Labour nominates Peters for Parliament's intelligence and security committee

Labour leader Andrew Little has nominated Winston Peters to join him on Parliament’s intelligence and security committee.

The NZ First leader will take over from David Shearer, who left Parliament for a UN job late last year.

“The required consultation has taken place and the recommendation has the support of all opposition parties,” Mr Little says.

He says the Greens agreeing to Mr Peters replacing Mr Shearer shows they have a maturity about forging relationships beyond just the Labour Party.

The Greens and Labour signed a memorandum of understanding last year that would see them work together to “change the government.”

But the deal expires on Election Day. To form a government, Labour and the Greens would need Winston Peters’ New Zealand First to push the bloc over the line.

Mr Little has also signalled the Greens would be the first party to receive a call “if the numbers go our way” in the election, in terms of forming a government.

The Labour leader says Mr Peters’ experience will make him an asset to the committee.

“As a former foreign affairs minister, Mr Peters has extensive experience of New Zealand’s security and intelligence agencies and so would be a valuable addition to the committee.”

There are two seats for opposition MPs on the five-member security committee but Mr Little says this does not fairly reflect the proportionality of Parliament.

Other members of the committee include Prime Minister Bill English, Mr Little and cabinet ministers Chris Finlayson and Amy Adams.

The Greens were reportedly keen to have their representative on the board but will endorse Mr Peters who has been a member of the committee in the past.

Green Party co-leader James Shaw told media he would have liked to see both NZ First and Greens representation on the committee but that was not possible under the current structure.

Earlier this month, Mr English said he was not comfortable with the Greens being on the committee.

“They’ve got a deep-seated hostility to any intelligence apparatus at all, which is not a responsible attitude, and we wouldn’t want to foster that.”