National And Labour Should ‘Combine Forces’, Billionaire Business Leader Says

Midday
Report

A
billionaire business leader thinks National and Labour
should “combine forces” and work together.

Guy
Haddleton told Midday Report he was not suggesting a
“grand coalition” but thought a two-party system managing
the country was better than four parties “trying to knock it
out together” in such a challenging time.

“I think if
the two parties could agree a supply and confidence, one to
the other, and agree strategic initiatives, one of which,
clearly a review of MMP would be significant, but then other
investment opportunities that the country needs to undertake
that have a five, ten-year lifespan might be better for us
at this moment in time.”

This election saw voters
shift support to smaller parties, with the Greens and ACT
enjoying record support, and Opportunity entering Parliament
for the first time.

National and Labour’s combined
vote on the preliminary count was just under 60 percent, but
Haddleton said 60 percent was a mandate to govern.

“I
think we are a centralist country. We might have 20 percent
on the extreme left and 20 percent on the extreme right.
Those are just hypothetical numbers, obviously. And we’ve
got 60 percent on the central. I suspect the central should
win and govern.”

Germany, Ireland, and Denmark had all
tried similar sorts of arrangements, with Haddleton saying
some had been more successful than others.

Haddleton
said the key to a successful arrangement would be having a
defined timescale, rather than something in
perpetuity.

“I’m not suggesting that this should be
the end of either of the two grand parties. Not at all. What
I’m suggesting is we are in a difficult, challenging time
globally. No party has a mandate as such. Why not have the
two major parties, who are actually quite
centrist?”

© Scoop Media