Home > Our Publications > New Zealand Outlook > 2005 > November

LABOUR RETAINS POWER

By Bill Deacon

DRAMATIC and traumatic bargaining with New Zealand's minor parties by Prime Minister Helen Clark has given her Labour Party a third term in Government, after September's close vote in the general election. It was the tightest election for many years, with Labour winning 50 seats to the resurgent Nationals' 49, with only 1 per cent extra of the votes going to Labour.

But to claim victory Mrs Clark had to go bowl in hand to the minor parties and eat humble pie to get the extra seats in Parliament, which should give the Government a right-leaning stance.

Her most fascinating - and perhaps deadly - decision was to make critic of everything and general loose cannon, Winston Peters the country's new Foreign Minister.

The attraction of Mr Peters, a very experienced politician, is that he leads the New Zealand First Party, which came third in the polls with seven seats, just one ahead of the Greens. Ironically, Mr Peters, a Maori, actually lost his seat in Tauranga to a National MP and has now challenged the result in the High Court.

The downside for Mrs Clark, Labour and New Zealand is that Winston Peters is an outspoken critic of the Labour Party and especially immigration. He has gone on record frequently as lashing out at Asian immigration and especially Muslims.

In one of his quieter moments, Mr Peters has called for immigration to be radically slashed and said the country was being "colonised" by Asians. He has proposed that Muslims be racially profiled and generally kept out of New Zealand as a terror threat.

Under the deal with Mrs Clark, Mr Peters will not be in cabinet and can criticise or even vote against Government policies outside of his portfolio.

In his defence, Mrs Clark said that his views on foreign policy were "very similar" to those of the Labour Party.

It will be interesting to see how long this 'marriage' lasts. Like many marriages, it will most probably end in tears for everyone concerned.

As further part of the bizarre negotiations, Mrs Clark has dumped her traditional allies, the Greens and reached agreement with Peter Dunne's Christian centre-right United Future Party (with just three seats) and New Zealand First.

In another strange twist, First and United Future MPs will not formally be part of the coalition, but will provide support in no-confidence and supply motions. The Progressive Party, with just one seat, will also join the coalition of the unwilling. Mrs Clark's long-time friend and confidant, Jim Anderton, who represents the party in Parliament, will be in cabinet.

Backing up her negotiations, Mrs Clark commented: "I have every confidence that these arrangements now are durable and will enable us to provide a strong and stable government for the parliamentary term ahead."

At a time when New Zealand is desperate for skilled workers in all categories and all areas and interest in emigration from the UK appears to be declining, the country has a new Minister for Immigration.

Former incumbent, Jim Swain has resigned from cabinet to spend more time with his young family and is replaced by David Cunliffe.

A former diplomat, Mr Cunliffe should bring a completely new look to immigration. He held various ministerial positions in the last government and was chairman of the Commerce Select Committee. Before entering parliament , he was a business economist and strategy consultant with the prestigious Boston Consulting Group.