Three-way marriage has complexities

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Negotiations to form the next government have had an extra layer of challenge on top of the personalities, past jibes and policy differences among the three parties, with confirmation this week they are working to create New Zealand’s first three-way coalition government.

This is not for the faint-hearted.

National, Act and NZ First — which has been a sometimes bitter political opponent of the other two — would be signing up to collective Cabinet responsibility. This means all members of Cabinet must publicly support all governmental decisions made in Cabinet, even if they do not privately agree with them.

Parallel negotiations during the two weeks after the final election results were released centred on policies and finding the necessary wins and trade-offs for each party to be happy with a collective policy platform.

National reached seperate deals with both Act and NZ First at the weekend, and the smaller support parties then got to see the fine print of what the other had achieved.

There will also have been a lot of talk about the type of deal they would sign up to, including how they operate as partners in government — especially when there is disagreement.

It is likely that the eventual coalition deal reached will be detailed and prescriptive so that everyone knows what the rules of engagement are.

Negotiations have now turned to ministerial and Cabinet positions, and this is not going to be easy either.

As the lead party in a three-way coalition, National will have to share more key Cabinet roles and ministerial roles aligned with the specific policy interests of the two minor parties than would normally be the case. This will be especially so if National deputy leader Nicola Willis becomes the deputy prime minister.

Making the leader of your coalition partner the deputy prime minister has been a given until now. David Seymour was yesterday talking up his “clear case” for the role, as leader of the second biggest party in the coalition. Winston Peters will probably have other ideas, in which case the role would either have to be shared between them in some way, or go to Willis — and then Act and NZ First get more influence in other areas.

Peters has been deputy PM twice before, from 1996-1998 when he was also treasurer, and from 2017-2020 when he was also Foreign Minister (a role he also held from 2005-2008).

Apparently he is keen to be attorney-general, to have influence over judicial appointments. That might be problematic for National, as would be Peters having responsibility for the Serious Fraud Office — an institution he has clashed with over many years.

Don’t count on a wedding, blessed by each party’s board, this week!