Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: We know Chlöe Swarbrick's not getting the finance portfolio, right?

Well, the Chlöe-for-Finance-Minister debate has gone up a level. She has been asked what her qualifications are. David Seymour is making fun of the idea, I think for good reason. And Chlöe herself has hit back, specifically at Nicola Willis, because there was a poll that showed a touch more people actually trust Chlöe on the economy than Nicola. Touché from Chlöe.

But I'm of the view that Chlöe is actually overplaying her hand here. No disrespect to her because I personally like her a lot and I really rate her as a political campaigner. But she's 32 years old and she has no business background other than a few of those fun projects you run when you're 20 and then shut down again.

I mean, literally, what are her qualifications for this job?

The reason the Nats and ACT keep going on about this, now for the third day, is because they know, like I know, that this is bad for the centre-left and the prospects of a centre-left Government.

There is polling data from Curia that I've seen a couple of times and it shows that National Party voters actually have a net positive opinion of the leaders of their coalition partners on the right, David and Winston. National Party voters do not really stress out at all about the prospect of giving jobs to Winston, giving jobs to David, and so on.

But Labour Party voters are not the same. They do not feel the same way about their left-wing coalition partners. Their opinion of the leaders on the left is negative across the board. It is unsettling for Labour voters to think of the Greens having that much influence.

Now, I can see what Chlöe is doing here. She's trying to gee up her base with the idea that if they get enough votes, they may gain some real power around the Cabinet table. She's also obviously starting the negotiations with Chippy from a very high position, so that whatever the consolation prize turns out to be, it's also significant and not just some Green-aligned portfolio like DoC.

But she might well be doing both the Green Party and the broader left some damage here. They may not make it into Government if this is the kind of thing that people freak out about.

She knows she's not going to get this portfolio, right? She hasn't got any leverage. Back when Winston got Treasurer, and really the only time Finance has gone to a coalition partner, he was negotiating with both sides. He was talking to both Helen Clark and Jim Bolger, so he could play them off against each other.

Chlöe doesn't have that ability. She is bound to Labour. She is not going to get Finance.

So I can see what she's doing and it's not all bad for the Greens. But it could be bad for the chances of the left because the thought of Chlöe as Finance Minister might just drive away some of those swing voters that Labour desperately needs.

Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and radio broadcaster who hosts Newstalk ZB's weekday Drive-Time Show – where this article was sourced.