Brash: Tax cuts not negotiable

Don Brash

National Party leader Don Brash has set two bottom lines for forming a government - tax cuts and abolishing the Maori seats.

But both could present an initial roadblock for coalition with New Zealand First, National's only realistic coalition prospect on most recent polling.

Dr Brash elaborated on his no-compromise policies in an interview with the Weekend Herald.

He also:

* Expressed regret over his handling of Katherine Rich's sacking from the welfare portfolio.

* Said he would keep the Maori Television Service for now.

* Praised the intelligence of Prime Minister Helen Clark.

Asked if he could tolerate NZ First watering down National's yet-to-be-detailed tax-cut plans, Dr Brash said he thought the public expected National to deliver on its commitments to tax relief.

"I think if [NZ First leader] Mr [Winston] Peters couldn't support the thrust of that - I won't say every single detail but the thrust of it - then it would be very hard indeed to form a government with him."

Mr Peters could not be contacted yesterday, but he said last week that Dr Brash was misleading New Zealand about what was available for tax cuts.

"There's about $2.2 billion available, not the amount Don Brash talks about," said Mr Peters.

"I believe there are certain segments of the economy that desperately need tax cuts, but the question is what can you afford in a declining economy.

"I don't think Dr Brash has been remotely honest on that score."

In the Weekend Herald interview, Dr Brash also made it clear that abolishing the Maori seats was a policy on which National could not compromise. He did this while discussing why it would be "very difficult" for National to work with the Maori Party.

Dr Brash appeared not to know that New Zealand First did not support the immediate abolition of the Maori seats: while it opposes them, it believes it is up to Maori to decide when they should be abolished.

Asked if that could be a coalition breaker, Dr Brash said: "I think we would have considerable difficulty with that".

New Zealand First's Maori affairs spokesman, Pita Paraone, yesterday confirmed New Zealand First's policy of allowing Maori to determine when to abolish the Maori seats, and said he did not believe the party would relent on it. But it was not up to him to say whether it could be a coalition buster.

If Parliament simply abolished the Maori seats, he believed it would cause civil unrest.

Dr Brash expressed regret over the handling of the Katherine Rich affair, revealing that he wished he had relieved her of the job when she first asked to be, months before his Orewa speech on welfare in January.

Katherine Rich was sacked as welfare spokeswoman after she failed to back his speech, which took a hard line on domestic purposes beneficiaries and suggested pregnant teenagers should consider adoption instead of the DPB.

She confirmed yesterday that she had asked to be removed from welfare months before.

"It is well known that the policy debates we had at the beginning of the year weren't something that happened over a week."

The tougher aspects of National's welfare policy, including possible sanctions against women on the DPB becoming pregnant, have since been removed.

In the interview, Dr Brash would not say whether Katherine Rich would make the Cabinet in a government led by him but said she would be in a "senior" role.

Asked what Helen Clark's strengths were, Dr Brash said "she is clearly intelligent", but went on to say she was willing to compromise principles in the interests of political power.

Meanwhile, Helen Clark in Tauranga yesterday said NZ First should say which party it supported in government.