National will form victim compensation scheme

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: The National Party says that, if elected, it will introduce a victims compensation scheme to help with one-off expenses not covered by other State help.

The party unveiled its policy on victims of crime on Monday.

The scheme would be funded by a $50 levy on all offenders at sentencing.

A Victim Services Centre would also be set up within the Ministry of Justice to co-ordinate all agencies that deal with victims, and administer the compensation scheme.

National would also look to review the Victims Rights Act, to make sure victims rights are recognised across the justice system.

National not revealing favourite partner

ONE NEWS: National will not say who it would like to govern with if it wins the election and has to team up with a smaller party.

But National Party leader John Key says negotiations will determine how a coalition will be formed.

Meanwhile, Progressives leader Jim Anderton is calling on all minor party leaders to say before the election whether they would try to form a coalition with Labour or National.

Anderton is the only one to say he will only be giving his support to Labour.

Other leaders are refusing to rule out holding coalition talks with both major parties.

Anderton says those who vote for the minor parties should know who that party will try to form a government with.

He says it abuses the vote of a person who may not in a million years want their vote to go towards a Labour-led coalition, or a National-led coalition.

Maori Party to contest Maori electorates only

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: The Maori Party says it will not put candidates forward for the general electorate seats in this year's election.

The party's national council made the decision at the weekend.

It had previously said it may consider contesting some of the general seats later this year.

But co-leader Pita Sharples says at this stage, it will not contest those seats but will instead focus on winning all seven Maori seats.

Ann Sullivan, of Auckland University's Maori Studies Department, says it is a good strategic move for a party with limited resources.

Ms Sullivan says the party may not have gained much from trying to woo Maori voters who are not on the Maori roll.

Dr Sharples says though the bottom line is to retain the Maori seats in Parliament, they will speak to all parties after the election.

National losing some ground in latest Herald Digi-Poll

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: Labour has almost halved National's lead in the Herald-DigiPoll survey.

National has slipped by 4.6 percentage points in a month memorable for slip-ups and lacklustre performances by leader John Key.

But the party is still ahead - it has the support of 49.9 per cent of decided voters, and could still govern alone with 63 MPs.

Labour's fight-back has lifted it 2.8 points to 39.3 per cent in a month of carefully designed publicity hits for the Government, including a snap move to try to keep strategic assets such as Auckland Airport in New Zealand control.

The gap between the two big parties is now 10.6 percentage points, much closer than the 18-point lead National had on Labour early this month.

Prime Minister Helen Clark and Mr Key are virtually neck and neck as preferred Prime Minister after a small rise for her and a small drop for him.

He is preferred by 45.9 per cent of decided voters and she is preferred by 45.6 per cent.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is up slightly to 3.9 per cent, which may be heartening to his party, which has fallen to 1.1 per cent, its lowest Herald-DigiPoll rating since the 2005 election.

Mr Key started the year strongly with a "state of the nation" speech on youth crime that delivered policy detail after a summer news diet heavy on youth crime stories.

Helen Clark broke with tradition and gave her own state of the nation speech in a bid to stop him setting the political agenda in January.

But her speech, announcing a new education and training leaving age and school apprenticeship scheme, was viewed as stodgy by comparison.

It has since been repackaged as the "Schools Plus" scheme.

Her statement to Parliament in February focused on housing affordability and social services delivery, but it still did not give Labour the lift it wanted.

Mr Key's good start was reflected in a lift in ratings for him and his party. He overtook Helen Clark as preferred Prime Minister for the first time since May last year and National stretched its lead to 18 points.

But March was a bad month for Mr Key, and that shows in the poll.

He was tagged "slippery" after failing to articulate a concise response to Labour's move to keep Auckland Airport in New Zealand control.

He made errors explaining his party's position on Treaty of Waitangi settlements.

And National has had to contend with a potential association by marriage to hard-right politician Sir Roger Douglas, who is returning to active politics as an Act candidate.

If this month's poll figures were translated into votes, the Greens and New Zealand would not get back into Parliament unless they won an electorate seat.

The Greens are on 3.9 per cent (down 0.5); New Zealand First is on 1.1 (down 1); the Maori Party is on 3.7 (up 2.2); United Future is on 0 (down 0.4); and Act is on 1.1 (up 0.7).

Registering for the first time is the Kiwi Party of MP Gordon Copeland (formerly of United Future), which has 0.4 per cent support.

Assuming party leaders keep their electorate seats, the poll figures would give National 63 seats, Labour 50, the Maori Party 5, and Act, the Progressives and United Future one each.

The Maori Party party vote has picked up to the extent that it would be entitled to five MPs, adding a list MP to the four electorate members it has at present.

