The new coalition Government will have its first Cabinet meeting today after Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and ministers from National, Act and NZ First were sworn in on Monday. 

It will be a largely ceremonial occasion with a photo opportunity, before on Wednesday it considers meatier items including signing off on the 100 Day Plan. 

Luxon and his ministers, including Act leader David Seymour and NZ First leader Winston Peters were sworn in in front of family and friends at Government House on Monday. 

Speaking to media afterwards, Luxon said the priority was getting to “fix the economy”. 

“The number one job is to rebuild the economy so we can lower the cost of living so everyone can get ahead.” 

Christopher Luxon sworn in as Prime Minister at Government House. Photo / Mark Mitchell 

Luxon was also pushed on some of the policy concessions the party had to make to coalition partners, including repealing a world-leading law to ban smoking for future generations to help pay for tax cuts – a move that public health officials say will cost thousands of lives and be “catastrophic” for Māori communities. 

Treasury estimates the law, designed to dramatically reduce smoking rates, would cost $1 billion in lost tax revenue across its first three years form 2025. 

Luxon said while the Government did get extra revenue it was not the motivation to repeal it. He said the parties of the coalition had not supported the legislation. 

Luxon said he would continue to ensure there were good cessation programmes, encourage people to vape to get away from smoking, and restricting vapes to over-18s. 

He said the Government would move to stop vape sales to under-18s: “We are going to toughen that up and harden it up quite a lot.” That would include harsher penalties for sales to underage people. 

On an agreement with NZ First to require public service departments to “have their primary name in English, except for those specifically related to Māori”, Luxon said they would work out exactly what that would cover as they moved into Government. 

The Government was getting briefings and was waiting for HYEFU (Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update) to show what state the books were now in and the fiscal surprises. 

“We are concerned and worried it’s been a deteriorating situation for some months now,” he said on the economy. 

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters during a testy exchange with journalists after the swearing-in ceremony at Government House, Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell 

Luxon said cuts to the public service would partly come from not re-employing people into vacant roles, and then looking at the overall headcount. 

Peters meanwhile was sworn as the Deputy Prime Minister under the arrangement in the coalition deals which gives Peters that role for the first 18 months before Seymour takes it over for the remainder of the parliamentary term. 

Peters engaged in a testy first press conference in the role in which he offered his definition of “woke virtue signalling” and invoked the late Māori land rights activist Dame Whina Cooper in defending his approach to the Treaty of Waitangi. 

It is his third time to hold the deputy role - the first was under a National-led Government between 1996 and 1998 and then under Labour from 2017 to 2020. 

The ministers were moved into their new offices over the weekend, and from Monday afternoon could start meeting with their government departments’ heads. 

Finance Minister Nicola Willis had her first briefing with Treasury officials on Friday and said that included warnings of some surprise blowouts and fiscal risks in the books, about which she would have more to say in the coming week. 

Willis is working on a mini-Budget to coincide with Treasury’s half-yearly opening of the books in mid-December. She has already downplayed expectations of the mini-Budget, saying the emphasis is on the “mini.” The main tax cuts package and other big moves are not expected until the Budget next May. 

Ministers also have to start officials working on legislation ahead of Parliament sitting again – the new Parliament is expected to kick off from December 5. 

The coalition is planning a lot of change, including cuts to the size of the public service and in spending. It also wants to try to make heads of government department more accountable.