'THE NATION'

METIRIA TUREI

Interviewed by RICHARD HARMAN

Rachel The Prime Minister John Key ramped up his attack on a possible Green Labour coalition by calling the Greens whacky, extreme and unusual. The Greens in return called Key's government the extremists. But as next year's election edges closer some voters will be starting to ask what would the Greens do if they get in power. The Greens have gathered in Christchurch this weekend for their AGM and Co-Leader Metiria Turei joins me now. Good morning Ms Turei thank you for joining us this morning.

Kia ora.

Are the Greens still the party that Jeannette Fitzsimons and Rod Donald formed back in the 90s?

Metiria Turei - Green Co-Leader
Oh yes, oh yes we are. We have changed nothing about our values, about our approach to politics, or our commitment to the Green kaupapa, and we have huge thanks I think to Rod and Jeannette for giving us such a strong base from which to work and to grow. We are now cemented as the third largest political party in New Zealand. We've had excellent polling since the last election. We're only getting better, bigger and stronger, and I suspect that is leading to John Key's concerns and feeling so threatened by us actually.

Rachel Okay, well when he stands up and says that the Greens are a far left party how does that sit with you, are you okay with that?

Metiria Well he's obviously very frightened of the Greens now growing power and strength, and I think he should be. You know we do challenge him and his party on the disastrous things they're doing to this country. Today Russel Norman will be addressing our annual conference and he'll be describing all the ways that National has been anti-democratic, and is trying to remove from communities their power and authority they are entitled to exercise, in order to keep it for himself. I think there are some real issues around how anti-democratic this government is, and what those examples are, and that does frighten John Key because he knows it's wrong.

Rachel Okay but do you sit on the far left, because John Key says you know vote Labour, get the Greens and the Greens are pulling the Labour right over to the far left. Is that where you position yourself?

Metiria Well it's certainly true that if we want to do things like reduce people's power bills, John Key thinks that’s very far left, we think that is just fair for families and for businesses. That if we want to provide affordable housing for young families to access to, John Key thinks that’s far left, we think that’s just fair for New Zealand families who really desperately need secure housing. So John has his own views about these things. I think they're rather silly myself. We are putting our proposals, genuine solutions to the issues that affect our families and businesses, and that’s what we will continue to do that regardless of what John Key thinks.

Rachel Okay so do you have more spending proposals or was the joint power plan with Labour, was that it?

Metiria Well will continue to put out solutions over the next 18 months leading up to the election. We've never been in as strong a position 18 months from election as we are now. Our polling has been very secure and stable at around 12%. At the election we tend to go up from our mid-term polling so we're expecting to do better at the election as well, and that will be because we are producing solutions to the problems that New Zealanders face. I'll be talking about one of those tomorrow in my speech to the AGM.

Rachel Okay you're pretty well positioned to where you want to be 18 months out from an election. What are you going to campaign on? Power policy, capital gains tax, or perhaps the environment?

Metiria All of those things. We are a party that is also a broad church, and we know that the three most important issues for New Zealanders are fairness, equity, a stable economy and a healthy environment, and we will continue to campaign on those issues always. That is what Jeannette and Rod built our party on, and we will continue that legacy.

Rachel Okay let's assume that there's – you know you're in power with Labour, what do you want to achieve in the first 100 days?

Metiria Well we will put out our first 100 days' programme closer to the election, but New Zealanders already have a clear indication. We want every New Zealander to have a home for life, a home that they can afford that’s secure for their kids.

Rachel Every New Zealander is that really feasible?

Metiria Yeah, well of course it's feasible, it certainly was in prior to the late 1980s and it certainly can be again, if we commit to housing as being part of our national infrastructure, that every New Zealand citizen is entitled to. You know we don’t have to live with this old neoliberal ideas that the fatter your wallet the better life you should have. In fact everybody's entitled to a decent life and we can make sure that that’s the case, like fair power prices, like decent affordable housing.

