Helen feels sorry for the Greens

According to a radio report, Helen Clark said in the end, it was beyond her control about keeping the Greens out of government. The blame, she asserts, lies with Winston Peters and Peter Dunne who would not tolerate the Greens in Cabinet.

That Peter Dunne was opposed to the Greens in Cabinet was known before the election but Winston's opposition was revealed only after the coalition deal was announced.

However Helen could have sought a deal with the Maori Party who weren't opposed to the Greens but chose not to. Why? Because of apparent bad blood between her and Tariana Turia. Yet in 1996, there was bad blood between Jim Bolger and Winston Peters but the two still overcame their differences to form a coalition government. Another excuse that the Maori Party was talking to National is untenable to me for two reasons. Both NZ First and United Future were also talking to National. More importantly, the Maori Party didn't begin public flirtations with National until the week before the coalition deal was announced. Hence I can only conclude that Helen considered an alliance with the Maori Party to be less palatable than her current governmental arrangements, which reeks of foolishness to me.