Transtasman Political Letter – 4 October Digest

4th October 2007
PM rubs shoulders with the great and good, in London, Oxford, Paris etc...
Her Govt picks up speed, as chastened Nats lick their publicity wounds...
Fidel Castro wants to set up a Pacific outpost in Wellington...
Tui oil starts the country down the “petro-dollar” path..More worries for the Reserve Bank of NZ , but the economy keeps Ministers smiling...
And a major power deal underwrites the Bluff smelter’s future.

Govt Back Among The Favourable Headlines

Helen Clark has got her Govt back where she wanted it, on the front pages and with favourable headlines, even if she didn’t get to have breakfast with Britain’s Gordon Brown.

National Somewhat Chastened, Learns A Hard Lesson

National leader John Key, watching his party’s big poll lead evaporating, promised his Caucus this week tighter management, after a series of mini-disasters on policy issues.

Hard-Won Deal Ensures Aluminium Smelter’s Future

The latest deal on electricity supply between Meridian Energy and Rio Tinto Aluminium NZ underwrites the future of the Tiwai Point smelter, the jobs of more than 1000 Southlanders, and export receipts worth the best part of $1bn a year.

Cuba Sets Up In Wellington

Fidel Castro’s Govt has signalled it wants to open an embassy in Wellington. Helen Clark told a seminar on Latin America held by the Victoria University of Wellington last week the Govt would welcome the establishment of the mission “in the coming months.

CAPITAL TALK

Tauranga MP Bob “The Builder” Clarkson is pondering his political future and says he expects to decide by Christmas whether he’ll stand again in 2008.

Play Of The Week: Problem Solving?

We had National’s foreign affairs policy released this week, and Labour’s Phil Goff criticised it for not being ideological enough.

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