Herald on Sunday editorial: Nameless people get to chose the government

Editorial

Coalition talks took a strange turn near the end of the week when Winston Peters made it clear the final decision will rest with a body of unconfirmed membership called the board of New Zealand First. The public and press were left to try and guess who these people might be.

The National Party has a board of directors whose names and faces are readily available on its website,. The Labour Party lists the names of its New Zealand Council on its site. The membership of Peters' board became a subject for news media to find out if they could. RNZ posted a list of names on Thursday that might or might not be right.

This, of course, is the way Peters operates. He never gives information away if he can help it. But the identity of his party's board is not a game to play with the press. It is routine information the public should have about every political party that receives public funds for parliamentary purposes.

It certainly should not be a subject of unconfirmed revelation when these people, whoever they may be, are about to decide who will govern the country.

No doubt they have been handpicked by Peters and would go along with whatever he wants. But his comments during the week suggest he really might have an open mind this time on whether to go with Labour or National. Even his MPs might be given a say this time. At least we know the names of the MPs but the board's decision seems to be as important as theirs.

Confidence in the board's personnel is not inspired by the fact they were unable to get to Wellington before the weekend and this is said to be the reason we are still waiting for a government.

Did these people have something more important to do last week? Did it not seem a good idea to have them close to proceedings so they could see how the talks developed, be as well briefed as possible and be ready to make their decision without needless delay?

Is there a more important decision these people will make in their lives? They are being given the decision 2.6 million voters thought they were making at the election three weeks ago.

It has been hard for many of those voters to stomach the way this election is being decided, if the few now given the decision cannot bear public scrutiny, it is an ominous start for the government they will give us.