The issue most likely to influence voters is still tax cuts, followed by the economy, law and order, hospital waiting lists and global warming.

* The poll of 750 respondents was conducted between March 6 and 27 and has a margin of error of 3.6 per cent. The percentage of undecided voters was 10.9.

 

Minor party election debate reveals some post-election plans

ONE NEWS: The leaders of New Zealand's smaller political parties have made their first election year pitch for power in a live debate on TVNZ's new factual channel.

All the minor party leaders except Winston Peters took part in the debate which was hosted by TVNZ political editor Guyon Espiner.

The party leaders were grilled about who they would support in government, with some revealing bottom lines such as Act's Rodney Hide who says the party will only go with National if it abolishes the 39 cent tax rate.

Progressive Coalition leader Jim Anderton said he thought it was "a nonsense to have people not knowing where their vote is going to end up in terms of forming a government".

But some were hedging their bets with Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons saying it seemed "much more likely that Labour will move closer to our policies than National would".

Others were not sure. Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples said being a new party they would take it back to the people.

But Maori Party supporters are clear, with a TVNZ 7 Colmar Brunton poll showing 64% want to go with Labour versus 22% with National. New Zealand First voters are leaning slightly toward National while most of United Future's people want the party to ditch Labour in favour of National.

The poll, commissioned as part of the debate, shows that taxation along with housing affordability, wages and interest rates are the key issues concerning New Zealanders at the moment.

The Maori Party's bottom line is the foreshore and seabed and Maori seats.

For Act and United Future tax is a big issue and Revenue Minister Peter Dunne gave a hint about what is coming, saying there will be "significant personal tax cuts in the budget" although he would not divulge the figure.

The five party leaders were also questioned on race relations in New Zealand, the economy, the environment and law and order.

The Kingmaker debate was screened live on TVNZ 7, marking the launch of TVNZ's digital channel.

The election tax war heats up

A pre-election bidding war is heating up, with National now claiming New Zealanders could see the benefit of tax cuts by Christmas.

Party leader John Key is considering pulling forward a package of reductions, if he wins the election later this year, but denies he's been pressured into bringing any tax cuts forward.

He says it's not necessary to wait until after a Budget, which is normally held in May, to legislate for tax changes.

But some reports suggest this amounts to the National leader being forced into a policy change, because Labour too is now promising lower personal taxes.

Key says if the election is held early enough, parliament could push through a package before the end of the year.

He says New Zealanders have to ask why it's taken Labour so long to start talking about reducing personal taxation.

Key said he believed there was a strong case for New Zealanders being able to keep more of what they earn, and his party was committed to an ongoing programme of lower taxes.

However, Labour still has an advantage on tax cut timing.

As the party of government, it is in a position to time cuts for just before the next election.

Roger Douglas will not be a minister under National says Key

The National Party leader, John Key, has rejected the former finance minister Sir Roger Douglas as a possible cabinet minister should National lead the next government.

Sir Roger has declared he would want to be a minister if the ACT Party went into coalition with National after the election.

However, Mr Key says he will lead a centre-right government, not one pursuing the hard right policies of Sir Roger.

On Wednesday night, National also selected the former ACT MP Stephen Franks as its candidate for Wellington Central, but Mr Key says Mr Franks is committed to National's moderate approach to policy.

NZ First reveals the party’s post-election strategy

New Zealand First is already revealing its post-election coalition strategy.

Leader Winston Peters has announced what the party will do in a bid to counter questions that plagued New Zealand First during the last election campaign.

He says the party will negotiate first with the party that has the most seats following the election.

Peters says at this stage New Zealand First does not know who that will be, so any other questions are a moot point.

He says his party does not have any preferences, and will not be advocating for one side over another.

More claims of National “flip-flopping” over policies

National has been accused of flip-flopping before and now the government is claiming it has simply flopped over plans for Kiwisaver.

National's Kiwisaver plan is meant to be secret until closer to the election. But deputy leader Bill English appeared to let slip some of its policy, then quickly tried to backtrack.

"There's no doubt there will be a Kiwisaver with a government subsidy under National," English said initially.

Later English changed his mind.

"I am not today (Tuesday) announcing any aspect of National's policy on Kiwisaver," says English.

The government subsidy currently gives those joining Kiwisaver a $1,000 kick-start. A tax credit of up to $20 a week is included and employers will get a similar tax credit.

National is not saying what it plans to do with employer contributions.

"I haven't announced any aspect of our policy on Kiwisaver. I've said there will be Kiwisaver and there will be a government contribution," English said later.

Nearly half a million people have already signed up to KiwiSaver. Those people, being potential voters, are keeping a close eye on what Labour and National plan to do with it.

