Kiwi Party announces party list ahead of election

NATIONAL BUSINESS REVIEW: The Kiwi Party released its party list today, with "smacking" petition organiser Larry Baldock ranked at No 1.

Gordon Copeland, who founded the party with Mr Baldock, was second.

After the pair of former United Future MPs were Simon Kan, Frank Naea, and Simonne Dyer.

The Christian party hopes to gain 5 percent of the party vote and get MPs into Parliament.

Mr Copeland is presently in Parliament as an independent after quitting United Future over legislation removing the defence of reasonable force in child abuse cases. Opponents of the law say it bans smacking.

A referendum is to be held on the issue next year following the success of the petition.

Tax cuts coming soon, but what's in National's pocket?

NATIONAL BUSINESS REVIEW: Workers will be better off by between $12 and $28 a week due to much debated tax cuts coming into effect from tomorrow.

The first tax cuts in a decade come as the world economy is thrown into turmoil with the Unites States Government grappling with the credit crisis.

The local economy is also struggling with confirmation last week that New Zealand had been suffering a mild recession through the first half of the year.

Labour is hoping the cuts tomorrow will stimulate the economy and help it start growing again in early 2009.

Labour has legislated for tax cuts again in 2010 and 2011 which will eventually increase take-home pay by between $22 and $55 a week.

National has yet to unveil its tax cut package but has promised more tax cuts in April next year.

How much will be on offer and how the cuts will be designed is expected to be revealed in the first week of the formal election campaign, though some have speculated it could be as early as next week after the Government opens the books on Monday.

National leader John Key has indicated the cuts will be in the region of $50, at least doubling Labour's offering.

Political debate in the past few years has centred over what is affordable.

National has accused Finance Minister Michael Cullen of not cutting taxes when they were more affordable and only moving due to political pressure.

They point to Dr Cullen reneging on his pre-2005 election promise to index inflation tax thresholds in 2008 as evidence of his reluctance to cut taxes.

National's finance spokesman Bill English said today the cancellation of the so-called chewing gum taxes came when the economic weather was less stormy than it is now.

Mr English says Labour's inability to rein in spending means Dr Cullen is likely to follow his past record and cancel tax cuts again if re-elected.

Labour has legislated for the tax cuts already and it is difficult to imagine a future Parliament cancelling them.

Dr Cullen in turn has accused National of being irresponsible and says its tax cuts plans are likely to lead to either increasing government debt or cuts to social spending.

Tomorrow's tax cuts will give some mild relief to households who have been struggling to meet higher food, power and petrol costs.

Those workers with children will get an additional boost from a 5 percent increase in the Working for Families package.

This had been due to come into effect next April, but was brought forward due to the recent economic turmoil and increasing prices.

There has also been some assistance for those with mortgages with the Reserve Bank cutting interest rates.

Further cuts this year are looking increasingly likely as the fallout from the international credit crisis widens.

However, the crisis also means the fall in interest rates due to the Reserve Bank's actions is likely to be dampened as banks find it more expensive to borrow money themselves.

Details of how much people will get from the Government's tax cuts:

*$20,000 to $35,000 - $11.92

*$40,000 to $60,000 - $16.54

*$65,000 - $22.31

*$70,000 and up - $28.08

National to reform RMA

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: The National Party has released its resource management policy which proposes major changes to the Resource Management Act.

It has restated its objective to reform the act within 100 days, should it win the election this year.

National's environment spokesperson Nick Smith says a National Government would have its RMA Reform Bill through Parliament within six months.

He says it will get rid of unnecessary delays, uncertainty and high costs associated with the resource consent process.

Progressive party announce's list

NEWSTALK ZB: The Progressive Party's released its candidate list for the election and it seems to be very much a family affair.

Not surprisingly leader Jim Anderton and former MP Matt Robson top the list.

However Josie Pagani, the wife of one of Jim Anderton's senior advisors John Pagani, is ranked at number three. Number four on the Progressive list is Paula Gillon, the daughter of Grant Gillon - a former Alliance MP.

NZ First to immigrants: Integrate with NZ society

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: New Zealand First says it will not welcome immigrants if they come from societies with a "class system" or where women are treated as subservient to men.

Deputy leader Peter Brown, an immigrant from England, told a crowd of mainly refugees and immigrants at a political debate in Mt Albert yesterday that New Zealand was an "egalitarian society" and those who could not integrate were not welcome.

In this country "Jack is as good as his master, and Jack's wife is as good as Jack", he said and suggested that under New Zealand First's immigration policy, those who could not accept this would not be wanted.

Mr Brown was speaking to a crowd who packed the Mt Albert War Memorial Hall yesterday to listen to eight political parties debate immigration and say how their party would support migrants and refugees.

Many in the crowd were seen shaking their heads with disapproval at Mr Brown's suggestions, with some - such as refugee Mohd Faisel Daud - leaving the hall.

Mr Daud said: "I still don't know who I will vote for, but after listening to Mr Brown, at least I know who I will not be voting for."

This year Mr Brown has also suggested shutting the door on Asian immigrants, saying there was a danger Asian "mini-societies" were being built in New Zealand.

As a Muslim, Mr Mohd says the New Zealand First suggestion is "ridiculous" because it is in the Koran that "women must live differently to men".

Meanwhile, representatives from Labour and National - who were both immigrants - told personal stories and drew on their own life experiences in their attempts to win over the voters. Labour's Dr Rajen Prasad, an immigrant from Fiji, said he could identify with immigrants' struggles to carve a new life here because he was once in the same boat.

If Labour was re-elected, Dr Prasad, who is standing as a list candidate, promised immigrant voters that he would be the one to be "bringing your stories and your frustrations" to Parliament, and said he would push for a review of the settlement programme to make it "the best in the world".

National's Pansy Wong said both herself and leader John Key had been in positions to help them "fully understand" immigrants and the poor.

"John Key's mother was a migrant and a single mum, and he grew up in a state house ... John understands poverty."

Mrs Wong also said that while growing up in Hong Kong, she had to share a room with her mother and two brothers where they used a common toilet and kitchen space shared with seven others.

She said that in ruling out coalition with New Zealand First, National has made "Asian bashing unfashionable" this election.

Also at the debate, which was organised by Ethnic Voice NZ, were Matt Robson (Progressives), Ashok (United Future) and Bernie Ogilvy (Kiwi Party).

TV 3 - we did not buckle to pressure

RADIO NEW ZEALAND:

TV3 is denying claims it buckled to political pressure by dropping a full debate of political party leaders.

The network canned the broadcast after Prime Minister Helen Clark and National Party leader John Key refused to take part.

The Greens are investigating whether TV3 has breached broadcasting standards, and United Future described it as a craven commercial decision.

The of TV3 News and Current Affairs director Mark Jennings told Nine to Noon that it is simply not a leaders' debate without Miss Clark and Mr Key.

He said TV3 certainly had not caved in and will give the minor parties fair coverage.

Mr Jennings said he thinks Key and Clark's actions were outrageous, arrogant and totally against the spirit of MMP - but the public can make up their own minds.

Both leaders also refused to take part in full leaders debate on TVNZ, but that network says it will still provide a prime time platform for the other party leaders.

Labour and National "arrogant" over debate decision

NATIONAL BUSINESS REVIEW: Prime Minister Helen Clark and National Party leader John Key aren't backing down on their refusal to share the platform with minor party leaders during televised election campaign debates.

They say their two head-to-head debates are more important because there are only two candidates for prime minister.

ACT and the Greens say the decision is arrogant and amounts to an attack on MMP.

Mr Key said today it was locked in.

"This is going to be an election where people want to compare us," he said on NewstalkZB.

"A head-to-head gives New Zealanders the most clarity to see our different styles."

Miss Clark said the issue was discussed between the two parties at chief of staff level.

"The general view was that the most benefit for the viewing public comes from head-to-head debates -- people have a very clear choice, a Labour-led government or a right-wing government. Those issues are going to come out."

TV3 and TVNZ wanted to stage what they call MMP debates with the leaders of all eight parties represented in Parliament.

Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said yesterday it was clear National and Labour wanted to go back to the "winner takes all" system.

"Key has made it clear he does not support MMP and wants a referendum to overturn it," she said.

"Clark has made noises supportive of MMP recently but was a strong opponent in the 1990s, and this move shows where she really stands."

