ACT Leader Richard Prebble said the country did not welcome the news that Labour and the Alliance look likely to be a minority government.

"Minority government is weak government and the sight of the Prime Minister having to negotiate with Sue Bradford in order to get any measure past certainly wouldn't help business or investment confidence," Mr Prebble said.

"However the media are not correct in their statement that the Greens hold the balance of power. The fact is that any single MP who is not a member of Labour and the Alliance now holds the balance of power.

"There is only one MP who campaigned saying that he sought to hold the balance of power and if this situation arose he pledged to use it responsibly, and that is United MP Peter Dunne.

"My advice to Helen Clark is to invite Peter Dunne to join her government as a Minister. Mr Dunne could easily sign the coalition agreement because the way that it is written would allow him to opt out of decisions he doesn't agree with and every MP agrees with the sole objective of the coalition agreement to improve the well-being of New Zealanders.

"By this single action Helen Clark will free herself from unreasonable demands being made by either the Greens or NZ First. And she will also gain an MP who has Ministerial experience - win-win all round.

"The only difficulty is that Labour MPs have been extraordinarily rude to Mr Dunne over the last three years. Fortunately my judgement is that Mr Dunne has enough character to put that behind him.

"The only question is whether Helen Clark does want to lead a moderate government as she claims, or whether she is really the willing captive of the left."

ENDS

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