OPINION: Jacinda Ardern is looking for a coup with her first move in Government - she wants a ban on foreign buyers and the TPP trade deal too.
It will be extremely embarrassing for National, if she pulls this off, as it said it could never be done.
The line was that the TPP would have to re-renegotiated and the other countries wouldn't like that.
Ardern has got into power, asked the officials and they have come up with a very simple 'hack' - bring in the ban before the trade deal is signed off.
If this is true, it was a damn easy fix.
When it comes to the foreign buyer ban, there's a new law coming into place.
It means non-residents or non-citizens cannot purchase existing homes, and residential housing will be classified as "sensitive" by Overseas Investment Office.
It's expected to be in force by mid-next year.
"We have found a solution - a way that allows us to act in the best interests of New Zealanders and home-buyers in New Zealand," Ardern said in the press conference.
The ban was expected to cause trouble with the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and the previous National Government consistently said a ban could not be part of it.
Even though Donald Trump got out of the TPP, Japan has kept it going and wants the remaining 11 countries to sign up to it with few changes at next week's APEC conference, which Jacinda Ardern will attend.
An unnamed official from Japan's Ministry of Trade said: "If exceptions are made for New Zealand alone, the whole thing will fall apart."
But the Prime Minister says official advice shows that if the ban is in force before the final agreement, it's good to go.
"The past Government was essentially wrong, when it said there was no way through on this," she said.
The Prime Minister's first move is a big one, both at home and on the international stage.
Patrick Gower is Newshub's political editor.