ACT leader Rodney Hide said the decision showed the arrogant attitude of going back to the "old club" arrangement where the National and Labour stitched up deals between themselves.

In 2005 there was a row when TV3 tried to exclude United future leader Peter Dunne and Progressive Party leader Jim Anderton from the MMP debate.

The network said eight was too many, but Mr Dunne and Mr Anderton went to court and TV3 had to let them take part.

PM: Problems with abolishing Maori seats

NATIONAL BUSINESS REVIEW: Any attempt by the National Party to get rid of the Maori seats would cause problems, Prime Minister Helen Clark said today.

National yesterday released its Maori affairs policy and confirmed it wants to see the eventual abolition of the seats.

"I have a huge problem with a Pakeha majority in a New Zealand Parliament legislating away the Maori seats," Miss Clark said on NewstalkZB.

"For a party like the National Party, a right-wing party which has had very little Maori support ever, to just say 'we're getting rid of those seats'...if you want a recipe for friction between communities in our electorates, go that way."
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National has linked the seats with its 2014 deadline for settling all historical Treaty claims.

When that has been achieved, it says the constitutional process would start to abolish the seats because it wants to see all New Zealanders on the same electoral roll.

Miss Clark said the Maori seats existed so that MPs holding them could raise issues specific to Maori.

"Maori in general seats don't have a mandate to do that," she said.

"They have to act for the overall electorate."

Miss Clark said Maori had a choice every five years to go on the general roll or the Maori roll.

"They've chosen in growing numbers to go on the Maori roll," she said.

Clark's advice to Key: Learn to take heat

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: Prime Minister Helen Clark says Labour isn't running a dirty campaign and National's leader John Key has to accept that scrutiny comes with the territory.

"I've been under the blowtorch of public scrutiny as an MP for 27 years, Mr Key has been in Parliament barely six and he's starting to find out what it's like when you go for the big job," Helen Clark said today on TV One's Breakfast show.

Asked about attacks on Mr Key over the Tranz Rail shares his family trust held while he was asking questions about the railways in Parliament, Helen Clark said that was part of the scrutiny.

"Of course we research peoples' records, so do they. You often find them digging back 15 or 20 years to try to find something I've said," Helen Clark said.

"We have to accept that as going with the territory. I've accepted for a long time that people will look into every nook and cranny."

She did not believe Mr Key made a simple mistake by at first saying he had held 50,000 Tranz Rail shares and then admitting there had been twice as many.

He has said he sold the shares as soon as he realised there was a political issue with Tranz Rail.

"He was actively trading, buying and selling, in the middle of asking a lot of questions through the parliamentary process," Helen Clark said.

"I know he was trading in shares while he was carrying out his duties as associate transport spokesperson and he never declared that interest."

Trouble for Kenneth Wang over billboard

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: Former Act MP Kenneth Wang thought launching his campaign in the new electorate of Botany with the slogan "vote Wang, get Wang and Wong" would be a clever way to re-enter Parliament on November 8.

But what he is getting instead is a possible $40,000 fine and the wrath of National's candidate Pansy Wong, who is standing against him.

Mrs Wong has written to Mr Wang, asking for the "offending billboards" to be removed - or face having a complaint being lodged with the Electoral Commission, where he could be fined up to $40,000 under Section 65(4) of the Electoral Finance Act.

Mr Wang said: "The threat of a lawsuit is not only disgraceful, it is disgusting. I am going to fight to the end."

He explained that Mrs Wong is "safe" on the National Party list and would be returned to Parliament whether or not she wins Botany - so Mr Wang has put up 30 hoardings throughout the electorate telling people that a vote for him will be a vote for both himself and Pansy Wong to represent them.

"It's like saying 'vote one MP, get one free' - a message which many people like - and I think Pansy should be positive and support it if she is sincere about wanting to get more Asian MPs into Parliament," he said.

Mr Wang is not on the Act Party list and needs to win the electorate. He does not see anything "illegal" or "wrong" about it because Rodney Hide used the same tactic to win in Epsom at the last election, he says.

"It is ridiculous that in her attempts to sue me, she is using the EFA, an act which National has condemned. The billboard stays until the election is over. I am not going to remove a single one," said Mr Wang.

Mrs Wong, who launched her campaign yesterday with hustings from a blue double decker bus around Botany, confirmed that she will be lodging a complain against Mr Wang.

"The National Party does not agree with the EFA, but that doesn't mean we are not subject to it," she said. "By using my name on his hoardings, what he is effectively doing is making me accountable for his election spending."

EFA Section 65(2) states: "A promoter must not publish ... an election advertisement that encourages or persuades, or appears to encourage or persuade, voters to vote for a party unless the publication of the advertisement is authorised in writing by the financial agent ... "

In a letter to Mr Wang, the financial agent for Mrs Wong, Navin Chandra, wrote: "The words 'get Wang and Wong' encourage or persuade voters to vote for the National Party and/or Pansy Wong. However your hoardings have not been authorised by either the National Party's financial agent, or myself."

Neither does Mrs Wong think her electorate wants "more Chinese MPs" to represent them.

"Botany is a multi-ethnic electorate and residents will vote on the strength and commitments of the candidates beyond our skin colours."

National to speed up treaty negotiations - at odds with Maori Party

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: The National Party and the Maori Party are at odds over National's Maori Affairs and Treaty Negotiations policies.

In the policies, released on Sunday, National said it would speed up the settlement process for Treaty of Waitangi claims if it forms a government after the election.

Leader John Key says he would move the Office of Treaty Settlements from the Ministry of Justice to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, appoint special negotiators and resource the Waitangi Tribunal to sit all year round.

Mr Key says that would enable all claims to be settled by 2014.

He says National would then begin a process to abolish the Maori seats in Parliament.

However, Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples says that's not a decision for National to make.

"The abolition of the Maori seats won't happen, it will never happen until the Maori people say it can happen, because the seats belong to the Maori people, and no government has the right to just take them away.

"If they do, there'll be social disruption and I'll be one of the ones leading it."

National has said it will not repeal the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

Dr Sharples doesn't believe discussions with either Labour or National have finished over the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

However, he says the retention of the Act would not be a bar to any future deal the Maori Party could do with either party.

Treaty Negotiations Minister Michael Cullen says moving the Office of Treaty Settlements to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet would delay settlements by six months, and says the Labour-led Government has appointed independent negotiators for some time.

Poll - Labour/National gap widens slightly

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: The gap between the Labour Party and the National Party has widened slightly in a poll released on Sunday.

National is up one point to 49% while Labour is down one point to 36% in the 3 News opinion poll.

That increases the gap from 11 to 13%.

The Greens are the only minor party to reach the threshold required to enter Parliament without an electorate seat; down one to 5%.

New Zealand First is unchanged on 3% and both the Maori Party and ACT are unchanged on 2%.

The Prime Minister Helen Clark rose one point as the preferred prime minister to 32 and National leader John Key is unchanged on 34.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Maori Party has priorities for next Government

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: After the November 8 election the Maori Party's priority will be to get the best deal possible on health, welfare and education spending, co-leader Pita Sharples says.

The Maori Party could be crucial in deciding whether National or Labour form the next government.

Speaking on TVNZ 7's Leaders interview programme yesterday, Dr Sharples said that after the election the party would be able to complete consultations with its membership within three days.

He said they were looking to work with a "Treaty partner" who recognised the place of the Treaty and Maori's status as tangata whenua.

Both Labour and National "did not have a clue" about the Treaty and paid it lip service.

Dr Sharples said repeal of the foreshore and seabed legislation, entrenchment of the Treaty and the Maori electorate seats would always be issues the party would fight for.

But he refused to describe them as bottom lines.

The Maori Party did not necessarily want ministerial roles inside a formal coalition because the party could end up being "drowned", without power or freedom to speak.

It could be possible that his MPs would sit in the neutral cross benches for another term.

Dr Sharples said he was keen to unbundle funding that was not being well spent from departments and make sure it went towards closing the gaps between Maori and other New Zealanders.

NZ Herald Digi-Poll: September 2008

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has a provincial bias, with his personal support disproportionately lower in Auckland and higher in the rest of New Zealand.

He is favoured by four per cent as preferred Prime Minister in the latest Herald-DigiPoll survey, down 1.6 points.

