Key meets with potential Govt supporters

ONE NEWS: The business of forming a government is underway for John Key.

The prime minister-designate arrived back in Wellington on Monday morning to get talks underway with both the Act and United Future parties.
The National leader is hoping the formation of a government will be a swift process and also says he will be having briefings with top officials in the next few days.

Meanwhile, Key has made it clear that former Labour finance minister and Act co-founder Sir Roger Douglas will not have a ministerial position in his new Cabinet.
But his coalition partner, Act's current  leader Rodney Hide, says Douglas will have some part to play as one of Act's five MPs.

Hide is also happy with Key's decision to work with the Maori Party.

Maori party co-leader Pita Sharples says any offer on the table from National will have to be discussed with party supporters.

Key is meeting the leaders of the minor parties he intends bringing into his government so he has 70 votes in Parliament on confidence and supply.

Those votes are crucial for a government to command the confidence of parliament, and with 70 he will have an overwhelming majority over the 52 votes of Labour and the Greens.

Key is meeting first on Monday afternoon with Hide. Act is already committed to supporting National and the agreement was formalised during the campaign.

They will talk about ministerial positions for Act and the extent of its responsibilities within a coalition or support agreement, although Hide says that isn't his main concern.

"The number one thing is to form a stable and secure government and to give the country some certainty and sense of direction," he said on Sunday.

The Act leader says his party isn't going into the negotiations with any bottom lines, and reaching agreement isn't expected to be difficult.

Key will also meet Peter Dunne. The United Future leader committed himself to supporting National before the election and he doesn't have any colleagues to consult because he is UF's only MP.

Then there is the Maori Party, with its five MPs. Key doesn't need them for a majority but he wants to bring them into his "inclusive" government.

Whether the Maori Party MPs get any portfolio responsibilities will depend on the negotiations, Key says. He will also be holdings talk with the Maori Party on Tuesday to discuss a possible support role.

Key wants to be sworn in as prime minister by Monday of next week so he could leave for Peru, where the Apec summit meeting is being held the following day.

He says he expects the Apec summit, where the leaders of all the world's major economies will meet, is going to turn into an economic summit.

Also on Key's immediate agenda is a briefing from the Reserve Bank and the Treasury, probably in the middle of the week, on the deteriorating economy.

"We see the economy as front and centre stage of the issues we face," he says.

On Tuesday morning all the National MPs will meet together for the first time.
Meanwhile, outgoing prime minister Helen Clark is presiding over her last Cabinet meeting on Monday as her colleagues think about a new Labour leadership.
They have to find someone to replace her as leader as well as deputy leader Michael Cullen who is  also stepping down.