See this page for more information: http://nzvotes08.blogspot.com/2008/03/national-to-keep-kiwi-saver-according.html.

National to keep Kiwi Saver according to Bill English

The National Party says it would keep a Government subsidy in KiwiSaver if it forms a Government after the election.

But it is refusing to announce what the subsidy would be, and whether the employer contribution to the scheme would stay.

In a speech to the SuperFunds summit in Wellington, National's Finance spokesperson, Bill English, says the party will issue its KiwiSaver policy closer to the election.

At the moment everyone who joins KiwiSaver receives a government contribution of a tax credit of $20 per week.

While there are aspects of the scheme which need to be fixed, Mr English says the party would keep some form of Government contribution.

From 1 April, employers have to contribute 1% of an employee's salary to the workplace saving plan, rising to 4% over four years.

Mr English refused to be drawn on Tuesday on whether National would make any changes to that aspect of the scheme.

Labour regains some ground in latest poll

The National Party has lost ground to the Labour Party and the Green Party in the latest opinion poll.

A One News Colmar Brunton poll released on Sunday shows support for National is down three points to 50%.

Labour is up one to 35%.

The Greens are also up one to 7%, the only minor party to reach the 5% threshold required to enter Parliament without an electorate seat.

Support for the Maori Party was steady on 3.3%.

New Zealand First is up almost a point to 2.5% and the ACT Party remains on 0.9%.

Helen Clark has clawed back ground as the preferred prime minister, up four points to 31%.

National leader John Key remained steady on 36%.

The poll sampled 1000 voters and has a margin of error of 3.1%.

Roger Douglas standing for ACT in South Auckland electorate

Former Labour Finance Minister Sir Roger Douglas is to stand for Parliament, as an electorate candidate for ACT.

Sir Roger says he will stand in a constituent seat, most likely in South Auckland, but that has not been decided.

The announcement was made at the party's conference in Auckland on Saturday.

Sir Roger told the conference that New Zealand is now Australia's poor cousin, which has motivated his public return to politics.

ACT party leader Rodney Hide says he's delighted at his return. Mr Hide says he wants to see Sir Roger in Parliament and intends to secure a high placement for him on the party list

He says New Zealand needs MPs of Sir Roger's calibre, who have the guts to make the tough decisions.

The term 'Rogernomics' was coined for Sir Roger's policies.

Sir Roger, 70, served as Finance Minister from 1984 to December 1988 in the Labour Government under David Lange.

He retired from Parliament in 1990 and went on to co-found the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers, which became the ACT party two years later.

Sir Roger entered Parliament in 1969. He first served in Cabinet in the Kirk - Rowling Goverment from 1972 - 1975.

He told the conference that New Zealand is now Australia's poor cousin, which has motivated his public return to politics.

ACT has been languishing in the polls and currently relies upon Mr Hide's Epsom seat for its place in Parliament. The party currently has two MPs, compared to seven seats in the previous term of Parliament.

Cullen swipes at Key over bureaucracy

National Party leader John Key's pledge to cap the number of core civil servants at 36,000 has been attacked by his opponents as misleading political opportunism.

He expected the policy to deliver savings of up to $500 million over three years which could be used for front line public servants such as teachers and nurses, as well as tax cuts.

Mr Key said growth in government bureaucracy had massively outstripped the rest of the economy in the past eight years.

The core public service had increased by 37 per cent to 36,000 employees, compared to 10 per cent growth in state sector jobs providing services directly to the public and 22 per cent job growth in the wider economy.

A National government would not replace people when they left jobs in low priority areas and would increase resourcing in policy areas ministers were more interested in developing.

Mr Key was not ruling out redundancies or closing some agencies entirely if it was warranted, but would not name any targets.

Ministers would work with agencies in a "measured and sensible way" to sort out their priorities

His predecessor, Don Brash, said he would scrap the Women's Affairs Ministry.

But Mr Key said today it was very small and did some work that was worthwhile.

Finance Minister Michael Cullen said Mr Key was using intentionally misleading statistics to attack the bureaucracy.

The Government had massively increased the number of doctors, teachers, police and others.

There had been a smaller increase in back room staff to support their work, Dr Cullen said.

Mr Key's MPs were also making an increasing number of promises to increase government spending and hire more staff at places like the Waitangi Tribunal

"Mr Key needs to be honest about what he would actually do in government and how many staff he would need to do it," Dr Cullen said.

Mr Key said government agencies had released 250 strategy documents since 2000, many of them stating the obvious and giving little in the way of guidance or solutions.

"At a time when the outlook for the economy is grim and hardwork-ing New Zealanders are going to be tightening their belts to pay high mortgage rates and food and petrol prices, taxpayers can't afford to be paying for this kind of low-value work," he said.

