Transtasman Political Letter – 8 Feb. Digest

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Waitangi Day is wet, and quiet for a change, but a Harawira still made the running...
The battle for the “hearts and minds” of NZ’s underclass is hotting up...
The future of farm economics looks a bit on the murky side...
Peter Costello’s kind investment protocol offer from last week is still being mulled over...
And Helen Clark says this year’s programme of work will be “substantial.”

New Era For Waitangi Day Commemorations

Maori Party MP Hone Harawira personifies the transformation which has taken place with Waitangi Day over the past 20 years.

Battle Over NZ’s “Underclass”

National leader John Key’s speech in Christchurch last week, designed as a slow-burner positional text, had a wider impact than party strategists had expected.

National Targets Labour’s Weak Links

Early 2007 opinion polls have shown Labour ahead of National by two or three points, though party polling for National is understood to reverse this ranking.

Beware A Costello Bearing Gifts

Aust Treasurer Peter Costello was at his most magnanimous in promoting his idea of an investment protocol in the CER pact, arguing he believed NZ should have the same treatment as the US.

CAPITAL TALK

Former Green Party Media Manager Allen Walley has resurfaced in Parliament as social Development Minister David Benson-Pope’s temporary Press Secretary.

Play Of The Week: Reasons To Be Cheerful

What an upbeat start to the political year. The silly rugby sevens mood which enveloped Wellington like a fog over the airport seems to have settled over the country.

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