Greens back off in Mt Roskill

Labour has claimed the first dividend from its agreement with the Green Party after the Greens decided not to contest any Mt Roskill by-election.

Metiria Turei
Metiria Turei

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said yesterday the Greens would not stand in a by-election in Mt Roskill should current MP Phil Goff win the Auckland mayoralty.

"The Mt Roskill by-election will be closely contested, and we don't want to play any role in National winning the seat.''

However, she said it did not have a position on whether it would endorse Labour's candidate, Michael Wood, or actively encourage Green supporters to vote for him.

It is the first "deal'' in an electorate under the agreement between Labour and the Greens to campaign together more closely and work to increase the centre-left vote.

Labour leader Andrew Little said it was the Greens' decision. "I welcome it.''

He said it did not mean Labour now owed the Greens and there had been no discussions on any other electorates.

Ms Turei said it showed the memorandum of understanding was working. The Green Party reached its decision after several weeks of discussion.

"The decision was made by the Green Party, and has no bearing on any other electorates or the 2017 election campaign.''

In the past, Labour and the Greens have criticised National for doing deals to secure electorate seats for Act New Zealand and United Future.

The announcement got a swift reaction from the Act party on Twitter. It accused Labour and the Greens of "absolute hypocrisy''.

"In Epsom, no party ever pulled a candidate yet it was still a scam according to Opposition. Now they go further in Mt Roskill - shameless.''

Mr Wood was Labour's candidate in Epsom in 2014 and described the deal between National and Act leader David Seymour as a "rort'' and "a distasteful manipulation of the electoral system''.

"Act has turned Epsom into New Zealand's `rotten borough' and this needs to end,'' Mr Wood said at the time.

Mr Seymour said it appeared Mr Wood was either a "slow learner'' who had just realised how MMP worked or lacked character.

"It will be interesting to hear whether he now thinks Mt Roskill is a rotten borough.''

The Mt Roskill deal could prove critical. In 2014, Mr Goff won with an 8000-vote majority over National's candidate, Parmjeet Parmar, but National got 14,275 party votes - about 2000 more than Labour.

The by-election will test how much of Mr Goff's support was down to incumbency.

The Green Party candidate, Barry Coates, got 1682 votes and the Greens got 3279 party votes.

Mr Coates will enter Parliament next week to replace Kevin Hague on the list.

Mr Goff has said he will resign from Parliament immediately if elected Auckland mayor early next month, allowing for a by-election before Christmas. 

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