"In the first term of a National government we will not grow the size of the core bureaucracy.

"Enough is enough.

"We are going to make do with the resource we have and work to get more value out of it."

Slippery slogans on state sector from Key

Press release from the New Zealand Government.

John Key's attack on public servants is just the latest example of slippery politics from the National Party Leader, Finance Minister Michael Cullen said today.

In his speech on the state sector today, Mr Key issued intentionally misleading statistics, refused to explain how a National-led government would deliver any new programmes or explain where cuts would be made.

"Reprising a tired attack on bureaucracy is always a sign that a politician is running out of things to say," Dr Cullen said. "But Mr Key's attack on public servants is more than that – it is an intentionally slippery attempt to mislead the public about growth in the public sector.

"Mr Key wants to talk about growth in 'bureaucrats' in isolation from growth in front-line public servants. He conveniently says that he does not 'want to focus' on front line agencies like the police and health boards.

"In government, we do not have that luxury. We have massively increased the numbers of teachers, doctors, nurses, and police and yes, we have increased the number of public servants required to support their work. Mr Key, for example, completely failed to tell people that far more doctors and nurses are being hired than hospital managers and health bureaucrats.

"Mr Key is also pretending that the government is not doing anything new. Let me remind him that Working for Families requires 226 staff at the Ministry of Social Development. Over 500 public servants have been working very hard to implement the hugely successful KiwiSaver scheme.

"Does Mr Key intend to get rid of these staff? A government with new ideas must have public servants who can turn them into reality.

"Mr Key's claims on wages are particularly slippery. Since 2002 private sector and core public sector wage growth have been nearly identical.

"What is potentially worse is that Mr Key's pledge to cap public servant numbers comes at a time when he and his MPs are travelling around the country promising to increase government spending. He wants more staff at the Waitangi Tribunal, Jackie Blue wants more staff for the Ministry of Women's Affairs, David Carter wants more research staff for rabbit control. The list goes on and on.

"Mr Key needs to be honest about what he would actually do in government and how many staff he would need to do it. In the mean time, he should stop putting down public servants and telling them to run faster down the corridor."

Unions defend public servants

Council of Trade Unions' president Helen Kelly says Mr Key's speech was full of "electioneering and gimmicks".

She says Mr Key is tapping into a vein of public misunderstanding, by using the label of "bureaucrat" for all state servants.

Helen Kelly says many public servants are doing valuable work in backrooms, where they develop plans to tackle problems like youth crime.

PSA national secretary Brenda Pilott, says a cap on the number of public servants is unworkable.

She says the distinction that Mr Key makes between bureaucrats and front line staff does not hold up.

See http://nzvotes08.blogspot.com/2008/03/national-vows-to-halt-growth-in.html for further information.

National vows to halt growth in bureaucracy

The National Party has pledged to halt growth in core bureaucracy during its first term if it is elected to Government.

Leader John Key has revealed the party's state sector policy in a speech to the National Press Club in Wellington.

Mr Key told the audience the fastest growing sector since 2000 has been government administration, with the number of public servants increasing from more than 26,000 to 36,000.

John Key says it is time to stop the growth in bureaucracy experienced under the Labour Government over the past eight years, and a cap on the number of public servants will save $500m.

However he says National will not reduce the number of front line staff, and promised the numbers of doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers and police will grow.

John Key would scrap science and research funding announced by the Govt.

National's John Key says it will scrap a major new research and development fund for the pastoral and food industries if it becomes the Government at this year's election.
Party leader Mr. Key labelled the fund as a "gimmick" and insisted that only the interest earned on the fund will be spent on research, but the Prime Minister says that Key's statement was wrong.
Mr Key thinks the Government has failed to outline how much will go into research and development a year, and New Zealand does not need the fund.
"It is all about the investment of that capital and the return that comes off it. The government can't tell you that number but I could do a back-of-the-envelope calculation which tells you its about $50m. Wait until you see our science R&D policy."
Prime Minister Helen Clark says within the fund's 15 year lifetime all the money, both interest earned and the original capital investment, will be spent.
Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton estimates in the first year only about $20m to $30m will be spent, but as research proposals develop that should rise to $100m in five years.
He says the new spending will be additional to the approximately $200m dollars a year already spent on food and agricultural research.
The $700m fund, unveiled by the Government yesterday, is to pay for research, development and innovation for pastoral and food industries.
Industries are expected to match the Government's contributions and, with the addition of interest, the fund is expected to grow to about $2bn over the next 10 to 15 years.
Fonterra, Meat & Wool New Zealand, Zespri, Dairy NZ and PGG Wrightson have already agreed, while other companies and industry organisations have yet to decide whether to contribute.

About New Zealand Votes 2008

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