But only 1 per cent of Auckland respondents favoured him compared with 5.6 per cent in the rest of the country. His highest polling this year was in May with 6.7 per cent.

The gender bias evident in National's support - usually greater support by men - is more even.

It has 51.4 per cent support overall, with 52.5 per cent of men supporting the party and 50 per cent of women.

Labour's overall rating is 35.7 per cent with 32.7 per cent of men supporting the party and 39 per cent of women.

National leader John Key is disproportionately favoured by Aucklanders -48 per cent compared with his overall rating of 45.5 per cent.

Helen Clark's popularity is more even with 43.1 per cent overall and 44.6 per cent by Aucklanders.

The geographic bias towards leaders is also reflected in the party vote. In Auckland 55 per cent of respondents favoured National compared with 49.4 per cent in the rest of New Zealand.

Labour is favoured by 33 per cent in Auckland, lower than its support in the rest of New Zealand of 36.5 per cent.

National officially release science policy

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: National's research, science and technology policy, issued yesterday, confirms the party would scrap Labour's Fast Forward Fund and reduce research and development tax credits.

Labour made the policy public on September 9, saying it was leaked to it.

But National says Labour found a batch of policies left in a public place.

National leader John Key said that a government led by him would set up a research centre aimed at reducing farm-produced greenhouse gas emissions.

The policy also includes measures to streamline funding and application processes.

NZPA rolling "poll of polls": September 24 2008

STUFF.CO.NZ: While gamblers predict John Key is three times more likely than Helen Clark to be next prime minister, polling shows National has cause to be nervous.

Online prediction market iPredict has the probability of John Key being next prime minister at 72.45 percent, with Miss Clark rated a 27.55 percent chance.

But the NZPA rolling poll -- the average of the last six published polls -- shows National support slowly ebbing away over the past four weeks.

On August 27, National was polling well enough to win 64 seats in Parliament -- enough to govern alone, if an election was held then.

Today, National was down to 62 seats and would need help from ACT to eke out a majority in the House.

With more than six weeks and a potentially uncomfortable campaign until election day on November 8, any continuation of that trend may see National needing more than just ACT to form a government.

On current polling Labour would win 45 seats, and its allies the Greens seven, and the Progressive Party one -- nine seats fewer than the National-ACT bloc.

The NZPA poll allocated the Maori Party six seats -- based on current polls in the Maori seats -- and United Future just one.

The greatest fear for National would be a Phoenix-like rising from the dead by New Zealand First, which would be eliminated from Parliament on current polling.

Mr Key has ruled out working with NZ First after the election, a move which might bite him if voters decide NZ First leader Winston Peters has been unfairly treated over the donation scandal.

NZ First will have to win an electorate seat, or more than 5 percent of votes cast to return to Parliament.

It is at 2.9 percent and since then Mr Peters has been censured in Parliament over the Owen Glenn donation.

If consummate political survivor Mr Peters engineers a miracle and makes it back to Parliament, Labour might just be able to cobble together an unwieldy majority.

Any further erosion of the National vote would further raise that possibility.

The Greens, on 5.9 percent, are the only minor party above the 5 percent threshold that has to be crossed for a party to hold seats without winning an electorate.

NZPA rolling poll (with seats in brackets)*

Sept 24 Sept 10 Aug 27 Labour 36.1 (45) 36.2 (46) 34.4 (43) National 49.2 (62) 49.3 (62) 50.7 (64) NZ First 2.9 (0) 3.3 (0) 4.0 (0) ACT 1.7 (2) 1.5 (2) 1.3 (2) Greens 5.9 (7) 5.7 (7) 5.8 (7) United Future 0.4 (1) 0.3 (1) 0.4 (1) Maori Party 2.5 (6) 2.6 (6) 2.5 (6) Progressives 0.0 (1) 0.0 (1) 0.0 (1)

* assumes Maori Party win six electorate seats; ACT hold Epsom; United Future hold Ohariu Belmont; Progressives hold Wigram; New Zealand First lose Tauranga -- all outcomes supported by current polling.

John Key acted unethically - Cullen

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: Revelations about Tranz Rail shares held by National Party leader John Key show he cannot be trusted, says Prime Minister Helen Clark.

Mr Key says he mishandled what he told the public about Tranz Rail after admitting his family trust owned 100,000 shares in the rail company, not 30,000 as previously reported.

The Government has accused Mr Key of acting unethically by trading in the shares while seeking commercial information as an opposition transport spokesperson.

In Parliament on Tuesday, Mr Key suggested Miss Clark has been covering up for New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.

But Miss Clark turned the tables on him, saying the only cover-up was by Mr Key who, during an eight-week period in 2003, asked parliamentary questions, lodged an Official Information Act request and traded shares, all the while claiming he never spoke publicly about Tranz Rail.

Earlier, Mr Key admitted he had mishandled what he told the public about shares held in Tranz Rail by his family trust.

He also said he should never have owned the shares while an MP and that the shares were sold at a loss.

Mr Key says the shares were independently managed by a broker and he ordered their sale when he realised Tranz Rail was going to be a political issue.

Mr Key says he did not intend to mislead the public, but did not realise the trust bought parcels of shares on different dates.

Mr Key says it is regrettable that he did not clarify earlier how many shares he held in Tranz Rail, and that he misled the public by failing to correct reports in June that he held 30,000 shares, when in fact his family trust held 100,000 shares.

Mr Key says he was not focused when asked by a journalist on Monday about the number of shares.

But deputy Labour leader Michael Cullen says Mr Key simply tried to lie when confronted about the matter on Monday night.

No radical change in public service sector says National

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: The National Party has assured the Public Service Association that there would be no radical reform of the public sector under a National Government.

Party leader John Key addressed about 150 people at a conference of the public sector union on Wednesday.

He told the conference that times are tough and it is not an ideological statement to say that restraint is required. However, he does not believe there is any need for extensive reform of the public sector.

Mr Key reiterated that resources under a National Government would be focused on what he termed "front line services".

He said he disagrees with a PSA advertising campaign which equates National's tax cuts with the loss of public sector jobs.

PSA not convinced

PSA national secretary Brenda Pilott says delegates were not persuaded about the affordability of tax cuts.

Ms Pilott says delegates are concerned that a National government would scrap the Partnership for Quality agreement which the public service has had with three consecutive Labour governments.

She says delegates were pleased Mr Key spoke at the conference, but they were not convinced that National would not make cuts to the sector.

Act outlines its wish for hard justice

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: Act yesterday launched a policy it hopes will help New Zealand "turn back the clock" - and the person who drafted it is the mystery candidate No 5 on the party's list.

David Garrett, an Auckland lawyer and passionate anti-crime advocate, will be leading the party's charge on law and order, which leader Rodney Hide says will be one of two main policies it will be campaigning strongly on this election.

"Clearly, the economy is important, but law and order sits right up there, and to many Kiwis it is just as, if not more important than the economy."

Mr Hide says law and order will be one policy he will not be prepared to compromise in the event of a coalition in a National-led government.

Act's policy calls for zero tolerance for crime, a communities-first approach to policing and one law for all. It also wants to deport any non-New Zealand citizen convicted of a serious violent offence upon completion of sentence or earlier.

Mr Garrett, the legal adviser to the Sensible Sentencing Trust who drafted its "three strikes law" - which says repeat violent offenders should be jailed for 25 years or life - says the tough laws will help New Zealand to "turn back the clock".

Under Labour, he says, violent crime has increased over 43 per cent, and putting the rights of criminals first made 350 New Zealanders victims of violent crime every week.

Also, without Act, nothing would change under a government led by National, which saw an increase in crime during its previous terms.

Mr Garrett said Act's policy advocating "zero tolerance in policing" and "harsh quick justice" would help to bring New Zealand society back to a time when it was safe to walk the streets and leave doors and windows open at night.

For Mr Garrett to get a seat in Parliament, Mr Hide must retain his Epsom seat and Act must win at least 4 per cent of party votes. The latest Fairfax Media-Nielsen political poll puts support for Act at 1 per cent.

Law and order was also hotly discussed at the Korean Multi-Party political convention on Saturday. Politicians from six parties - including NZ First leader Winston Peters - debated law and order, immigration and health to woo the Asian vote.

