Searching for smart, safe news you can TRUST?
Support safe, smart, REAL journalism. Sign up for our Axios AM & PM newsletters and get smarter, faster.
Searching for smart, safe news you can TRUST?
Support safe, smart, REAL journalism. Sign up for our Axios AM & PM newsletters and get smarter, faster.
Denver news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver
Des Moines news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines
Minneapolis-St. Paul news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Minneapolis-St. Paul
Tampa-St. Petersburg news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa-St. Petersburg
New Zealand Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson (L) and Prime Minister and Labour leader Jacinda Ardern, after signing a co-operation agreement in Wellington, New Zealand, Sunday morning local time. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Newsroom via Getty Images
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's Labour Party has signed a "cooperation agreement" with the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand as she prepares to form a new government.
Of note: Labour won enough parliamentary seats in the Oct. 17 election to govern alone for the first time since NZ's proportional representation voting system was introduced in 1996.
- But Ardern said during a briefing Sunday morning local time after the Greens accepted Labour's offer that she wanted to draw on "shared goals and expertise" on "environmental and wellbeing issues."
What else she's saying: "This cooperation agreement reflects the positive working relationship between our two parties and our areas of shared interest while respecting the mandate voters gave Labour to form a government," Ardern said.
- "It will deliver stability and cooperation in key policy areas while allowing the Greens to take an independent position from the government on all other matters."
The big picture: Under the deal, Greens co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw will hold ministerial portfolios outside of New Zealand's Cabinet.
- Shaw will retain the post he held in the previous government as climate change minister and gain the role of associate minister for the environment.
- Davidson will be appointed to the new role of minister for the prevention of family and sexual violence and become an associate housing minister focused on homelessness.
- Ardern will announce her new Cabinet on Monday.