PM sets November 26 as election day and repeats won't form coalition with Winston Peters

By Alex Tarrant

Prime Minister John Key has announced in a news conference at the Beehive that the general election will be held on Saturday, November 26.

Key said New Zealanders needed certainty about the election date in a year when New Zealand hosts Rugby World Cup from September 9 to October 23. The election will be held 5 weeks after the final.

Key told the conference he would not form a coalition with Winston Peters, repeating his comments from before the 2008 election. He said if Winston Peters held the balance of power then New Zealand would have a Phil Goff-led Labour government.

'No place for politics in World Cup'

The Prime Minister said he was not relying on the All Blacks to win the World Cup for National's election chances.

"I think the All Blacks will win the Rugby World Cup and in the end whether we hold on to power is more likely to do with the 2 to 3 million voters in New Zealand than necessarily what happens on the footy pitch, but we want the All Blacks to win," Key told a news conference in Wellington.

"In my view we are hosting the largest event New Zealand has ever hosted. We need to make sure New Zealanders prosper out of that event and that we showcase New Zealand to its finest, and I don’t think there’s a place for politics in that. It’s much better to give clarity to everyone so that we know exactly the order of events," Key said.

'Giving New Zealanders clarity'

“I believe it is in the country’s best interests to know the date of the General Election early in election year,” Key said in a statement.

“It creates certainty for New Zealanders and allows people to plan accordingly. This is particularly true this year when the Rugby World Cup, the third largest sporting event in the world, is being hosted by New Zealand," he said.

“Last night I rang the Governor-General to advise him of the election date,” says Mr Key.

"The Government’s intention is that the House will rise on Thursday 6 October, and Parliament will be dissolved on 20 October. Writ day will follow on Wednesday, 26 October, and nomination day will be Tuesday 1 November."

'Big year ahead with World Cup'

This year would be a big one for New Zealanders with the Rugby World Cup, Key said.

“We’re coming out of recession, we’ve had some quite tough conditions for New Zealanders, we need to maximise that opportunity [of the Rugby World Cup] this year, and I feel very comfortable that we’re doing the right thing in giving that claritly [about the election date],” he said.

He said he may have lost a bit of an advantage in calling the election so early, but, “also I’ve given the New Zealand public a huge opportunity to prosper out of the Rugby World Cup, and that’s what I want to do," Key said.

Key said some in the National Party caucus, which is holding an all-day meeting today at Premier house were a bit surprised at his calling the election so early, “but they were very supportive of both of the date, and the fact that we’re adopting the positions that I’ve outlined today.

Rules Peters out

Nothing had changed in Key's views of working with former New Zealand First MP Winston Peters since 2008, he said. If Peters returned to Parliament and held the balance of power, New Zealand would have a Phil Goff-led Labour government.

"But in part it’s style. I’m a different politician to a lot of other politicians, but I want to lead a positive, aspirational government. I don’t believe a Winston Peters government does that," he said.

"Historically, he’s always been sacked by Prime Ministers, [has] a very different style from mine, and is rear-ward looking. I’m about tomorrow, I’m not about yesterday."

Epsom and Ohariu?

Key would not be drawn on whether National would run candidates that had credible chances of winning in ACT leader Rodney Hide’s Epsom electorate and United Future leader Peter Dunne’s Ohariu-Belmont electorate.

“We’ll continue to look at that position as we have in the past and work our way through that, but all I can tell you at this point is we’ll certainly be running candidates," Key said.

When else could the election have been?

Key had previously said publicly he did not favour an early election.

“There isn’t a lot of opportunity post the Rugby World Cup. We could have theoretically gone a little bit into December, or into 2012 actually technically would work. But I don’t think the New Zealand public would be thanking me with interrupting their Christmas holidays with an election in early 2012," Key said.

Possible coalition partners

Key would work again with a Maori Party that contained Hone Harawira, he said.

“Even if you look at ACT, there is no secret that Roger Douglas hasn’t been supportive of my government, but that hasn’t stopped us having a very constructive relationship with the ACT Party," Key said.

"In the case of the Maori Party, it’s not National’s responsibility for who their caucus is," he said.

"What I can tell you though is in the two years so far, and hopefully in the three years, we’ve proved to the New Zealand public that parties that come from very different parts of the political spectrum – ACT in one case and the Maori Party in the other – we’ve managed to work with them together, we’ve managed to advance the causes for New Zealand and I think we’ve proven that we can provide stable government."

National’s memorandum of understanding with the Green Party had worked “quite effectively,” Key said.

"We would acknowledge that in the past they’ve always gone with Labour and probably are a more left-wing party, but again we have worked with them at least in terms of the memorandum of understanding and who knows what it’ll look like post November 26," he said.

“The most recent comments I’ve seen from [Maori Party co-leader] Tariana [Turia] is that they could support either Labour or National, so they would need to determine what is in the best interests of their people.

"All I can do is demonstrate our achievements in the last two years. It’s been constructive and I think it’s been very positive. As I’ve been saying in recent weeks, I believe they’ve achieved a lot more being part of the solution rather than just simply being part of the opposition," Key said.

Labour 'ready'

Labour Leader Phil Goff said his team of MPs and candidates were ready to begin the election battle.

“Labour will campaign on the issues that are affecting New Zealanders most. We know that people are worried about the soaring cost of living with prices rising much faster than wages. That will be a key issue this election," Goff said.

“The election will be about priorities. Labour’s priority is to help those who are struggling to pay their bills, to create jobs and to grow the economy for the benefit of all New Zealanders," he said.

"We will make sure that middle and low income Kiwis are not forgotten as they have been under the National Government. National’s priority is to borrow billions of dollars to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy, to sell off valuable state assets and to slash spending on essential services, like hospitals and schools."

Key on Super Fund dairy farm purchase

Meanwhile, in other comments at the press conference, Key said the New Zealand Superannuation Fund's announcement it had invested in its first NZ farm was one option for Kiwis not becoming tennants in their own land.

"I think it reflects the fact that the dairy sector is a very powerful and fast-growing area for the New Zealand economy," Key said.

"We saw the Fonterra [internet] auction up 7% last night, those commodity prices are extremely strong. The outlook, providing everything holds together in China, is a very rosy one so I’m not surprised they’re investing. It’s an area where there’s real potential gains," he said.

(Updated with Key comments on Super Fund, possible coalition partners, when else could the election have been, more Key comments on Peters, section headers, Goff and Key statements, quotes from news conference)