Greens walk out into cold

By FRANCESCA MOLD

Rod Donald looked bitter. Jeanette Fitzsimons looked relieved.

It was finally over. A new Government had been formed and the Greens would not be part of it.

The two Green leaders were the first to announce the outcome of almost two weeks of secret coalition talks, at a 10am press conference yesterday.

About 45 journalists, MPs and staff crammed into the Greens' 14th-floor Bowen House caucus room, which was decorated with newspaper billboards giving a potted version of events over the past few weeks.

"Greens Thwart Govt over GM. Greens Play Hard to Get. Unions Back Greens for Govt. Dunne Slams Stone Age Greens. PM Wants Greens and Dunne."

But today's billboards are likely to complete that story with something different - Greens Shut Out of Labour-Dunne Deal.

The billboards covering the period of the coalition talks are evidence of a kind of charade being played out for the public.

On their way to and from talks in the Beehive, the Greens never gave any indication that a coalition had already been ruled out.

But yesterday they revealed that the decision not to enter into an arrangement with Labour that would see them guarantee support on confidence and money supply votes was made as early as Wednesday of last week.

That was the day when Labour made it clear that it would not budge on plans to lift the moratorium on the release of genetically modified organisms next October.

"It became clear last week that release of GE is a bottom line for Labour and therefore there is no way that we could give confidence to a Government which we believe is sabotaging our economic future, our markets and putting at risk our health and our environment," said Ms Fitzsimons.

She said it was clear as far back as election night that the Greens' chances of forcing Labour into a backdown on GM were blown when the party failed to win enough support to give it the balance of power.

But when talks began there was still some hope among the Greens.

"Labour hadn't made the moratorium an absolute bottom line in those terms until after the election when we talked," said Ms Fitzsimons.

"They always left themselves a tiny piece of wriggle room in case they needed us, in case they couldn't govern without us."

But United Future's sudden surge from around 1 per cent in the polls to 6.8 per cent on election night gave Labour the out it needed.

With its own 52 MPs, Progressive Coalition's two seats and United Future, it had the numbers needed to govern.

Despite having more than a week to prepare themselves for the creation of a Labour/Progressive Coalition/United Future Government, the actual announcement was a difficult moment for the Greens, who had pinned their hopes on helping to build a centre-left Administration.

Yesterday's announcement of the new Government took place at 4.15pm in Parliament's wood-panelled, red-carpeted Legislative Chamber, with about 100 journalists, MPs and parliamentary staff looking on.

Prime Minister Helen Clark sat looking rather grim behind a table on a dais with, rather fittingly, Jim Anderton on her left and Peter Dunne on her right.

She said Labour would operate a minority Government supported by a formal coalition agreement with Jim Anderton's Progressive Coalition.

A different deal had been struck with Mr Dunne.

He would promise to support Labour on every confidence and money supply vote over the next three years in return for the creation of a Commission for the Family, the passing of stronger victims rights legislation and transport laws to speed up roading development.

It was not so clear what Mr Anderton would get in return for his support. Something worthy but vague, such as a stable Government that worked to increase economic growth, reduce inequality and improve New Zealanders' social and economic wellbeing.

Mr Anderton received little media attention during the coalition talks because it had long been accepted he would be part of the new Government.

In the past couple of weeks he has tried to boost his profile by inviting journalists up to his office for a briefing.

Yesterday he annoyed the Prime Minister by inviting photographers to the Beehive to capture his final meeting with her before the deal with formally signed.

The media were asked to leave her ninth floor office.

Reporters assembled outside Mr Anderton's fourth floor office instead. But they had to wait half an hour for the call from Helen Clark summoning her coalition partner to her office.

Mr Anderton and Mr Dunne were pleased with the deals they struck yesterday, but the two Green leaders had to work hard to put a positive spin on their disappointment.

Mr Donald joked that at least they had been able to successfully negotiate permission to knock down the walls in their office to make a larger caucus room.

But on a more serious note, the Green leaders said the decision meant their party was now independent and "free".

Asked if they felt left out in the cold by Helen Clark's decision, they chorused: "Absolutely not. Quite the opposite."

But the pain of watching the party they had supported for almost three years choose the conservative, right-leaning United Future as its partner in Government shone through.

Mr Donald, who was the driving force behind the Greens' push to be in Government, put it bluntly.

"I think Labour has surrendered a centre-left government to the right," he said. "They've really opted to go with a party that wants to quarantine Aids sufferers rather than a party that wants to quarantine genetic engineering."

Told he sounded bitter, Mr Donald replied: "Do I sound bitter? Cross out the bitter. No I'm always fascinated by the way people vote."

The Greens and Labour are continuing talks as they try to find ways to work together on legislation and other issues they have in common.

They plan to co-operate when they can but there will be no formal agreement.

Mr Donald said Labour was firm and assertive about what it wanted during the talks.

"But they weren't offering much ... and that obviously influenced our decision to go independent," he said.

Mr Donald said he believed Helen Clark's sniping at the Greens during the election campaign and the decision to go with United Future were influenced by a desire to wipe out the GM issue.

But he gave a warning that it would not go away.

"They want to put GE off the political agenda because it's too embarrtassing for them," he said.

"That's why they weren't prepared to move. But it won't go away."

His words were somewhat prophetic. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry revealed yesterday that an investigation was under way into another possible case of a GM-contaminated crop in New Zealand.

Mr Donald also expressed annoyance at voters for being seduced by media coverage of United Future leader Peter Dunne in the last few days of the election campaign, after he had been credited with winning the TVNZ "worm" debate.

"Voters should look at the small print, not just the glossy picture."

Mr Donald said he believed voters had created a coalition Government that would not deliver what they had hoped for.

"It's the voters who dealt the cards," he said. "I think people were genuinely looking for some bland stability but they're not going to get it.

"They [voters] went to the centre because they weren't aware of who they were voting for, except the centre is somewhere off to the right if not over the edge."

Mr Donald admitted that the Greens had made mistakes.

"But we don't take responsibility for how people vote. They made their choices and if they were prepared to vote for the worm and be seduced by common sense supposedly, then that's their call."

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