Greens announce transport policy - includes $1 bus rides

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: The Green Party is proposing a "dollar-a-ride" policy to try to get more people using public transport, as part of its transport policy launched on Sunday.

It proposes that everyone be able to travel off-peak on public transport for $1 anywhere within the urban limits of any city, for a two hour period.

The policy proposes cheaper daily, weekly and monthly transport passes and a 50% discount for children, students and beneficiaries.

Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said the current transport system is biased in favour of cars and trucks, and against trains, buses, ferries, bikes, and people on foot.

She said that is unaffordable and unsustainable, and the Greens would progressively increase the proportion of the transport budget that Government spends on public transport, walking and cycling facilities.

Maori Party could work with either Labour or National - MP

STUFF.CO.NZ: The Maori Party could work with both Labour and National in helping to form the next government says its MP Hone Harawira.

Mr Harawira told the Agenda programme on TVNZ this morning that the party had a number of options on how it could co-operate with the next government.

Depending on the election result it is possible that the party – which currently has four MPs in Parliament – could be the kingmaker.

Mr Harawira said the party would not declare its hand ahead of the vote and before speaking to its membership after election day.

"Our focus is on winning the seven Maori seats and maintaining the position that Maori have always wanted, which is an independent and strong Maori voice in Parliament," Mr Harawira said.

"Now regardless of whether it's Labour or National we want to be at the table."

Mr Harawira described Labour as stale and arrogant, citing the passage of the Electoral Finance Act as a government losing touch with reality.

He said it would be difficult working with National, but both of the major parties had little to offer Maori voters.

After the last election, its members had little interest in working with National, some interest in Labour, but the majority wanted the Maori Party to remain independent.

The party had "nutted out' what shape of arrangement it wanted with two options available, but Mr Harawira said he would not say what these were.

The top of the party's wish list was retention of the Maori electorate seats.

Auckland barrister likely to be Act's 5th candidate

STUFF.CO.NZ: ACT party president Garry Mallett today would not rule out Auckland barrister David Garrett as the mystery candidate ranked fifth on its list.

Mr Mallett, asked to confirm whether Mr Garrett was a candidate or not said "why would I do that?". The party was to make an announcement on Sunday.

The fifth spot was left vacant when ACT announced its list on August 20.

Labour-aligned blogsite the Standard said Mr Garrett was a legal advisor to the Sensible Sentencing Trust.

Mr Garrett did not immediately return calls.

He has written pieces for the New Zealand Herald – just recently on gangs and earlier in the year against prostitution law reform legislation, which he said was a disaster.

Fairfax Media Poll: September 2008

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: The latest Fairfax Media-Nielsen political poll puts National 18 points ahead of Labour.

The survey puts National on 52% support and Labour on 34%.

The Green Party is on 5% support, the only minor party to make the threshold required to enter Parliament.

Support for New Zealand First is unchanged at 3% despite several inquiries into party donations, and the Maori Party is also on 3%.

The Act Party remains at 1% support.

National leader John Key is the preferred Prime Minister for 41% of polled voters, 11 points ahead of the Helen Clark.

The survey questioned 1130 people between 10 September and 16 September, and has a margin of error of plus of minus 3%.

The results excluded voters who had not decided which party to vote for.

New Zealand First want universal student allowance

STUFF.CO.NZ: New Zealand First is promising to introduce universal student allowances for tertiary students if in a position to after this year's election.

Party leader Winston Peters repeated the party's policy during a speech to Otago University students today.

"A universal student allowance would encourage more students into tertiary education," he said.

"It would reduce the dependence of loans and the cycle of huge debt that many of our graduates face, especially those who seek the highest qualifications or choose careers in areas such as medicine."

The Greens also have advocated for a universal allowance.

Education Ministry estimates put the cost of the scheme at $182 million a year.

The ministry also estimated a $33m reduction in operating expenditure over the same period, as some existing costs of the current student loan scheme are removed and total borrowing declines.

In July, Tertiary Education Minister Pete Hodgson said he had asked the ministry to prepare the figures but that "should not be construed as a signal the Government intends to introduce such a policy".

About 57 percent of students get an allowance and about 47,000 full-time students miss out because they earned too much or, for students aged under 25, their parents' income was too high to qualify.

The student allowance is $122 a week for those under 25 and living at home, $153 a week for those living away from home, and $184 for those aged over 25.

May's budget gave a 10 percent increase in the parental income threshold, lowered the age for parental income testing to 24 and increased the amount students can borrow for living costs from the student loans scheme by $5 to $155 a week.

Ministry documents showed since 2001 there was a 32 percent fall in the number of students eligible for allowances as parents' incomes rose.

Whale Rider actor to stand for Greens

STUFF.CO.NZ: Actor Rawiri Paratene is standing as the Green Party candidate for Maungakiekie in the November election.

Paratene, who played Koro in Whale Rider and has been a familiar figure on stage and screen since presenting TV's Play School over 30 years ago, said he aimed to help encourage the party vote for the Greens and had no intention to enter Parliament.

"My message to people is to party vote Green, I say to people `Vote for your kids and your grandchildren – they will thank you for it," he said.

He is not on the party list.

National to provide health-related incentives

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: The National Party has unveiled a policy aimed at dealing with shortages of health professionals.

A National government would introduce a voluntary bonding scheme, that would offer student loan write-offs to graduate doctors, nurses and midwives who are prepared to work in hard-to-staff areas.

Party leader John Key says National expects to offer eligible candidates up to $10,000 a year off their loans.

The amounts would be payable at the end of three years, with the option of staying in the scheme another two years.

National expects between 50 and 100 doctors to qualify for the scheme, and about 200 nurses and midwives.

The Medical Students Association president Anna Dare says the scheme will at least help retain some graduates.

She says there are doctor shortages not just in rural areas but in major cities, so the policy would have to be applied across the country.

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Ian Powell says the scheme would not be enough to prevent people heading overseas in droves.

He says graduates will continue seeking work in Australia, because the pay difference is much greater than the write-off National is offering.

Nurses Organisation president Marion Guy says nurses' average debt is $25,000 and any help they can receive to help them repay student loans would be attractive.

National's health spokesperson Tony Ryall says the policy has had a positive response from younger health professionals.

The Labour Party says it already provides incentives for doctors to stay in the country.

Roy Morgan Poll: September 2008 - NZ First support doubles

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: A new poll indicates support for New Zealand First has reached the 5% threshold required to enter Parliament, despite the controversy over donations surrounding Mr Peters.

The Roy Morgan survey has the National Party at 48%, and Labour at 37%.

Its previous survey had New Zealand First on 2.5% support.

Donations to New Zealand First and to Mr Peters' legal bills are being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office, police and Parliament's privileges committee.

The Green Party is the only other minor party to poll above 5%, with 6.5% support.

823 people were surveyed from 1-14 September.

Alliance electoral challenge fails

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: A legal challenge over the Electoral Commission's allocation of taxpayer's money to political parties for television and radio advertising, has failed.

The Alliance Party, which is not in Parliament, went to the High Court seeking a judicial review of the allocation.

The Alliance was granted $10,000 for advertising, plus a one-minute opening address and $7,000 worth of production assistance.

The party challenged the amount of the allocation and the decision not to give it a closing address.

But the Court has ruled in the Electoral Commission's favour.

Helen Clark lays out details of Schools Plus

NEW ZEALAND HERALD:All under-18-year-olds would have to be in some form of education or training from 2014 under Labour policy released by Prime Minister Helen Clark today.

Helen Clark was announcing some of the details of the Government's Schools Plus programme, which she outlined in general form for the first time in January.

National leader John Key said it was a re-announcement of a 2002 policy.

Schools Plus is the Government's plan to have every youth in some form of training until the age of 18.

That would mean youths who left school would have to either go into other training, or if they took up a job would have to do that in conjunction with some form of apprenticeship or qualification.

As the initial phase of the programme, the Government has introduced legislation axing school leaving exemptions for those under 16.

Helen Clark today said under Schools Plus the school leaving age would remain at 16, but in 2011 an "education and training age" of 17 would be introduced.

That age would move to 18 in 2014.

The Labour leader announced $40 million in funding to support several associated measures.

The current school leaving age is 16, but large numbers of younger students have been granted exemptions in recent years so they could move into jobs or other training.

Mr Key said: "The fact that Helen Clark is making the same announcement just weeks out from the 2008 election is an admission of failure under her watch over the past nine years.

