We have a Government and no ones happy

Well, about time. We have a government. A government that voters dont want, that politicians don't want,that hte money markets will react badly to and the big lie that Winston Peters and Peter Dunne are ministers outside cabinet,but their parties are not part of the Government.

Winston Peters made a commitment before the election that the Government formation would take no longer than three weeks, and would not seek office. Now, after a month we have a Government promoted as Labour/Progressive with Winston Peters and Peter Dunne as part of the executive.

Winston Peters has the foreign affairs, racing and associate senior citizens portfolios and Peter Dunne has revenue and associate health. Since when does the Foreign Affairs ministry appear out of cabinet? Since today, that’s when.

Why outside of Cabinet? So they don’t have to agree with all cabinet decisions under collective responsibility, apparently. In other words, be a minister and say what you like- Helen Clark's new model of collective irresponsibility. The setup breaches the Cabinet Manual, which says

2.19 Although all Ministers are appointed as members of the Executive , they are not all members of Cabinet. Ministers outside Cabinet have full legal powers as Ministers, and may be appointed to full portfolios. They have the same overall role, duties and responsibilities as Ministers inside Cabinet, and are bound by the doctrine of collective responsibility. They may also be members of Cabinet committees.

However Cabinet is based on convention and now the convention has changed. They`ll just have to rewrite the Cabinet Manual.

The Greens get a co-operation agreement and are really pissed off. They are in opposition with National, Act and the Maori Party. The Greens are going to abstain on votes of confidence and supply. We have two government spokespeople that are not even in government, Jeanette Fitzsimons as the spokesperson on energy efficiency and solar programmes and Rod Donald the spokesperson on Buy Kiwi Made.

And if the Government doesn’t work then Helen Clark can fire Winston Peters. That will lead to a new election and Clark can blame it all on Peters.

That’s what I predict will happen.