Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters will host Monday’s post-Cabinet press conference as acting prime minister. Peters has assumed the role while Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is in Japan.

This is not Peters’ first rodeo. He hosted post-Cabinet press conferences while former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern took maternity leave during the last Government. He was also acting prime minister for a period of the Fourth National Government in the late 1990s.

He is expected to make an announcement in the building area, delivering on a NZ First coalition agreement priority.

He is also likely to face questions on the RNZAF Boeing 757 debacle.

The RNZAF aircraft suffered two blown fuses in Port Moresby on its way to Japan, forcing Luxon to continue the journey flying commercial via Hong Kong. The rest of the delegation flew to Brisbane before catching a diverted Air New Zealand flight to Tokyo.

Defence Minister Judith Collins said the Defence Force capability review, which had been had been brought forward from September to June, would look at the issue of planes.

“New planes will have to be weighed up against the current economic climate and the fact that we’ve got so many families who are facing challenges.

“It’s a hell of a lot of money.”

Peters is also likely to be asked about Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson who announced today she would be taking leave while she receives treatment for breast cancer.

Davidson said the cancer, which was picked up during a routine mammogram about a month ago, required her to undergo a partial mastectomy and see her off work for about four months.

She urged other wāhine to get checked themselves, acknowledging the level of breast cancer was disproportionately high for Māori women.

“I have held off telling people about my diagnosis while I continue to focus on Parliamentary work,” she said today.

Peters has clashed with the Greens in the past, but in the wake of Davidson’s news, leaders from across the house have offered supportive words.