Talks with Peters will ‘be tense’
National Party leader Bill English expects negotiations with NZ First to form a government will be ‘‘tense’’, with two to three weeks a reasonable amount of time for the talks.
Chances of National getting a deal with NZ First were ‘‘pretty good but that’s to be tested in negotiations’’, he said yesterday.
He had not talked to Winston Peters since the election. ‘‘Mr Peters indicated he wasn’t in a rush. I didn’t see the need to break into what I hope would have been a more restful day for all political leaders yesterday.’’
He had known Peters since 1990, and the relationship had been ‘‘tested in a lot of different ways, sometimes with some real tension and combative politics, other times quite sociable and relaxed, but he’s someone who understands his role, not some new party that’s just entered into Parliament’’, English said.
‘‘I’ve always respected his particular role in New Zealand politics. I think he understands his role ... It’s always been a bit of a maverick role. His brand has been strong for a long time, people have understood what it means.
‘‘Mr Peters is in many respects a known quantity but one of the features of his political career is understanding his role and he’s very experienced and I don’t think that there’s any particular difficulty in framing up a negotiation where we would expect him to raise particular issues and he would expect us to raise particular issues.’’
‘‘We want to have a respectful constructive negotiation, which I know is going to be tense,’’ English said.
‘‘What works is an environment of respect, which is not necessarily about agreement because coalition partners always have the opportunity to disagree and often do. Whatever’s in the agreement, there’s still issues that arise, new things that come up that have to be dealt with.
‘‘Getting a focus on the respective roles that are understood and respected is the key to getting the disagreements settled.’’
English confirmed the job of prime minister was not up for negotiation but the role of deputy was something to be discussed with Peters.
NZ First had the ‘‘marginal’’ numbers of votes. ‘‘That’s what matters the most,’’ English said.
Despite that, he expected negotiations ‘‘to be weighted according to the public will. That’s why we have an election – to assess it’’.
‘‘I don’t think the electorate would want to see the economic progress of New Zealand significantly compromised, nor do I think Mr Peters would want to do that,’’ English said.
Asked what he thought of Peters, English said: ‘‘I have known him a long time. I think he’s a politician who has specialised, in a way, in MMP and understands his role. He has some well understood long-held positions and we would expect that given that understanding of how he works and what he believes in we’d be able to deal with him.’’
Pushed on issues of immigration and superannuation that are important aspects of NZ First policy, English said they were matters that would be discussed.
‘‘I think we need to show him the respect of initiating those discussions with him and his party, rather than taking public positions,’’ English said.
‘‘We’re not going to be ruling anything in, or anything out because that amounts to, I think, a lack of focus in negotiations.
‘‘We respect the role of a smaller party in a negotiation. They have an opportunity for influence and we would negotiate how they’re going to achieve that influence.’’
English said he didn’t see how the counting of special votes would produce an outcome that would be ‘‘decisive’’ in any way different to the election night result.