New Zealand coalition marks Irish cards

What do Ireland and New Zealand have in common? Dairy products? Yes. And rugby? Well, sort of.

We also share another couple of things in common - coalition governments and plans to sell off airports, and the combination of the latter has the Kiwis in an uproar. No doubt, our own coalition will be keeping an eye on how selling off airports can break coalitions.

It now looks as if the New Zealand government is about to collapse, following the walkout by the junior coalition partner, New Zealand First, on the vexed decision by the government to sell its stake in Wellington Airport to the private sector.

New Zealand First, a nationalistic Fianna Fail-type party wants to keep the airport under state control, while the majority National Party - a free market PD lookalike - wants to sell out. Now the coalition partners have split and the Kiwis look like facing their second election in two years.

Oh, another thing we have in common is the PR voting system. But while the Irish have resisted all previous efforts to bring in a first-past-the-post system and apparently revel in the rotating coalition governments that PR produces, the Kiwis now hate the PR system they brought in three years ago.

That PR system left New Zealand First holding the balance of power and produced the rather rocky coalition that has now collapsed.

Of course, Irish coalitions would never collapse on the question of selling airports. VAT on children's shoes, yes. But airports? Hardly.