Heather du Plessis-Allan: Coalition talks are hurting Luxon's reputation

It's starting to get a bit awkward with how long these coalition negotiations are taking, especially now that Chris Luxon’s warned us we might not get a deal until the end of this week.

These talks are about to become the second longest set of coalition talks in the history of MMP.

Former Green Party MP Gareth Hughes went back through all of the elections and counted how long it took from each election date to the end of the coalition talks.

1996 was of course the longest- and most famous for it because Winston went fishing.

2002 under Helen Clark took 12 days, 2005 took 30 days, 2008 under John Key took 8 days, 2011 took 9 days, 2014 took 15 days, and then 2017 with Jacinda and Winston took 26 days.

As of today, these talks are at 30 days. They are tied for the second longest spot with 2005. From tomorrow, they become the second longest only to the infamous 1996 fishing trip talks.

That’s embarrassing for Chris Luxon.

Because he’s the guy who’s talked up his negotiating skills, given he’s done a lot of mergers and acquisitions. And he’s the guy who set the deadline of wrapping this up in time for him to go to APEC.

If he wants to still go to APEC, he needs this wrapped up by Wednesday. Even he now doesn’t think that’s going to happen.

It's awkward for him to be failing in the very first task he’s set for himself as PM.

The start of a Government is a really important period. It sets up voters’ expectations for the first term, that's why Governments often write up 100 day plans.

Because they want to create a sense of urgency and give the impression they’re changing things fast. Literally the opposite of that is happening right now. There is no sense of urgency, nothing's changing fast, there's no momentum.

Awkwardly, it also feels a bit like Luxon might have underestimated a couple of politicians. Namely, Winston and David Seymour, who seem to be running rings around him.

Unfortunately for Chris Luxon, every day that these talks drag on chip away at the perception that voters have of him as being a great mergers and acquisitions guy.

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