Climbing poll ratings put pressure on Greens

Senior National politician Wyatt Creech has an idea about how to get rid of the Greens: Vote for them so they get into government.

Then, as happened with New Zealand First and the Alliance, unable to "face the pressures of responsibility" they would splinter, the retiring MP says.

In opposition, they could take "absolutely idealistic stands, rather than pragmatic and practical stands".

"If they were in government, give them a term, they would split up like the Alliance -- the radicals would vanish in one direction, and the public would be sick of it.

"When people who are expecting to run the country react like that, then in no time at all come back and say it's just a bit of an over reaction... do you want them with their finger on the trigger?"

He was talking about Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons' threat yesterday -- and swift back-pedalling several hours later -- to stop Labour from forming a government after the election.

Ms Fitzsimons said the Greens would not enter into a coalition with Labour, or support it on confidence and supply, unless it had a "policy agreement" signed within a couple of weeks of the election.

That policy agreement had to include extending the moratorium on the release of genetically engineered organisms for the three-year term of the new government.

The Greens have said they will allow Labour to govern until the moratorium expires next October.

Frustrated, and perhaps offended, by Labour's repeated attacks that the Greens were holding the Government to ransom and would be bringing it down next October, Ms Fitzsimons yesterday suggested that rather than be accused of that, the Greens could stop Labour forming a government in the first place.

Ms Fitzsimons -- just hours later and after frantic phone calls to her co-leader Rod Donald and other party officials -- told NZPA she had been "thinking aloud" and there was no change in the Greens' position.

This did not wash with Prime Minister Helen Clark who said there was only one message Labour could take: "It's like a declaration of all out war."

Her threat raised the spectre of fresh elections soon after the July 27 polls but Ms Fitzsimons appears not to have realised the enormity of what she was saying at the time. It was not until she had spoken to Mr Donald and party helpers that she realised she had made a mistake in making such comments to a group of four political reporters a few weeks out from a general election, and the Greens went into damage control.

Mr Donald is the more media savvy of the two co-leaders. Ms Fitzsimons works more behind the scenes. The Greens view Ms Fitzsimons as their "Steel Magnolia" in terms of fighting for policy and money for Green issues.

Sources say Ms Fitzsimons' off-the-cuff remark came as pressure mounts on the Greens, as its climbing poll ratings push the party closer to the balance of power.

Miss Clark was informed there was no change in the Greens' position but she said it added further fuel to Labour's arguments for an outright majority.

To be able to form a government, Miss Clark must be able to go to the governor-general and prove she has the confidence of Parliament.

To do this, the governor-general does not need physical proof but to have formed a clear impression from politicians' public statements of where their support lies.

Only if negotiations between parties are not producing an outcome, or the arrangements are unclear, would she go to the party leaders for clarification, the Department of Prime Minister and cabinet advisers.

Mr Donald said the Greens had stated repeatedly they would let Labour form a Government and would not vote against it on confidence for as long as the moratorium was in place.

That position leaves the Greens room to abstain on a confidence vote -- this is nothing new in Parliament.

The Greens often remind people that they have supported the Government for the past 2-1/2 years, voting for budgets, and for 30 bills the Labour/Alliance Government could not have been passed without them.

Victoria University politics lecturer Tim Bale today told NZPA it would unfair to extrapolate from one "gaffe" that the Greens would be unable to cope with the pressure of government.

"I just think she made a mistake, she's human... and she unfortunately happened to make it in front of all of you."

Dr Bale said Ms Fitzsimons was often regarded as the "risk averse" to Mr Donald's "out there" personality but, in fact, they interchanged these roles. Their leadership styles were complementary.

He sat in on Green Party caucuses over a four-month period while working on a research project and had expected to see tensions between the different MPs. While there were differences, the group worked effectively and got on very well, he said.

Asked if the Greens could be a stable force in Government, he said "I don't see why not".

The Greens' strong position on GE might make the possibility of coalition more likely, Dr Bale said.

"The only reason that Labour would want the Greens in a coalition is if they thought they were going to be more trouble outside. So in some ways by doing all this they are creating more problems outside and it might encourage Labour to actually think... of actually having a coalition."

There was no reason to think, just because the Greens had taken the position it had over GE, that it would be "problematic" in government.

"After all, they've been very, very pliant really over the last 2-1/2, three years, they've given the Government almost everything that it has wanted."

It was always possible a party would split over a particular issue and New Zealanders had to get used to the fact that governments did, occasionally, break down. This was a normal part of politics, Dr Bale said.

"We've just got to get used to the fact that there are certain issues which certain parties can't necessarily compromise on and if that means that after 18 months there will be some kind of readjustment of the Government so that they gain confidence and supply from another party instead of the party they've been relying on... then so be it."

- NZPA

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