OPENING SALVO The strategy is to arrive in government as near-equals with Labour. The party wants to continue trying to build economic credibility, including with the business community.

What some see as another bid by the Maori party to take New Zealand down the road of racial separatism has been rebuffed in Parliament.

Mana Party Leader Hone Harawira claims Finance Minister Bill English is lying when he says most iwi do not back the Maori Council’s actions over water rights.

The Mana MP compares the situation to the Foreshore and Seabed issue which saw the Maori Party formed.

Hone Harawira failed to be sworn in to parliament this afternoon when he declined to read out the MPs affirmation which is a legal requirement.

Talks between the Maori and Mana parties about not standing in each other's seats appear dead in the water.