KEY POINTS:
Prime Minister Helen Clark says yesterday's deal with National over the smacking bill could be a sign of things to come, but National leader John Key is not so keen.
After a joint press conference at Parliament yesterday with Mr Key, Helen Clark said she saw more potential
for cross-party discussions on public-interest issues.
Whether monetary policy is one of those isses remains to be seen, she said, referring to initiatives for a select committee inquiry in the past week. "But another one clearly is the way that the climate-change issue is developing."
The deal on Sue Bradford's anti-smacking bill means it will sail through Parliament. Last night MPs voted 117-3 in favour of the compromise, with just Act and Taito Philip Field opposed.
The Prime Minister pointed to leadership being shown this week by the New Zealand Stock Exchange and business in developing a carbon trading market for the Asia-Pacific region.
"I think there is potential for a lot more cross-party discussion and buy-in around the emissions-trading issue."
It was not an issue with a left-right divide "just like the child-discipline bill is not a left-right divide issue", she said.
"They are different sorts of issues but they are issues where it is desirable if you can have a reasonably wide body of support behind them."
Mr Key said although the parties had shown they could work "for the betterment of New Zealand", it would not work every five minutes and "it may never happen again".
Certain areas such as monetary policy required considerable agreement for the purpose of long-range planning and confidence.
As for the possibility of more co-operation after an inquiry into monetary policy, Mr Key said: "I wouldn't oversell it. At the end of the day, there are still some stark differences between National and Labour.
"It's just been proven that sometimes we can put politics to one side and let sanity prevail."
After the anti-smacking bill is passed, it will be unlawful to use physical force against children for the purpose of correction but, as a result of the compromise, the police have been given explicit guidance to ignore an inconsequential smack.
The courts will still, ultimately, determine what "inconsequential" means.
Helen Clark, in Parliament for 25 years, said she had never known of a Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition holding a joint press conference.
She followed up the press conference with a telephone call to the president of the Police Association, Greg O'Connor, who later called the compromise a sensible move.
"The Police Association had previously expressed concern that under present policy, an admission by a parent or a complaint by a witness that a child had been smacked, however slightly, would leave police with no choice but to prosecute."
The compromise altered the dynamics of debate in Parliament last night, where National and Labour MPs battled over whose leader had shown the best leadership. And Destiny Church's opposition rally continued outside Parliament despite Bishop Brian Tamaki saying the compromise was a "glorious victory".
