Future of NZ First uncertain

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand First deputy leader Peter Brown says it is uncertain who will be leading the party or standing for Parliament at the next election.

The party's former MPs are in the process of packing up after their election loss.

Mr Brown says there has been a lot of positive feedback from the public.

He says he has been surprised by the level of support and by the number of people who still want the party in Parliament.

However, he says there will be a number of changes, including the way party funds are handled and in personnel.

Listen to Morning Report interview with Peter Brown

Maori Party on board - Key

ONE NEWS: Prime Minister designate John Key is just days away from forming a new National-led government, and the Maori Party looks likely to be part of it. 
It has now considering policy concessions, and possible ministerial roles in a National-led government.

The party's leaders met with Key at parliament on Tuesday morning.
They say while they have to consult with colleagues and supporters first, it's possible a decision on what kind of support role they will play could be made as early as Sunday.
That would fit with National's plan to go to the Governor General with its plans for a multi-party government on Monday or Tuesday and to swear in ministers before John Key flies out to Apec in Peru on Thursday.

"A preference would be that if there was to be three partners with National, for all three partners to be sworn in as part of the government on that particular day," says Key.

The Maori Party is describing the relationship they are looking for with National as "mana-enhancing".

"It's like treaty relationship but without making any presumptions about who's a treaty partner in this instance. But it's eyeball to eyeball," says Pita Sharples, Maori Party co-leader.

Key will also meet with the Act leader Rodney Hide and United Future leader Peter Dunne on Tuesday afternoon.

The incoming prime minister has already secured the votes he needs for a majority in parliament.

The Act Party on Monday pledged support on confidence and supply, adding its five votes to National's 59 for a total of 64 in the 122-member parliament.

National could rule with that alone but Key wants his government to be as broad-based as possible and is bringing in Dunne and the Maori Party, which won five seats in the election.

With those two signed up, Key would have an overwhelming 70 votes in parliament against the combined opposition forces of 52 held by Labour, the Greens and Jim Anderton.

National is not going to form a coalition government with Act. Hide will be given a ministerial position but it will be outside cabinet.

Dunne will also be given a portfolio and will be a minister outside cabinet.

Those arrangements are the same as Labour worked out with Winston Peters and Dunne after the 2005 election, and they allow the minor parties latitude to criticise the government.

Key was expected to offer  the Maori Party co-leaders the same sort of deal. Sharples has said he wants a ministerial role but Turia might not because she has said she will retire from politics at the next election.

Hide said before Monday's meeting his party wanted the emissions trading scheme scrapped and much tougher law and order legislation put through Parliament. Those issues are still being negotiated.

The crucial element of the support agreements Key is working on is that the minor parties will vote with National on confidence and supply.

Confidence votes demonstrate a government's ability to prove that parliament has confidence in it, and apply to budget legislation.

Supply votes are routine and authorise the Treasury to release money for the public service. If a supply vote was lost, the public service would cease functioning and the government would have to resign.

If it lost a confidence vote it would also have to resign, because it would not have been able to pass essential legislation like the budget.

Key wants to form his government as quickly as possible so he can start working on ways to deal with the deteriorating economic situation and attend the Apec meeting.

Caucus cheers

Meanwhile, there were cheers and applause as National's MPs gathered together at parliament pfor the first time since Saturday's election victory.

Among the new team of 59 MPs, were 16 new faces including the new MP for Auckland Central,28-year-old Nicki Kaye, Tauranga's Simon Bridges and new list MP Kanwal Bakshi.

The biggest applause was saved for John Key's entrance into the room.

He says with a caucus of 59 MPs, it's a large group and it's a privilege to be the leader.

When Key entered parliament in 2002, National had just come off its worst election result and had just 27 MPs.

Low turnout on polling day

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: Voter turnout in the 2008 general election appears to have been one of the lowest in a century.

Provisional results show that 78.69% of the 2,935,537 people enrolled to vote actually cast one.

It is the second lowest turnout since the 1978 election, and the third lowest since 1902.

Victoria University political scientist Stephen Levine says people's voting behaviour, including whether to vote at all, is affected if there is an expectation of the likely outcome of an election.

Mr Levine says the consistency of opinion polls - that the National Party would win - leading up to the election may have played a part in the low voter turnout.

Labour ponders over election defeat

ONE NEWS: The new leader of the Labour Party, Phil Goff, is planning a review of why the party was voted out of office.

But Goff believes the election result is not an indication of anger at the direction the country was being taken.

He believes it's because  people wanted a change after nine years of the same government.

Goff says the result of he review will be studied to ensure Labour can mount a strong challenge at the next election in three years.

Labour's caucus on Tuesday elected Goff to take over the leadership of the party from Helen Clark.

Annette King will be the deputy leader, with David Cunliffe the party's finance spokesman.

