In brief 

• If Labour forms the next Government, it will be in coalition with The Green Party and likely Te Pāti Māori.
• Te Pāti Māori wants Co governance as job one.
• Greens demand “the strongest possible climate action”, plus they are social justice warriors.

“Coalition of chaos”

More than likely any path to re-election for Labour will involve a coalition with The Green Party and quite possibly Te Pāti Māori. National’s Chris Luxon dubs the potential coalition of left bloc parties the “coalition of chaos”, and has ruled out working with Te Pāti Māori, saying they are radical and separatist. 

Ultimately, Labour voters need to determine if they are aligned with the policies of those other two parties, and should be aware what may be demanded from Labour in exchange for supporting them.

This isn’t a full breakdown of what each party wants, but simply an overview of the kinds of policies that may be preconditions to joining Labour in a coalition government. 

Te Pāti Māori

The president of Te Pāti Māori, John Tamihere, made clear what his party is looking for in any future coalition with Labour, should they be tapped to form the next Government.

Unsurprisingly Te Pāti Māori supports co-governance measures. However, the party did not support Labour’s Water Services Entities Act (part of the Three Waters reforms) because in their view it didn’t go far enough. Tamihere assumes all fresh water in NZ belongs to Māori, asking “How did Pākehā get in the room?”

Tamihere says Te Pāti Māori would want the Government to commit to some form of wealth tax – perhaps a capital gains tax. He also wants a vacancy tax on ‘ghost’ houses in order to encourage homeowners to make their properties available to renters.

Co-leader Rawiri Waititi says the ultimate goal is complete self governance. 

Te Pāti Māori want to remove GST on food and have a “grown-up conversation” on the role of the monarchy. Diplomatically, they want a policy of strict neutrality, opting out of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance of US, UK, Canada, Australia and NZ. 

Tamihere says his party is not looking for Cabinet positions and is content to occupy the cross benches.

The Green Party

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins raised the ire of the Greens by scrapping “cash for clunkers”, the scheme to swap older vehicles for cleaner, newer models, and the biofuel mandate in the so-called policy bonfire.

Understandably then, the Greens will be looking to reinstate green-friendly policies. While light on specifics, co-leader James Shaw says his party will only enter a coalition with Labour on condition the Government “will not accept anything less than the strongest possible climate action”.

Labour voters need to be aware that social justice has become a major thread for the Greens alongside traditional environmentalism. The fight between competing priorities has caused instability as party upstarts try to include new directions such as promoting transgender rights, vaccine mandates, Māori self determination, etc. 

It should be noted that, when the Green Party previously entered a coalition with Labour in 2020, it was on the condition a capital gains tax would be introduced – which failed to eventuate. 

In a nutshell 

Labour voters should consider all the policies proposed by both the Greens and Te Pāti Māori in detail.