Transtasman Political Letter – 23rd June Digest

TransTasman - 23rd June 2005

Polls put Labour and National neck-and-neck ... Labour is thinking of a "Charm Offensive": But does it know how to do Charm? ... The big parties ponder what they might have to sacrifice if they have to bend the knee to Winston Peters as kingmaker ... While Peters puts out a noose for Te Puni Kokiri and the "Bro'ocracy" ... Who pays for Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui's court cases?... And the Speaker sets a precedent, ejecting both the PM and the Opposition Leader from the House.

Labour Gears Up To Repel Its Enemies

The Govt is looking for a ray of winter sunshine, after a run of negative headlines following the Kyoto "billion dollar bungle," a surge in petrol prices, a slump in business confidence and a warning the housing "bubble" could burst.

National Exploits Cullen's Tax Blunder

National goes into its election-year conference this weekend in Wellington, as desperate as the All Blacks to secure a clean sweep. It has an ace in the hole, with tax relief now the key issue for voters. But this doesn't mean it has yet built a winning hand.

Peters Takes Aim At The "Bro'ocracy"

"Soft" Labour support appears to have migrated to NZ First, according to the pollsters, and the contest for the over-60s vote has prompted Labour to launch its own "charm offensive" at the elderly, with PM Clark due to speak to a series of Grey Power-organised meetings in provincial centres next month.

CAA Gets Another Audit Office Slap On The Wrist

The Controller and Auditor-General has again taken the Civil Aviation Authority to task over its certification and surveillance functions, expressing concern "higher-risk" operators are not appropriately targeted and CAA inspectors cannot be sure corrective action has been taken on faults they've identified.

CAPITAL TALK

Joanne Morris, Dr Monty Soutar, Gloria Herbert and Joseph Northover have been reappointed to the Waitangi Tribunal for further 3 year terms

PLAY OF THE WEEK

For Your Homework, People...

Parliament goes into a month long recess this week. Here are some points for a few of our MPs to ponder over the break:

- Helen Clark ­ Proclaiming your Govt has set new standards of conduct, then whining when people hold you to those standards, is starting to look rather wet. You can't have it both ways.

Transtasman is a subscriber newsletter published weekly and read widely in New Zealand and abroad. The above is a summary of this week's edition. To subscribe and read the full newsletter see.. http://Transtasman.co.nz

© Scoop Media