Barry Soper: Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent on the National party's messaging on working with Opportunity

Barry Soper's with us. Hello, Barry.

Hello, Heather. I need a good sleep, I think, after this week. What's happened? Well, the election. It's been stressful, the election. Yeah,

absolutely. I would agree with you. Hey, I think everybody's read way too much into Luxon's comments, don't

you? Well, initially, when you heard them... I thought, goodness gracious, the way they were presented. There was a press reporter there and he said, I'll go with anyone. And, you know, because the big question is, now that the Opportunity Party has dropped all its bottom lines that were offensive to National, that maybe they were giving it second thought because it looks as though even the poll today that they will be the kingmaker. But that press reporter...

I think, did everybody a disservice by taking it out of the context within which it was being said. Well,

once you read into it, then you realise. Because he was

talking about strategic voting and sitting around the cabinet table and he was saying, don't strategically vote, but hey, we'll work with whoever we have to. It had nothing to do with opportunity, ever.

they should have maybe cleared it up sooner rather than Simeon Brown going on Newstalk ZB this morning and saying, no, no, we're not going with the Opportunity Party. In fact, I still suspect that given the Opportunity Party is essentially, it's not really a political party in the truest sense, in that the leader's not elected, the leader applied for the job and was given the job by corporates, basically, that back the party. Yeah. So, you know, I think that really the Opportunity Party, it certainly could be in the mix. Well, unless Luxem wants to be in a position, he is definitely calling them. Well, that's true. And it's probably Kule Wong is being driven by her corporate backers are saying, listen, you know, you've got to look at National. And I think you'll see the telephone call being made to Chris Luxon pretty quickly after November the 7th if that's needed.

Do you think the Greens have realised what a stuff up this gang thing is?

Well, you know, you look at the... statements of both Chloe Swarbrick and Marama Davidson after it, that Marama Davidson, of course, has doubled down on it, saying that she'll reverse the gang patch law, which is absurd. Give them some money. Give them some money to get off methamphetamine. I mean, it's patently ludicrous. And you've got Chloe Swarbrick, I think, given all the statements that she's made and She's quite uncomfortable with what happened there, as you would be if you were a politician that understands what goes on in the community and the loathing that most people would have of the gangs in this country. The gangs are largely forgotten now. simply because they're not marauding their way through little towns with their gang patches being flashed and revving their bikes and doing wheelies. People aren't that interested in the gangs anymore. And I think it's great until this stupid photo that MPs, party Māori MPs in particular, but a Green MP were involved in. I mean, I can't think what got into their minds.

So somebody said to me today, this is nine out of ten bad.

Oh, I think totally. You know, if you were