"Currently around one in five school students doesn't gain a qualification by the time they leave school, more than a third of students leave school without having gained a Level 2 or higher qualification, and nearly 13,000 teenagers are receiving a government benefit. Why should we believe Helen Clark will get to her 2014 goal this time around?"

He said National's "Youth Guarantee" would give young New Zealanders a "universal education entitlement" for all 16 and 17-year-olds.

Young people who are not working and who fail to take up this new option, would not be eligible to receive a benefit.

PM after Grey Power vote

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: Labour's top guns have begun openly courting the vote of senior citizens, as New Zealand First - which traditionally enjoys good support from the elderly - lurches through an ongoing political donation scandal.

Prime Minister Helen Clark and senior minister Trevor Mallard both went to Grey Power meetings in the Hutt Valley yesterday to preach their record of higher pension payments, lower debt and bigger hearing aid subsidies.

Asked if she was making special effort to target the constituency given the woes of Winston Peters, Helen Clark argued she had been going to Grey Power meetings for years.

"We've enjoyed good support from older New Zealanders in the past, I think it was particularly important in 1999 and 2002," she said.

"What I know about older New Zealanders is they do vote, they feel it's very much their civic duty, their public duty, they do listen very carefully and they go out and make a considered judgment."

New Zealand First polled 5.7 per cent of the vote in the 2005 election and much of its support now comes from the elderly.

Mr Peters has been an advocate of policies like higher superannuation payments, the SuperGold discount card and free off-peak travel on public transport for senior citizens.

But Labour has also been a willing participant in bringing those policies to fruition. It hopes to get some payback for making the policies a reality.

Helen Clark was relaxed and smiling when she arrived at a modest Lower Hutt hall yesterday afternoon to talk to around 250 Grey Power members.

Ahead of the November 8 election she chose to highlight her Government's "prudent, predictable, steady" credentials - and contrasted them with what she said was her opponent's stupid plan to take on more debt and give bigger tax cuts at a time of international financial turmoil.

The grey-haired audience gave that argument a positive response and then they got a gentle reminder that the last National government of the 1990s made changes to superannuation that reduced the rate of increase of pension payments.

Helen Clark's words gave a clear indication she will be campaigning over the next seven weeks on her Government's record while raising doubts about what National would do in power.

She didn't once mention the words "National" or "John Key", but instead talked of her "opponents" and "the Opposition".

The Prime Minister signalled new policy announcements would be made in the areas of health, housing and education, and she also made an emotive pitch around her decision not to send troops into Iraq.

The only difficult moments at the meeting came when she was questioned about why all murderers didn't stay in jail for life, what the Government was doing to help investors who lost money in failed finance companies, and why people couldn't get full pensions from both the UK and New Zealand.

Afterwards, most of the senior citizens present were polite about how Helen Clark was shaping up.

"She's very talented, she spoke very much to the audience and didn't promise anything that couldn't be done," one woman told the Herald.

Another couple of women said they would definitely be voting for Labour - as they had done for around the past 20 years.

Labour praised by former National leader, Don Brash

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: As markets continue to decline Labour and National are trading blows over which party would be better to guide New Zealand through the economic storm.

Finance Minister Michael Cullen today welcomed the comments of former National leader and Reserve Bank governor Don Brash that the state of the Government's books left New Zealand in a better state than many countries to get through the coming months.

Dr Brash said the banking system in this country was also strong. It was well capitalised and did not have the exposure to sub-prime mortgages that US institutions did.

Also in this country's favour, the Government's fiscal position was good and its debt was low.

"That also puts us in a good place if we have to run a deficit for a few years," he said.

The Government is yet to open the books ahead of the election, but most are predicting that the forecast cash deficits of more than $3 billion a year over the next four years will get worse.

Dr Cullen said Labour had built up assets and reduced debt, but National's willingness to borrow for additional tax cuts in the tightest global credit conditions in over a generation was risky and irresponsible.

National has indicated it will up the ante in the tax cut programme, but the party's finance spokesman Bill English said Labour were trying to have it both ways.

"Helen Clark's staff have been spinning that there will be major new spending announcements for the election, while Michael Cullen's crowing about how he has spent the lot and the cupboard is bare. They can't both be right," Mr English said.

The reality was that New Zealand was in recession and the United States economy was looking shaky, he said.

"The appropriate fiscal policy response is a conservative one, with any new initiatives clearly aimed at strengthening our economy," Mr English said.

National would bring discipline to government spending, stop the rise in bureaucracy, and have ongoing tax cuts, he said.

National declares $30,000 donation from roading lobby group

NATIONAL BUSINESS REVIEW: The roading lobby of New Zealand has donated $30,000 to the National Party, an Electoral Commission register shows.

Under the Electoral Finance Act all donations over $20,000 must be declared within a fortnight of receipt.

The commission's register shows a group called the Road Transport Trust donated $30,000 to the National Party on August 27.

The trust is registered at the same address as commercial transport lobby-group the Road Transport Forum.

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said it was good parties now had to almost immediately disclose large donations, but further changes were needed.

"It is hardly surprising that National would be funded by the roading lobby given their obsessive compulsive desire to waste our taxes building new motorways rather than public transport, but it is good they have been forced to tell the public some information about their funding sources prior to the election."

Dr Norman said the Greens wanted the law changed so rolling disclosures also had to include the identity of people giving to a trust.

Other donations that have been made public by the new rolling disclosure provisions are a $30,000 donation by National leader John Key to his party in June and a $100,000 donation from businessman Alan Gibbs to ACT in April.

The register also shows Green Party MPs Jeanette Fitzsimons and Sue Kedgley donated $34,000 and $21,000 to their party respectively.

Three other individuals, Stuart Bramhall, Christopher Marshall and Bryan Forde, contributed $37,000, $44,000 and $24,000 respectively to the Greens.

Greens release industrial relations policy

NATIONAL BUSINESS REVIEW: The Green Party has launched its industrial relations policy, calling for an immediate increase in the minimum wage, another public holiday and a review of the Employment Relations Act.

Spokeswoman Sue Bradford said low paid workers and their families were carrying an unfair share of the costs of climate change, rising fuel and food prices and the fallout from the international credit crunch.

"It is more important than ever that workers are treated well," she said.

"Many wage increases have not kept pace with inflation over the last few years despite economic and productivity growth and small, piecemeal reforms of the Employment Relations Act are not addressing some of the structural problems with the legislation."

Key points of the policy are:

* Lifting the minimum wage to $15 an hour immediately (it is $12 an hour at present);

* A new framework for state sector collective bargaining to ensure consistency and fairness across the public service;

* An additional statutory holiday to fall between Queen's Birthday and Labour Weekend;

* Working to extend paid parental leave to 13 months;

* A full review of the Employment Relations Act; and

* A separate government agency to support union and employer bargaining on multi-employer collective agreements.

National "bullying" Auckland DHB

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: The National Party is defending a letter it sent to Auckland District Health Board telling it not to generate positive news coverage for the Government.

The letter reminds the health board that the country is now in the pre-election period where there are rules about how state sector organisations will behave.

National's health spokesperson, Tony Ryall, has written to the board's chief executive warning him it would be "totally innappropriate" to generate positive news coverage for the Government.

Mr Ryall says he heard from a reliable source that media staff at the health board may be planning such news, which he says would be partisan.

"We think New Zealanders would rather that money and effort is going into frontline services for patients, rather than public relations campaigns in support of the Government.

"That, of course, is against the State Services Commission rules, and that's what we pointed out to the district health board."

Health Minister David Cunliffe says it is blatant political interference by National and Mr Ryall should apologise for his attempt to bully the board.

"It's an outrageous own goal on Mr Ryall's part - it shows a very poor understanding of the governance processes in the health sector. He's accusing a district health board of politicising their role without any apparent evidence that they've done so."

Auckland District Health Board chief executive Garry Smith says it will not change any practices as a result of the letter and will continue to abide by official guidelines.

Scrutiny welcomed

State Services Commissioner Ian Rennie says he welcomes public scrutiny by any political party over how government agencies operate in the lead-up to the election.

Mr Rennie defended the protocol, saying there are strict impartial guidelines to follow, particularly during the three months before election day.

Mr Rennie says Mr Ryall's concerns are not new and he recalls similar issues during the past 20 years.

