Incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says while waiting for special votes to be counted, National is having confidential discussions with ACT and NZ First about forming a government.
Luxon said it was good to be back in parliament, welcoming 23 National MPs.
They were holding negotiations separately, he said. "I won't have too much to say about it because we want to put the process in place, work with those parties, work through the arrangements, build the relationships so we can form a strong and stable government."
He refused to be drawn on commenting on the details of negotiations. "I've watched New Zealand elections play out over many years, I've been pretty unimpressed with the process in terms of how that gets done."
He said he was not interested in commentary on negotiations or speculations. "I'm not ruling things in or out based on these conversations, but what I'm saying to you is there's a lot of people with their reckons and I just put to you they could be very, very wrong."
The party had good discipline and he expected that to continue, he said. "There will be punditry and commentators and media that will have their reckons ... but the reality is I just put it you that could be very, very wrong."
Regarding overseas voters, Luxon said immense frustration around MIQ may have changed the way New Zealanders residing overseas would have voted this time around.
Christopher Luxon Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
"There's a number of dynamics at play around special votes, I don't know how different it would be, normally we see a huge proportion of renters as you know, that are out of electorate and typically they might vote Green or left, but this time it might be different. We've got a lot of people travelling for rugby so the mix coming through in special votes could be quite different."
He maintained his earlier position on a Treaty of Waitangi referendum - one of ACT's policies - saying he rejected it and it would divisive for the country.
Luxon said he met with iwi leaders over the campaign, but right now the focus was on forming a government.
He spoke with the Australian prime minister yesterday. They talked about how to strengthen the relationship between the two countries and issues within the region, Luxon said. He was confident they would be working well together.
He acknowledged holding a daily briefing without details about the negotiations was frustrating for some.
"I apologise for that up front, but I do signal to you that I want to work in different way and I've been clear about that."
He said they were confident of their tax plans. "We've got people who are doing it incredibly tough, have work incredibly hard, they deserve to keep more of their money and we've got a very effective tax plan.
Meanwhile, the outgoing Labour government was expected to be holding a Cabinet meeting in a caretaker role on Monday.
Luxon said senior staff from National and Labour had spoken about how to transition smoothly and it was going well.
They had talked about decisions that may fall between the caretaker period.
"It's also a chance for us to use the time to prepare for briefing around the economy but also around foreign affairs."
