Labour leader Andrew Little made the announcement on Tuesday, revealing he would be joined by Green co-leader Metiria Turei to speak about their priorities for the year ahead (File photo - Facebook)

Labour, Greens to host joint State of the Nation

Author: NZ Newswire ,
Publish Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2017, 9:11AM

UPDATED 9.45am: In a break from tradition, Labour and the Green Party will co-host a joint State of the Nation event in Auckland later this month.

Typically parties hold separate events to outline their plans for the year ahead but Labour leader Andrew Little announced on Tuesday that the Green Party would co-host the event in Mount Albert on January 29.

Labour is currently hosting its first caucus meeting of the year in Martinborough, over two days.

The unconventional move comes less than a year after the two parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding to co-operate in the lead up to this year's general election.

No date has been set for the vote, but Prime Minister Bill English has indicated it will be in the second half of the year.

Mr Little and Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei will both host the State of the Nation event which will include discussions on social and economic challenges while giving the parties a chance to present an alternative vision for New Zealand, according to Labour.

The choice of location, in Mt Albert, however is unsurprising.

Both Labour and the Green Party are set to contest a by-election in that electorate on February 25 after Labour MP David Shearer vacated the seat to take up a position leading the United Nations peacekeeping operation in South Sudan.

Jacinda Ardern will contest the seat for Labour and Julie Ann Genter for the Greens, while National will not run a candidate.