Working out some fundamental things

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Act’s strong desire for Parliament to define the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi then put it to a referendum looks like it will have to be traded away in favour of other policies the party wants and campaigned on.

National leader Christopher Luxon departed from his mantra of not doing any coalition negotiating via the media yesterday, in telling RNZ that such a referendum would be “divisive and unhelpful”. He had said the same on the campaign trail, and the notion was supported and exemplified by Labour MP Willie Jackson predicting on Q+A on Sunday that a “nonsensical Treaty referendum” would lead to civil unrest five to 10 times worse than the 1981 Springbok tour protest.

Luxon called those comments “unhelpful” and “intemperate”. “We need this country to be more unified, not less unified,” he said.

“We’re going to make sure we deliver and run a government for everybody. We know that there is a lot of work to do to deliver better outcomes for Māori — the way in which we deliver that will be different from the previous government . . .”

While the leaders of Act and NZ First have talked up the prospect of coalition negotiations being completed quickly, ideally this week, Luxon has been more circumspect. That’s not surprising, as he is the one who needs to bring the three parties together around a cohesive platform of policies and deliver on his promise of a “strong and stable government”.

Act’s David Seymour repeatedly called NZ First leader Winston Peters untrustworthy on the campaign  trail, and said it was “impossible to see us sitting around the Cabinet table”.

NZ First has not responded to Act’s attempts to make contact since the election but Peters has indicated he and Seymour will meet soon. Seymour also agreed with Peters’ suggestion on Friday that they should all get in the room together.

Peters landed in Wellington yesterday afternoon  for further coalition negotiations, but first to meet with the NZ First caucus to “work out some fundamental things”.

National’s separate talks with Act and NZ First since the election have all been in Auckland so far.

Seymour told RNZ yesterday that discussions with National had been productive and they were “getting close to having a draft agreement”. Earlier he told Newstalk ZB that his core negotiating team was himself, deputy leader Brooke Van Velden, MP Nicole McKee and party and parliamentary staff representatives.

National MP and campaign chair Chris Bishop told Q+A he was part of National’s negotiating team, alongside Luxon and deputy leader Nicola Willis.

Peters, the most experienced coalition negotiator in the country, hasn’t revealed his team yet.