Māori. When reminded at Monday's conference that he was currently working with New Zealand First, which wanted to buy back BNZ, Luxon replied: 'I ruled that policy out, it's all good.'

The broader context here is the coalition arithmetic. Luxon's decision narrows National's potential post-election partners but also draws a sharper ideological line. With Opportunity polling near the threshold, the question of whether the party would be kingmaker has been a live one, with the NZ Herald posing it directly in a June 18 video poll. Luxon's move forces voters who might have seen TOP as a safe centrist option to weigh the risk that a vote for the party could, from National's perspective, contribute to a Labour-led government. Wong's bet that Luxon would reconsider in opposition reflects the reality that pre-election rule-outs have historically been tested by actual seat counts after the vote.

For the Press Gallery, the more notable detail is the manner of the announcement: dropped at the end of a briefing without a prepared framing, then confirmed by the Prime Minister's office after the fact. That sequence is what drew Hipkins's 'caught on the hoof' attack, and it leaves National open to the charge that its coalition strategy is being set on the fly rather than through a disciplined pre-election plan.