The election will be held on 8 November.

92% of Kiwis enrolled to vote

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: The Electoral Enrolment Centre says it is satisfied with the current number of people enrolled to vote in the upcoming election.

Nearly 250,000 people still have not registered to vote on 8 November.

The centre's national manager Murray Wicks says the education campaign has been highly visible and successful, and if someone wants to vote enrolling could not be easier.

Mr Wicks says more than 92% of people are already registered and New Zealand ranks amongst the highest in the world for enrollment levels.

Mr Wicks says in the 2005 election more than 16,000 votes did not count, because the voter was not enrolled.

Maori Party looking at strengthening position

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: The Maori Party says it has begun mobilising support crews to strengthen the party's vote in the seven Maori seats.

The election will be held on 8 November and politicians are in full campaign mode.

The latest One News political poll shows the National Party ahead of the Labour Party by 18 points.

The Maori Party has dropped slightly to 1.8% of the party vote. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1%.

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia says one of its key strategies is to knock on as many doors as possible.

She says that is especially important, as many Maori are not enrolled to vote.

National gives speculation of $50 a week+ tax cuts

STUFF.CO.NZ: National finance spokesman Bill English has reignited speculation the party will offer tax cuts of around $50 a week.

Ahead of the May budget National's leader John Key said in an interview with The Dominion Post that it intended to give "meaningful" cuts "North of $50".

Since those comments National has played down expectations of such big tax cuts, but asked today about the $50 figure Mr English confirmed it.

"It'll be around those expectations," he said on Radio New Zealand.

Under Labour's tax cuts, which kick in on October 1, only those earning over about $80,000 will get over $50, and not until April 2011.

Mr English would not reveal any further details of the package but repeated National would be keeping Labour's October 1 tax cuts and adding to them with its own on April 1.

He would not say how National intended to pay for the supersized tax cuts.

Under Labour's cuts, from October 1, those with a taxable income of $20,000 will be $12 a week better off, those on $50,000 will be $16 better off, while those earning above $80,000 will get an extra $28.

A second round will be delivered in April 2010 and by the time of the third round the figures will rise to $22, $32 and $55 a week, respectively.

Labour campaign strategist Pete Hodgson today said he believed National would come up with a $50 a week tax cut, but questioned how it would pay for it.

"The question is what will that do for the things we think should be funded by the government," he said on Radio New Zealand.

Mr Hodgson said Labour intended to attack National and Mr Key's credibility during the campaign, as it had done to former leader Don Brash, but it would also have positive messages based around its own policies.

Mr English said National's campaign would not be negative.

Goff considers banning gangs

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: Corrections Minister Phil Goff is weighing up the idea of outlawing gangs, based on a ban just introduced across the Tasman.

South Australia launched its crackdown this month with the declared aim to "get gang members to leave the gang or leave the state" by making it illegal for members to even talk to one another. Breaching the ban can lead to up to five years in prison.

Mr Goff told the Herald he was personally evaluating the ban, and if it worked, "then I'm 100 per cent in favour of it".

"If it proves effective for the South Australians, we should seriously consider introducing it here," he said.

Under the new South Australian law:

* A gang is outlawed by being declared a criminal organisation on advice from the police.

* Control orders can then be made against individual members, making it illegal for them to associate or communicate with other members and from being in certain places.

* Police can also issue public safety orders banning gangs from public places or events.

* Breaches of the law are punishable by up to five years in jail.

The murder of Sergeant Don Wilkinson last week is New Zealand's latest gang- and drug-related tragedy. The two men charged in connection with it are understood to be associates of the feared Head Hunters gang.

Broadcaster Paul Holmes' daughter Millie faced new methamphetamine charges last week and her co-accused, Connor Morris, is reportedly the son of a patched Head Hunters member.

Mr Goff said he was not surprised by the gang and drug links to Mr Wilkinson's murder.

He had spoken over the weekend to South Australian Premier Mike Rann about the Serious and Organised Crime (Control) Act, and was interested to hear that the gangs had hired South Australia's top lawyers to oppose it.

"Why would they oppose it so bitterly if they didn't think it was going to be effective?"

Mr Goff's position differs from previous comments by Police Minister Annette King, who told Parliament in March 2006 and November last year that she did not not believe it was "feasible or possible" and to think it would actually work was "dreaming". Ms King is also following developments in South Australia.

Mr Goff said the ban had to be assessed, because while it might be popular with the public, "it is not what looks good, it is what actually has a significant impact on gangs".

Mr Goff cited the recent comments of Cam Stokes, Auckland's former top gang detective, who said banning gangs would just make them less visible and therefore harder to police.

Mr Goff said: "You can pass a law banning gangs, but has that ever stopped the Mafia, Yakuza or Triads from operating?"

South Australia has a Labor Government and Mr Goff and Mr Rann, a former NZ journalist, are close friends.

The South Australia ban has been criticised for limiting freedom of association, but Mr Goff said he agreed with Mr Rann that the gang problem was serious enough for civil liberties to be overridden.

NZ First's law and order spokesman, Ron Mark, said the party had long advocated banning gangs and he welcomed Mr Goff's "change of attitude", given previous criticism by Labour. "We are a little cynical given we are so close to an election and they have consistently rejected our calls to outlaw gangs."

National Party spokesman Simon Power said he was also "attracted to the notion" of outlawing gangs.

Green MP Keith Locke said a ban would put a barrier in the way of working with gangs to stop their criminality.

A bill banning gang patches in Wanganui is before Parliament and has the support of all parties except the Greens, Maori and Act.

If passed, the Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill would ban patches and even gang colours or tattoos in the city.

Changing their tune:

"To say that if we outlaw [gangs] by law, that will happen, is, I think, dreaming."
- Police Minister Annette King, March 16, 2006

"If it works, then I'm 100 per cent in favour of it."
- Corrections Minister Phil Goff, yesterday

One News/Colmar Brunton Poll: September 2008

ONE NEWS: It's first blood to National in the election campaign as John Key pulls out well ahead of Helen Clark in the latest ONE News Colmar Brunton poll.

It has been a momentous month in politics with the Prime Minister losing a close friend in a remote mountain hut and a billionaire donor, Owen Glenn, jetting in to spill the beans on Winston Peters and dump on the Labour Party.

"Well I'm not exactly cheering for Labour anymore - not if they abandon you and then turn the dogs on you," said Glenn.

As the Peters secret funding saga unravelled, the political landscape changed with National ruling out New Zealand First.

"Winston Peters would be unacceptable as a minister in a government led by me," said Key.

And Act Party leader Rodney Hide came in from the cold, shelving his Mr Nice Guy image to hound Peters.

So how has all this affected our appetite for the parties?

National is now on is on 53%, a commanding lead over Labour on 35%. The Greens are back over the 5% threshold and Act has creeped back into the picture with 2%. The Maori Party is not really featuring in the party vote on 1.8% and New Zealand First is crumbling away under 2% support.

National would have 66 seats on these numbers and Labour just 43. The Greens would have six MPs and, assuming electorate seats are held, the Maori Party gets four, Act three, United Future and the Progessives one seat each.

Clark never really stops campaigning but the official campaign has begun with November 8 named as election day.

Clark says this is an election about trust. Key takes a different tack.

"This is not about the past, it's not about the old political battles of 20 or 30 years ago, it's about the future," he says.

And Key is winning the preferred Prime Minister battle. Clark has slipped back and is now nearly 10 points behind. Peters still has a core of people who think the job should be his.

But that's little comfort for the man whose party seems in tatters, threatening to drag Labour down too, meaning right now Key is sitting pretty.

The poll sampled 1,000 voters and had a margin of error of 3.1%.

Election campaigning begins

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: The National and Labour party leaders campaigned in Auckland on Saturday, a day after Helen Clark announced the election would be held on 8 November.

National leader John Key was at the Otara Markets while Helen Clark Helen Clark was in her Mt Albert electorate.

John Key chatted to stall owners and shoppers at the Otara markets. He says he had a positive response from people in South Auckland, and says National is doing better in its non-traditional areas, which is why it will win the election.

"When I meet people from all over New Zealand, what I find is their issues are the same," he said.

