Business leaders were less than charmed as they emerged from a meeting with the Greens on Tuesday night.
The Greens hosted 40 business leaders in a closed door meeting in an attempt to allay fears that the party is extremist as it positions itself as a possible coalition partner to Labour.
Head of the Business Roundtable Roger Kerr says the meeting has not changed his view of their policies. He says it was depressing to hear arguments similar to ones held 25 years ago to do with trade and protection.
Kerr says some of the Greens' policies are unsound.
"Their motivations I think are good and the business community is very conscious about environmental issues. what I think we're hearing though are about policies that are unsound for the economy and for the environment in many cases," Kerr says.
Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Barnett says while the meeting was a start, it was a missed an opportunity for the Greens to outline where they would be willing to compromise. He says the Greens need to understand that most business do share many of their values.
"We weren't looking for a change in policy. What you're looking for is a to have a better understanding of what's aspirational and what are the things that we can't move on so they remove the scare factor of seeing them as a partner in government. They didn't do that," says Barnett.
He says the Greens need to better understand the needs of business
Federated Farmers president Charlie Pederson says after the meeting he understands more about what the Greens want but still holds concerns over the effects their ideas would have on farming and the economy.
But Green Party co-leader Rod Donald says he is not surprised by such comments and he believes the meeting was worthwhile. He says the meeting has started a dialogue with the business community.
"We weren't expecting anyone was going to rush up and hug us afterwards, but I think that we got across some clear messages on where we stand on particularly on energy and transport and they were very receptive to those messages, weren't so keen on our free trade message, weren't so keen on the minimum wage being $12 an hour," says Donald.
He says
the meeting has started a dialogue with the business
community.
