Wellington  - A new minority centre-right government in New Zealand will be sworn in this week after John Key, prime minister-elect and leader of the conservative National Party, signed power-sharing agreements with three other parties on Sunday.

They included the Maori Party, representatives of the country's indigenous population whose special status and rights Key's party threatened to abolish less than five years ago.

Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples was appointed Minister of Maori Affairs and his colleague Tariana Turia Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, a new portfolio designed to give wide-ranging responsibility for the welfare of her people, who are the most disadvantaged sector of the population.

Key admitted the two parties held opposing views in some areas and conceded his new government was moving into "uncharted territory." But he said he was confident the relationship was built on mutual respect and trust, and would last for the three-year commitment to the next election.

The Nationals won the most seats in parliament at a general election on November 8 to oust the Labour-led coalition that had governed for nine years, but failed to get an overall majority.

As a result of the agreements finalized Sunday, the Nationals are now guaranteed 70 of the 122 seats in the House of Representatives.

The Maori and the free market ACT parties - who each won five seats - and the sole United Future member Peter Dunne, agreed to support the Nationals on all critical votes in exchange for ministerial posts outside the cabinet.

The agreements said that by staying outside cabinet, the ministers would be free to present their parties' policies where they differed with the government on areas that were not within their portfolios.

The Maori Party leaders were also made associate ministers for health, education, social development and employment - all areas they identified as important for the nation's 565,000 Maoris, who account for about 15 per cent of the population.

In January 2004, Key's predecessor Don Brash, announced a National Party policy that would strip Maoris of their traditional indigenous rights, scrap the obligation to consult them specifically on new legislation and abolish the seven seats in parliament reserved for them.

Under the new agreement, the Nationals agreed the seats would stay and the Maoris would be consulted on all new laws, policy, broad budget parameters and government appointments.

"It's quite exciting," Sharples told a news conference, noting that the party, founded less than five years ago, had always aimed to be in government.

ACT leader Rodney Hide becomes minister of local government and the new post of minister for regulatory reform. His deputy, Heather Roy, becomes minister of consumer affairs, both outside of cabinet.

Key and Hide declared a long-term aim of lifting New Zealand's per capita income to the level of Australia by 2025, which they said would require a sustained lift in productivity growth to at least 3 per cent a year.

They also agreed to a "medium-term goal" of cutting the top income tax rate from 39 per cent to 30 per cent, new tough policies on violent criminals and to review the former Labour government's trend- setting initiative on climate change.

United Future's Dunne becomes Minister of Revenue, a post he also held outside cabinet in the ousted Labour government. He abandoned Labour to join forces with the Nationals before the election, sensing a change of government. (dpa)