"They care passionately about their children having an opportunity in life to do well, they want to see their community safer, and they want to feel as though they can make a difference to their own life through their own efforts - very similar reaction, doesn't really matter which socio-economic group we're in or which part of the country we're in."

In her Mt Albert electorate Helen Clark was cheered by supporters as she help put up a Labour Party billboard.

She said John Key is deluded if he thinks National is doing better in its non-traditional areas of support and reiterated her party's election theme of trust.

"There is no fixed point about the National Party, they don't appear to believe in anything except trying to win.

"We get out and fight for what we believe in, the things that we've done, the things that we will do which are focussed on our ordinary families, superannuitants and communities.

Miss Clark said National had attacked everything the Labour-led Government has done to make life better.

250,000 still not enrolled to vote

NATIONAL BUSINESS REVIEW: With just 57 sleeps until the election, 250,000 people still have not enrolled to vote.

Electoral Enrolment Centre national manager Murray Wicks said there was even less time to get on the electoral roll, as it would be closed off on October 8.

At 3pm today, there were already 2,888,508 people enrolled -- 41,112 more than the last election's record setting figure.

Mr Wicks said it was normal for a lot of people to leave it until the last minute but the 2005 election was evidence of the impact that number of voters could have.

"Last election the difference between the first and second parties was 50,000 votes and here's 250,000 people yet to enrol."

Of that number, 100,000 were aged 18 to 24.

"Young people seem to drag the chain a little. They seem to be less engaged, less involved in the electoral process," Mr Wicks said.

Ahead of this election, he said an effort had been made to appeal to youths with new initiatives such as giving candidates profiles on the online social networking site Bebo.

On election day 2005, there were 143,000 people not enrolled. With the process becoming simpler and faster each year Mr Wicks said the aim was always to get everyone on board.

Enrolment forms are available at Post Shops, by free texting your name and address to 3676, phoning the enrolment centre on 0800 367 656 or from the website www.elections.org.nz.

Minor parties ready for campaign

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: Minor political parties have welcomed the election date of 8 November, saying they are keen to get out on the campaign trail.

Prime Minister Helen Clark made the announcement on Friday. Parliament will be dissolved on 3 October, after a number of valedictory speeches from departing MPs.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says his party's election campaign will focus on the social and economic outcomes for the country.

Mr Peters says he expected the election to be held sometime in November, and the battle lines have now been drawn.

He says he is not worried about how the controversy over donations to his party and his legal fund will affect the party's campaign.

Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons hopes there are no dirty tricks campaigns against the party as there have been in the past, and that it will be a good clean campaign fought on the issues.

Ms Fitzsimons says the Greens will indicate before the election which party they would be prepared to work with as part of a coalition Government.

ACT leader Rodney Hide says the election cannot come quickly enough, as it is time for a change of government.

United Future leader Peter Dunne says the date provides the opportunity for a new mandate, and a fresh start.

Progressive Party leader Jim Anderton says the election is a choice between two directions for New Zealand.

Mr Anderton says voters need to choose between going back to the failed policies of the past with National, or moving to a stronger New Zealand that cares for all citizens with Labour and the Progressives.

He says the Progressive Party will campaign for the retention of Kiwibank as a locally-owned bank and on policies that care for New Zealanders and enhance the economy

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia welcomed 8 November as the day to go to the polls, saying it is of particular significance to Maoridom.

Mrs Turia says it will be 90 years ago that day, that Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana had a vision of what was to become the Ratana Church.

The Maori Party expects to do better in this election than it did in 2005, when it secured four seats.

Hear more on Checkpoint

ETS could survive election

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand's planned carbon trading scheme, the first cap-and-trade market outside Europe, is expected to survive even if Prime Minister Helen Clark loses a national election on 8 November.

But the carbon trading scheme, scheduled to start in 2009, would face a host of amendments if the opposition National Party, which leads the Government in opinion polls, takes office.

A National government is likely to give key industry sectors more time to reduce emissions, said regional law firm Minter Ellison, which has studied the trading system.

"It would still be a good carbon trading system, there will still be changes to behaviour but it will give certain sectors more opportunity to amend ways they conduct their business," Matthew Andrew, head of Minter Ellison's climate change group in Wellington, said on Friday.

"National will perhaps be more generous around the phase-in time to give key industry sectors time to manage their emissions down and find new ways of reducing emissions going forward."

Under The Climate Change (Emissions Trading and Renewable Preference) Bill, trading of carbon credits begins in 2009, with all industry sectors, including agriculture which produces 50% of emissions, covered by 2013.

Those that breach their limit will have to buy credits from users that produced emissions below their ceiling.

The centre-left Labour Party that leads a minority government, pushed hard to get the climate change law passed on Wednesday, before its term in government expired, and was forced to introduce 785 amendments to win support.

The bill faced a rocky path, with the minority-led government forced into months of negotiation with the Greens and New Zealand First parties to win majority support.

Labour has said it wants New Zealand, an agricultural-based economy with a "clean, green" international reputation, to be carbon neutral by 2050.

But the National Party has said it would abandon the Government's carbon-neutral policy, aiming for only a 50% reduction in emissions from 1999 levels.

National has also said it would look to reduce the amount of revenue accrued by the Government under the scheme, and reduce the burden on major industries, which it said will result in a loss of jobs for New Zealand.

National fighting on economy and law and order

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: National is pledging to focus on the economy, law and order and education in its election campaign, which will see party leader John Key and his caucus put under sharper scrutiny than ever before.

An upbeat Mr Key yesterday welcomed the announcement of November 8 as the election date and repeatedly highlighted the three policy areas during a press conference in Wellington.

He argued that people were struggling with an economy that was in technical recession, they felt unsafe because of violence in their communities, and they were worried too many children were leaving school without the literacy and numeracy skills they needed.

"They are the issues that New Zealanders talk to me about day in and day out," Mr Key said.

"This is a Government that, when it comes to the gas tank of ideas, it's run out of gas. It's empty."

Over the next eight weeks Mr Key will go through his first election campaign as leader and his wider caucus will also come under scrutiny.

After a fortnight in which National has been embarrassed by having several of its policies released by Labour, questions remain about how ready the caucus is for the campaign.

The policy documents that have been released by Labour are understood to have been sent to National's MPs by email - despite the party's problems with email leaks which last year led to Nicky Hager's bombshell Hollow Men book.

National has now stopped sending internal policy documents to its caucus by email, although it insists the problems of the past fortnight are nothing to do with an email going astray.

Nobody in the caucus has owned up to leaving a folder of documents behind anywhere.

Mr Key yesterday shrugged off the concerns and said his caucus was "absolutely ready" for the campaign.

"We've got a team pound for pound that is far superior to any other political team in Parliament."

New Zealand First focusing on social and economic issues

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says his party's election campaign will focus on the social and economic outcomes for the country.

Mr Peters says he is not worried about how the controversy over donations to his party and his legal fund will affect the party's campaign.

He says he expected the election to be held sometime in November, and says the battle lines have now been drawn.

On Friday morning, he launched a scathing attack on the media, a day after Prime Minister Helen Clark criticised him for belligerent behaviour.

In a speech to Grey Power in Auckland on Friday morning, Mr Peters suggested the media was trying subvert democracy in New Zealand.

Mr Peters said the media is like a school of piranhas circling society seeking to slash, tear, maim and destroy anything that shows any signs of weakness.

Miss Clark said she would not sack Mr Peters as a Minister on Thursday, after he gave evidence to Parliament's privileges committee the previous day over a $100,000 donation from expatriate businessman Owen Glenn towards Mr Peters' legal bills.

But she said Mr Peters' often belligerent behaviour during the controversy makes him a difficult person to insist on due process for.

Mr Peters has stood down from his ministerial portfolios, including that of Foreign Affairs Minister, while the privileges committee is conducting its inquiry.

He told his audience on Friday the media has turned into a hunting pack against New Zealand First. He says though the party has made some mistakes, it wants the public to decide its fate, not the media.

Government to boost genetic research

ONE NEWS: The Government will put $40 million over nine years into a consortium aimed at boosting genetic research in New Zealand, Research Science and Technology Minister Pete Hodgson announced on Friday.

The funding, which comes on top of a $205 million four-year boost in this year's budget, would go to a consortium led by Otago University that would help support a wide range of genetic research, he said.

Research subjects would include medicine, health, food production and environmental protection.

