KEY POINTS:
Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons has sent a blunt warning to the two major parties that flirting with her party will fail if they do not back up their rhetoric with policies that work.
Both Labour and National have been on a charm offensive at the Greens' national conference in Nelson, as the party decides how it will approach the next election.
For the first time, MPs from both major parties have been at the conference. Local National MP Nick Smith asked to attend and Labour sent junior whip Darren Hughes after an invitation was extended in the interests of fairness.
The moves come as the Greens' leadership considers how the party will position itself in the next election - a decision which could be critical as it shapes up to be the third-largest party in Parliament.
Ms Fitzsimons accused Labour of being "in the mid-term doldrums" and criticised its spending on climate change policies in the last Budget as amounting to "a few pennies".
She also criticised Labour for pandering to the middle class - a process which had led to a worsening of the lot of sickness beneficiaries and single parents on the domestic purposes benefit compared with workers since Labour came into power in 1999.
"In your rush to offer more to middle New Zealand than National's proposed tax cuts, your Labour-led Governments have left some of our most vulnerable citizens behind ... Why not allow all our families to benefit from economic years of plenty?"
A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said Helen Clark viewed the address as a "straightforward positioning speech which the smaller parties are making at this time, mid-point of the electoral cycle".
Labour "valued" its relations with the Greens and Helen Clark "sees a strong basis for continuing the relationship," the spokeswoman said.
However, Ms Fitzsimons sent a strong message that the Greens would not fall into the lap of Labour in the build-up to the next election as easily as they had at the last.
It was "ironic" that Labour had opted for NZ First and United Future rather than a joint force of the Greens and Maori Party, which would have delivered the same number of seats.
"They were concerned about instability. And which parties have been unstable? United Future and Labour itself. The Government is now totally reliant for its stability on our agreement to abstain, which at the time looked like it was surplus to requirements."
Of National, she said the party was making some of the right noises since Don Brash was ousted by John Key, but queried whether the new face was all charm and no substance.
Mr Key's recent policy announcement of reducing carbon emissions to half their 1990 levels by 2050 was a "bold goal" but was "like announcing that your destination is the North Pole, but having no boats or planes or rafts or balloons, and no proposals or timetable to build any before it melts away".
Ms Fitzsimons said: "We have established a reputation as a party that is driven by policy and principle and that keeps its word.
"We cannot be bribed or bought. We don't do trade-offs, where we vote against our policy on one issue in order to gain another."
Dr Smith noted the chasm between the two parties in social and economic policy, which he said was likely to rule out any strong coalition.
However, they had similar goals on environmental matters, such as farming and its pollution of waterways, he said. Attending the conference had reinforced his view.
"I still believe a formal coalition is unlikely, but some form of co-operation around specific issues is quite within the bounds."
He said Ms Fitzsimons' questions were "fair" but working out the details of a policy that would reduce carbon emissions to half 1990 levels by 2050 was not something to be worked out "on the hoof".
Helen Clark's spokeswoman defended the Government's record on low-income households, saying Labour had worked hard at improving their lot with "countless policy initiatives" such as Working for Families, rates rebates, increases to the minimum wage, paid parental leave and the Employment Relations Act.
However, Ms Fitzsimons later said such policies were targeted at workers and did little to help those on benefits.
