Alliance party digs in for trench war

By VERNON SMALL

Alliance leader Jim Anderton wants party president Matt McCarten's head but is unlikely to press for a vote on his future at a crucial caucus meeting today.

The caucus will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two since their feud became public, but there is still no sign of reconciliation between the former friends.

Factions supporting the two men are planning for a drawn-out battle, which may culminate in a vote by party members early next year.

Anderton supporters yesterday conceded that they might not succeed in ousting Mr McCarten but said they expected his influence to wane if he survived.

McCarten supporters reiterated that they were not aiming to oust Mr Anderton, whose grip on the Wigram seat in Christchurch assures the party of a presence in Parliament.

But they expected him to face strong opposition from members if he secured a planned round of regional meetings in January.

Mr Anderton will present today's meeting in Parliament of the Alliance's 10 MPs and six party representatives with a dossier outlining alleged efforts by activists and staff members to frustrate the party's strategy and undermine its MPs.

Yesterday, his backers leaked a key element of that - part of a fax message from McCarten supporter Mike Treen to campaigning journalist John Pilger.

Mr Treen, a party councillor and former staff member of Corrections Minister Matt Robson, talks of the left organising to ensure the party is not handed over to those "who wish to subvert the purpose for which it was built - to advance a consistent left agenda in the political arena".

He also appears to discourage Mr Pilger from touring New Zealand because the Alliance backed SAS troops being offered for the United States-led attacks on Afghanistan.

Mr Treen later released the full version of the fax and an earlier letter showing Mr Pilger had already decided not to come because of the Alliance's stance on the war.



At today's meeting, Mr Anderton will seek a recommitment to cooperate with Labour while preserving the right "to agree to disagree" on issues such as free trade.

He sees the party's role in a stable coalition as key to the Alliance's fortunes at next year's election.

By contrast, Mr McCarten's faction sees a clearer differentiation between the Alliance and Labour as the way for the junior coalition partner to revive its flagging fortunes.

It also believes Mr Anderton is using the dispute to try to purge the left wing of the party.

Mr McCarten said yesterday that he would not resign even if the caucus backed Mr Anderton. He answered to the ruling council and the party members, not to the caucus.

Both factions said they would back the strategy of cooperation with Labour.

But the Mr McCarten camp said the caucus would be unified only if Mr Anderton avoided pressing for detailed agreement on how the strategy would be implemented.

The key battle will come in two weeks when the party's ruling council will discuss strategy and consider Mr Anderton's call for a round of regional meetings.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said her Government was not being destabilised by the Alliance in-fighting.