21 Oct 2020

Green Party: 'Fruitful discussions ... further discussions to have'

4:12 pm on 21 October 2020

The Green Party says there is a negotiation going on with the Labour Party, but there are more discussions to be had.

Watch the live stream of the briefing, expected to start about 3.30pm:

Speaking to media this afternoon having met with the Labour Party today, co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw say they cannot talk about the content of the discussions.

Davidson says they've had "fruitful discussions" with the prime minister, and some further conversations will be had next week.

"The whole siding point for us is what we can do to make change in the areas of protecting climate, our environment and addressing inequality," she said.

"We won't be talking about what is actually happening in the discussions at this time," Davidson says.

"We're starting to progress conversations and get some clarity."

Shaw says the change in language from "negotiation" to "discussion" is not a conscious decision the party has made, saying they are negotiations.

He says they will not comment on the content of the discussions.

"The only thing we can say is we ran a campaign, as Marama said, on climate action, protecting nature and ending inequality. We had a series of quite well thought through policy priorities in relation to those and that's what important to us," Shaw says.

Davidson says they are having discussions with a team of representatives from the Green members. She refused to answer whether she wanted to be a minister or not.

"Everyone knows what the numbers are. What we are looking at though is we spent three years working productively with Labour and they too acknowledge that. We've got experience that Labour too has acknowledged."

Shaw says they had a constructive working relationship and they both share a vision for the future of the country.

"The question is how can we help to achieve that."

It comes amid speculation over possible negotiations between the party and Labour about forming the incoming government.

Labour could choose to govern alone with its majority, but its leader Jacinda Ardern may also seek extra support, possibly in a confidence and supply agreement.

The leaders had a general conversation about the election result earlier this week, as well as a discussion about the process and the timeframe for ongoing discussions.

Labour MPs met for their first caucus meeting of the term yesterday.

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