Transtasman Political Letter – 17 April Digest

A rip-tide is running through the economy - and its political effects are significant...The PM seeks to build on her Beijing triumph...Winston Peters gets a bounce (but is it a dead cat?)...Bill English gets under Labour’s skin on electoral funding...“Demand Shock” for agricultural commodities...And the globe needs another “Green Revolution” - NZ should be in the forefront.

“Rip Tide” Hurts Households - And Govt
The favourable run of publicity the Govt earned from its free trade deal with China may have been blunted by fresh evidence this week of how the cost of living is hurting households.

New Free Trade Agreement Mission For Clark
Helen Clark, fresh from her diplomatic coup in Beijing, will be heading to Japan and South Korea next month determined to impress on the leaders of those countries how a free trade agreement can energise economic relationships.

Peters Gets A (Dead Cat?) Bounce
Politicians will be watching a series of polls due out in the next few days closely, to detect any mood change in the electorate.

Govt Scores “Own-Goal” Over Electoral Finance Legislation
National’s Deputy Leader Bill English has ripped Labour’s credibility on election funding, and its poorly drafted electoral finance legislation to shreds - to the point where one of Labour’s support parties, United Future, is calling for an all-party conference to sort out what must be the prime legislative fiasco of this Parliamentary term.

CAPITAL TALK
NZ’s top bureaucrats, plus a few former PMs, were on hand in Parliament’s Grand Hall to hear Helen Clark praise retiring Cabinet Secretary Diane Morcom for her work in the engine-room of Govt.

Play Of The Week: Beyond Trivia
A speech by former Listener Editor Finlay McDonald, originally to the Centre for Science Communication, did the rounds early this week. The speech, which appeared on a number of Labour-leaning blogs and other internet sites, laid out why McDonald thinks John Key should not be PM.

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