Bolger to Greens: it’s time to talk
The Green Party has a responsibility to talk to National about forming the next government if it is serious about a clean, green New Zealand, says former prime minister Jim Bolger.
Bolger told TVNZ’s Q+A programme that National had made no secret it wanted to talk to the Green Party, which had as much leverage as NZ First if it chose to use it.
‘‘What I’m really hoping is that the Green Party will step up and accept that opportunity and … the responsibility,’’ he said.
‘‘If they’re in the political mix and campaigned to have an influence on the government then they should, as another small party, talk to both sides.’’ Bolger is a former National prime mInister who negotiated the first MMP coalition with NZ First in 1996.
The Greens campaigned on influencing the country’s approach ‘‘on a whole range of environmental issues and some issues of poverty’’, Bolger said.
It was ‘‘a pathetic argument’’ to suggest they should stay out of government rather than lose their identity because they might suffer the same fate as the Ma¯ori Party, which lost its seats in Parliament after three terms in power with National. The Greens have been in Parliament for 18 years, nine of those under a Centre-Left Labour government, but have never had a Cabinet seat.
‘‘Why are you there if you’re not going to go into government and do something?
‘‘Why parade up and down the country about your ambitions and your goals and your hopes and aspirations and say we won’t go into government ... you have to go into government if you’re going to influence the outcomes.’’
The country is currently in limbo while NZ First leader Winston Peters decides which of the two major parties his party will do a deal with.
NZ First’s options include a coalition with National or Labour, or sitting on the crossbenches and supporting either party with a confidence and supply deal only.
That would mean legislation outside the confidence and supply agreement would have to be negotiated vote by vote.
Senior National MPs have made overtures through the media that National’s door is open to the Greens, who would have more leverage in negotiations with the Centre-Right than the Centre-Left.
That is because Labour would still need NZ First’s votes to govern, even with the Greens, while National would only need one or the other.
There has been speculation that NZ First would insist as a condition of its support that the Greens be left on the sidelines in a Labour-NZ First government.
But the Greens have all but shut the door on National because its wider membership would be opposed. The day after the election, leader James Shaw said he had campaigned for a change of government.
‘‘We’ve got three very big priorities that are completely contrary to the way that National has been running the economy.’’
But Bolger said the Green Party had an opportunity and an obligation to be an influential voice for the causes they held dear, including a clean, green New Zealand, which most New Zealanders also valued. ‘‘For them to say we’re too nervous to go into government with the National Party because maybe somebody will object - well, if you’re frightened of somebody objecting, then don’t go into public life.’’