By Patrick Gower
The numbers on election night could fall in a way that John Key has to make a phone call to the Greens to form a government.
And the Greens have been leaving that door open as they try to hook swinging voters.
Today’s campaign stunt by the Greens was a cuppa with Green Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown.
Co-leader Metiria Turei says someone described their stance with the National Party as "the door is open but the chain is still on".
It is a convenient position, linking brand green with brand Key when looking for swinging voters.
Pity for them Mr Key does not really want a bar of it, saying "a vote for the Greens is fundamentally a vote for Labour".
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The Greens have actively tried to promote the notion they could swim with the sharks.
So could they go up a level and support National on what is called confidence and supply? Could they really support a government intent on asset sales?
“No asset sales,” says co-leader Russel Norman. “That's right, that's what we stand for.”
And Ms Turei says welfare reform is one of the issues “we would like to see some constraints on”.
Deep sea drilling is another area where the Greens would like to see some constraint.
So there are some serious constraints on the Greens supporting a National government.
“We've said its highly unlikely,” says Ms Turei.
So easy enough for the Greens to sit down and have a cuppa with a fellow party member but the reality is a meaningful cuppa with John Key in terms of actually giving him the power to govern is far, far away.
3 News
source: newshub archive
