ACT leader David Seymour says the party’s negotiations with National have been ‘productive’ but he is yet to meet with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.
Photo: RNZ/ Nick Monro
The leaders of the two parties in coalition negotiations with National have yet to set a date to meet one another, ACT leader David Seymour says.
National will need both ACT and New Zealand First to govern.
Both parties have raised red flags over the affordability of National’s tax package, but they were yet to meet, ACT leader Seymour told Midday Report.
The country was facing “much bigger challenges” than coalition arrangements he said, including its fiscal position, ensuring streets were safer and figuring out how to “draw towards a better, more widely-understood conception of our founding document that unites rather than divides people”.
ACT’s wish for a referendum on the Treaty of Waitangi will likely be another tricky issue during negotiations.
National’s leader Christopher Luxon on Monday told Morning Report his party would “deliver and run a government for everybody”, saying a referendum on the Treaty would be “divisive and unhelpful”.
Asked about Luxon’s remarks, Seymour said: “He’s made a comment to that effect, but ultimately, he also hasn’t ruled it out”.
“I think what everybody knows is that there needs to be a serious discussion around the role of the Treaty and how we find common ground.”
ACT’s discussions with National had been “productive”, he said, and the two parties were “getting close to having a draft agreement”.
And despite not yet having met with New Zealand First’s Winston Peters, Seymour said he expected “a strong working relationship between three parties”.
“We’re going to have to work together, as per the results that the will of the people confirmed on Friday, for about three years – over a thousand days.”