Cunliffe, who could have challenged Goff, ruled out standing for the leadership earlier.

Goff had been tipped to take leadership of the party before Tuesday's announcement, but had previously said he would support any decision taken by the party's 43 MPs.

Clark announced she was standing down after Saturday night's election result, as did her deputy, Michael Cullen. She has been named as Foreign Affairs spokeswoman.

Darren Hughes and Steve Chadwick have been elected the Senior and Junior Opposition Whips respectively.

Goff says Labour would be a strong and effective opposition.

"In government, Labour succeeded because it had a united, disciplined and motivated parliamentary and ministerial team," he says.

"The outcome of today's caucus demonstrates that Labour will be a strong, united and determined opposition."

Goff first came to parliament in 1981 and was a minister in the Labour government which was in power from 1984 to 1990, and from 1999 to 2008.

He was foreign minister from 1999 to 2005, when the position was given to Winston Peters as part of its support deal with Labour.

Goff took on defence, trade and corrections. He was previously ranked fourth in the cabinet.

King first came to parliament in 1984 and like Goff has also has wide experience as a minister.

She held the employment and immigration portfolios in the previous Labour government and was Minister of Health from 1999 to 2005. Since then she has held the justice, police and transport portfolios. King is ranked fifth in the cabinet.

Labour is known to want a man and a woman in the top two positions, believing that would be the most effective way to take on National's John Key and his deputy Bill English.

Meanwhile, New Zealand's incoming Prime Minister John Key says he is not worried in the slightest by Labour's new leadership of Phil Goff and Annette King.

He wasted no time in attacking the decision to appoint Goff as leader.

"It (the choice of leader) is about as inspiring as their election campaign was," Key told Radio New Zealand when the decision to appoint Goff appeared likely.

"If they want to make a generational change I would have thought they would look to a young leader," he says.

United Future leader Peter Dunne says the decision to make Goff leader, was a clear choice.

"I think probably in the circumstances it is the obvious choice whether it is more than a transitional team though is still to be resolved."

Act leader Rodney Hide was more gracious. He congratulated the new leadership and recognised the extraordinary service of Clark and Cullen.

"Phil Goff and Annette King are politicians who clearly have the qualities required to lead the Labour Party. They are well respected and we look forward to working with them for the good of our country," he says.

"We don't always agree, but I know Phil Goff and Annette King put their country first."

Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons also congratulated the pair.

"Well they are both very experienced and they are both very competent and I wish them well."
She held concerns about the process," she says.

Labour MPs consider leadership positions

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: Outgoing Labour Cabinet ministers are meeting on Monday as they try to ensure a smooth transition to a new leadership team for their party.

Leader Prime Minister Helen Clark announced on election night she would stand down immediately as Labour leader, after the National Party won enough seats to form the next government.

Deputy-leader Michael Cullen is also standing down. He said on Sunday it was time to step aside as deputy leader as the party rebuilds, but would continue to serve in Parliament.

The meeting of the Labour Cabinet, which started late Monday morning, is likely to be the last before the National-led Government is sworn in by Governor-General Anand Satyanand.

It is designed to reach agreement on who should replace Helen Clark and Michael Cullen as leader and deputy leader.

Radio New Zealand's political editor says if agreement can be reached quickly there would be nothing to stop a formal vote on Tuesday, when all Labour MPs meet for the first time since Saturday's election loss.

Senior MP Phil Goff is tipped to replace Helen Clark, while some suggest Annette King would be the ideal deputy.

Roger Douglas will not be silent

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: Sir Roger Douglas, who will be one of ACT's five MPs, is warning the incoming National Government not to expect him to be silent.

Prime Minister elect John Key begins the process of forming a Government on Monday, holding preliminary meetings with the leaders of ACT and United Future.

Mr Key has publicly stated that Sir Roger, who was a Labour finance minister in the 1980's, will not hold a Cabinet position.

However Sir Roger told Nine to Noon it is not certain whether he will remain ruled out, and if he is, there is still room for him as a "sideline commentator."

Sir Roger said his views will be known, and there is "no way" he is going to sit in Parliament over the next three years and be silent.

He said the reforms he made in the 1980s are still in place, unchanged by either a National or Labour-led Government.

National has enough seats to govern with potential coalition partners ACT and United Future, after a sweeping victory in the 2008 general election on Saturday.

Bill English, who is due to become Finance Minister in the new Government, says his party is set to start receiving briefings on the state of the economy.

Mr English told Nine to Noon there will be no cabinet position for Sir Roger Douglas, but said the Government would be open to receiving economic advice from a wide range of people.

United Future leader Peter Dunne said ACT should keep in mind that the party holds only five compared to National's 59.

"If it sees its performance on Saturday as a justification for an unleashing of another right-wing binge, then I think that's not what the country wants or needs."

Listen to Bill English and Sir Roger Douglas on Nine to Noon

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.