Rachel Okay, what are your strengths. What position would you want in a coalition?

Metiria All of those things will be up for discussion. I would like be Minister, I make no bones about that.

Rachel Minister of Education?

Metiria Well social policy has certainly been my specialty and expertise over the last 11 years, but all of these things are on the table and they need to be part of our discussion with Labour when the time comes.

Rachel Okay you're making a speech this weekend, I know it's about child poverty, what can you tell me about that?

Metiria Well at the heart of our education policy is the concept of schools as the hub of the community, and schools are moving towards that, where they're trying to not only provide education services, but also other services that help remove the barriers to kids learning, like food in schools for example, like community services. So I'll be talking about that tomorrow and how reasonably we can extend that. We need to make sure teachers and principals are focused on their expertise which is teaching our kids, and we can provide community services to families to help remove the barriers to their kids' learning.

Rachel And I suspect you will be very opposed to the 90 million dollars that’s been set aside for charter schools then?

Metiria Oh the 90 million dollars that’s going into the private profit of a few cowboys in education is being taken from the kids who need it the most. The charter schools experiment is going to do enormous harm to our kids. We have alternatives here, we actually have systems of education that work brilliantly for our kids, particularly for our most vulnerable learners, like kurakaupapa, like kotahitanga, like kahikatea. Those are the programmes we should be funding with that 90 million dollars.

Rachel Okay, I want to talk a little bit more about you know a potential coalition here. Given the comments that were made this week by Winston Peters, could you work in a coalition with New Zealand First.

Metiria Oh, Winston Peters' racism is always a difficulty, absolutely.

Rachel But there are acceptable difficulties in the event coalition partner.

Metiria Yeah I know it's a tricky, but we are working with him in other areas, so on the manufacturing inquiry we're working with them. We know that they were committed to getting rid of the state asset sales policy of National and so they helped us with the campaign on petition on signatures for the CIR petition. So we have worked with them and we will continue to do so where we can, but absolutely the racism of Winston Peters, particularly around immigration is a real concern, it always has been.

Rachel Is it a deal breaker?

Metiria If you're asking about bottom lines?

Rachel Yes.

Metiria Bottom lines they're very 2005, we don’t do that sort of thing anymore.

Rachel Okay, would you prefer then to be in a coalition, in a coalition with Labour obviously, what would you prefer then, Mana, the Maori Party, New Zealand First?

Metiria Well you know our first preference of course is to be the government, our second preference I think yes would be to work with Labour and if others parties want to be involved in that coalition and it's needed and it's a good idea, then we'll work with those parties too. I think what's most important is the Green Party wants to be part of a progressive government at after the 2014 election. That’s what we're working for.

Rachel If you were in government with New Zealand First would you insist on Winston Peters moderating the language that he uses?

Metiria Can anybody insist that Winston Peters does anything, I think is the major question. So, we will be working as best as we can with whoever is in that progressive government, and there will be areas where we have very serious disagreement with what other political parties in that government are wanting to do, and we have to find ways of working through those and develop those relationships now so we can work through those. That is the difficulty with any coalition government that exists, including whether it's on the left or right of the spectrum.

Rachel I do understand what you mean about moderating Winston Peters, you know he is a law unto himself, but you know at the absolute heart of what Jeannette Fitzsimons and Rod Donald stood for back then, they would have vehemently opposed what Peters is talking about now.

Metiria Yes that’s right, and so do we but they also believe that the point of being in politics for the Greens was to get a Green kaupapa through, and that we would work across the spectrum with those on who we could agree on some issues, even if we disagree with others, in order to progress good Green politics, and that is a legacy we must, we must commit, and I am committed to that as well. Individual issues and their particular problems we can deal with, but if we can work across the political spectrum then we should. That is our responsibility. So responsibility of being the third largest political party in the country.

Rachel Okay, Metiria Turei, Green Party Co-Leader, appreciate your time this morning, live to us from Christchurch.

ENDS

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