In New Zealand's dramatic election, a progressive coalition, the Alliance, emerged as the major winner. Although two parliamentary seats fail to reflect its 18.3% vote, it is assured of a big role in the country's political future. MATT McCARTEN, the Alliance's campaign manager, spoke to Green Left Weekly's Ana Kailis, in Auckland, about the election and the future of New Zealand politics.
"I think it's a watershed. What it means in New Zealand is the end of the New Right. That's pretty well accepted now. The National [party] government is in a minority, if in fact they are the government. Certainly the murmurings of the Business Roundtable, the business community, Labour and National over the last few days reflect the fact that the New Right is over.
"MMP [multi-member proportional representation] has been passed, so the Alliance is here for good."
The New Right doesn't know what to do at the moment. "This is a terrible result for them, the worst they could have imagined", says McCarten, "They've had both Labour and National in their pocket for some years, and for the first time neither of them are in a position where they can do what they like. This has made the Alliance a key player in parliament, and they haven't bought us."
The Alliance has refused a five-point plan put to it by Labour as a basis of joining a coalition. McCarten doesn't see much difference between Labour and National: "In fact, in some ways the Labour Party is even more dangerous to working people because it pretends to represent labour. They were the ones who brought a right-wing agenda into New Zealand in 1984, and a lot of the people who brought it in are still there. In fact, their front bench is almost the same as those who brought in this ideology, and they haven't apologised.
"If you look at the small print in Labour's manifesto, it is the same as National. We took a principled position before the election and have kept to it. Whoever has the most seats, whether Labour or National, has the right to govern; however, we will support our manifesto and will vote for laws that move towards our manifesto and we will vote against legislation that goes against our manifesto.
"We don't believe in going into a coalition with Labour because that is not what people voted for. If we go into a coalition with Labour we would have to trade-off some of our policy and that would destroy us, so we're not going to do it."
The Labour Party wants to bring down the National government, but McCarten sees this as opportunism and says that the Alliance will not support a vote of no confidence in the government. "The people have voted. One party has more seats than the others, and they can form a minority government. We would have the same opinion if this were Labour or National. Our objective is to become the majority party.
"Now that there's a minority government, we will want to provide progressive policies as private member's bills. It will be interesting to see where Labour lies. We have policies such as the repeal of the Employment Contracts Act, which is more than what Labour has promised. Where will the left of the Labour Party vote on that?
"The main arena now is going to be in parliament because parliament now is going to be democratic, not dominated by cabinet. So we'll be using it to expose Labour and National."
What sort of response will the business Roundtable have when the Alliance MPs start putting these sort of bills in parliament?
"They'll go berserk; they've already started. We'll have to be careful and not allow ourselves to be painted as wreckers, which they will try to do. But what we've got to say to people is, 'Who runs this country — do we elect our government or does big business do it for us?'"
Alliance co-deputy leader and Green Party member Jeanette Fitzsimons refers to the Alliance as the birth of a new political movement. What should be the relationship between the grassroots and the elected MPs?
"Labour and National have always separated parliament and electoral politics from everyday politics. You get to go to a ballot box once every three years and that's the end of it; then it's just taken over by the establishment.
"From our point of view, our MPs have to be part of the mass struggle. We have to link all of our parliamentary work to mass action on the streets, to people's real lives. For example, with the Employment Contracts Act, we have to have a mass meeting about it with workers, we have to talk to the unions, we have to try to raise people's understanding of the issues so that the MPs are acting with the moral support of large numbers of people.
"We will not survive if we try to keep parliamentary activity isolated from other struggles outside parliament. How we will win is that we will have people behind us."
The Council of Trade Unions supported Labour during the campaign. But now, with the endorsement of MMP, some unions are reassessing their position. "The trade unions are conservative, pragmatic organisations", comments McCarten. "Some have asked for talks, and I think a lot of unions will be giving equal support to the Alliance and Labour. It's a new era, and as time goes on I think we'll continue to win more working people than Labour because Labour is essentially a bourgeois party with a bourgeois leadership."
Asked what sort of party Labour might become under the new voting system, McCarten replies immediately: "A minor one, I hope."
"Labour will try to be all things to the working class and to big business. They will put themselves in the middle, and they'll get squeezed from the right and left. They'll become more of a broker party in the centre."
What then are the prospects of New Zealand being transformed into a socially just society with an environmentally sustainable economy?
"I think the key lies in the building of the Alliance. The Alliance has to be a mass movement on the streets, out where the struggles are. The Alliance has to be more than just an electoral party. It has to be a movement for social change, with all its diversity, because that's what our society is like.
"Issues of class and race and gender have to be addressed in a real way. I think that is the future, and it's the role I think the Alliance is going to play."