"This funding will provide a significant and much needed step-up in genomic research."

Hodgson said the funding would allow for the purchasing of new gene sequencing and data equipment and the recruitment of technical staff.

The consortium, named New Zealand Genomics Limited, would support both public and privately funded genetic research.

It also includes Massey and Auckland universities and crown research institution AgResearch.

Themes for campaigning emerge for major parties

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: National pledged to run a positive election campaign, and Labour said trust will be its central theme, at the start of an eight-week campaign leading to the 8 November election.

Labour leader Helen Clark announced the election date at a news conference at 12.35pm on Friday.

She said she had identified the election date some time ago, and is very optimistic of a successful outcome for Labour, which is hoping to be elected for a fourth term. She said the party will be releasing new policy shortly.

The Prime Minister said her Labour-led government had brought about a remarkable transformation for the better in New Zealand's economy and society.

Miss Clark told the media conference the National Party had attacked every major Labour policy aimed at making life better for families. She said National has flip-flopped on issues and only said what it thinks the country wants to hear.

Listen to Helen Clark's media conference

Time for fresh perspective - Key

National says it will run a positive, forward campaign and will not resort to personality attacks.

Leader John Key says the election is about the future of New Zealand and New Zealand families.

Mr Key on Friday welcomed the election date announcement, saying new Zealanders have the chance to rule a line under the past three years.

However, he says Helen Clark is not in a position to talk about trust, after controversy about what she knows about the New Zealand First donations row.

Mr Key says he brings a fresh perspective to New Zealand, and is not a deeply ideological person who is embroiled in the debates of 30 years ago.

He says National will not look to run a campaign based on personalities, but on the issues facing New Zealand, and will not run what he calls a 'fear factor' campaign.

Listen to John Key on Checkpoint

NZ First acted honourably - Clark

Miss Clark told Checkpoint she would not rule out working with New Zealand First after the election. The party's leader, Winston Peters, is embroiled in controversy over donations to his party and his legal fund.

She says New Zealand First has acted honourably as a party with a confidence and supply agreement, as has United Future.

The Labour leader said she has run a straight-forward and honest government, and stands by her integrity.

Parliament will be dissolved on 3 October, after a number of valedictory speeches from departing MPs. The last date an election could have been held was 15 November.

Radio New Zealand's political staff say in setting the election date the Government would have taken into account events such as a major rugby test on 1 November and the United States presidential elections 4 November.

They say the Government is also mindful of tax cuts taking effect on 1 October, and will want people to have had the benefit of those for some weeks before polling day.

Listen to Helen Clark on Checkpoint

Labour announces first part of health policy

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: The Labour-led Government says there is growing evidence doctors' profits are rising ahead of inflation.

Health Minister David Cunliffe has promised to keep a close eye on fee rises by family doctors, and other changes, in order to keep such costs down.

Mr Cunliffe said in a speech on Friday that Labour's core primary health care reforms are delivering and gaining bipartisan support.

But he said most care is still delivered by general practitioners, and there is a lack of integration with maternity, pharmacy, physiotherapy, laboratory and other services, including hospitals.

He also says there are still too many practices that derive half or more of their income from patient co-payments, and despite the fees review process, these are rising.

But Mr Cunliffe says fees review alone cannot fully constrain costs, and incentives to keep cost increases down must be built into primary healthcare funding systems.

Prime Minister announces election date

ONE NEWS: Prime Minister Helen Clark has announced New Zealand will head to the polls on Saturday November 8.

She made the announcement on Friday afternoon, following weeks of speculation.

The date is just one week before the last possible date that the election could have been held (November 15).

Dissolution of parliament will take place on October 3, writ day will be October 8 and nomination day will take place on October 14.

Clark waited until the end of her press conference to announce the date, preceeding it by laying down the foundations of how Labour would fight the election.

"This election is about trust. It's about which leader and which major party we New Zealanders trust our families' and country's future with," Clark said.

ONE News political editor Guyon Espiner says Clark believes the long, eight-week campaign leading up to the election will suit the Labour Party.

"We always thought Labour would have a long campaign. Their strategy is to put the pressure on National over that time," he says.

"The PM thinks the longer amount of time she has during the campaign, the better position she will be in.

"They think that if they can put pressure on National over time, they will break."

ONE News political commentator Therese Arseneau says while Clark calling the election is no surprise, it does answer a lot of questions.

"People have been calling for an election, people are concerned about the affair in terms of Winston Peters and Owen Glenn and so many of the issues that surround that really aren't legal, so much as political. So the proper forum to decide them really is in the election," she says.

John Key booed on campaign trail

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: John Key got his first taste of what lies ahead on the campaign trail yesterday when he received a resounding "booing" over his plans for boot camps.

Mr Key was speaking to an initially polite audience at the Every Child Counts annual conference, until he mentioned his policy for "Army-style correction" camps for "wayward youth who are going off the rails".

He was interrupted by a chorus of booing and jeering, which reignited when he tried to claim "they actually do work".

It continued until the Mc, Pio Terei, intervened and asked the audience to listen to his explanation.

The ECC is an umbrella lobby group, generally viewed as sympathetic to Labour, and made up of about 380 organisations involved with children, including Plunket, Unicef, Barnardos and Save the Children.

Mr Key stuck to his guns and defended his policy with vigour.

"Let's say we don't do that. What's option b? We've got an issue with about 1000 young New Zealanders, if we do nothing about them they're going to go into those, in my opinion, those youth gangs that we see and they're eventually going to go on to a life of crime.

"That is the probability of where they are going. I'm not going to sit back and let them hang around on the streets of New Zealand until they eventually go out and kill someone. Sorry, I'm going to stand up and do something about it."

He agreed boot camps did not work if they were used as a short-term treatment, but said chief youth court judge Andrew Becroft had supported them as part of a longer term programme, with follow-up mentoring, training and education.

Every Child Counts chairman Murray Edridge conceded Mr Key's mention of boot camps was not well received. "Yes, boot camps weren't popular today. Which is not a surprise, and this is a partisan audience."

He said Mr Key had handled it well. He would not express a view on boot camps, but said taking people away from their normal settings was not part of modern-day thinking about youth justice.

Labour's Ruth Dyson met a warmer welcome. She told the conference she understood the reaction.

The current youth justice system worked well and "in a way that respects our youth, keeps them out of the adult justice system". She said New Zealand risked losing its comparatively low youth offending level if it changed the approach.

Mr Key also defended his plans to make single parents on the DPB work or train up to 15 hours a week after their children turned 6.

"I don't think it's healthy when you're starting to get generation after generation after generation where no one in those households has worked.

National officially begins releasing health policy

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: Gaining greater productivity from rising health spending is a major priority, National Party leader John Key says.

The party has released the first of its health policy announcements, following a leak by the Government on Wednesday of National's broad health policy plans.

National pledges to retain planned increases in funding and to use the private sector more.

Mr Key says National would continue planned funding increases, taking total health spending to more than $14 billion by 2011.

The party says it will also focus on cutting health bureaucracy, lifting productivity, increasing the health workforce and boosting access to elective or non-urgent surgery through smarter use of the private sector.

Health Minister David Cunliffe says National's health policy is geared towards health sector providers rather than the public and its plans to get more non-urgent surgery done in the private sector will erode capacity in the public system.

Peters has another chance

ONE NEWS: The Prime Minister has stepped back from the brink and given her troublesome minister Winston Peters yet another chance to ride out the secret donations saga.

He was given a stay of execution after his evidence to Parliament's Privileges Committee.

"The general consensus seemed to be that he raised enough issues for there to be no pre-mature action today," said Helen Clark on Thursday.

Until Peters appeared at Wednesday night's Privileges Committee hearing, it had seemed Clark didn't have an option - the evidence presented by expatriate billionaire Owen Glenn the day before appeared to have presented an iron-clad case.

But Peters stuck to his story that he never knew about a $100,000 donation from Glenn until his lawyer Brian Henry told him in July of 2008.

The money was paid into Henry's account as payment for fees the lawyer had charged for working on an election petition launched by Peters.

Glenn had already produced his evidence - the billionaire delivered a paper trail of phone records and emails he said proved Peters had asked for a $100,000 donation in December 2005, and had thanked him for it in January of 2006.

Phone records show he called Peters in December of 2005. Glenn claims during that call they discussed a donation.

But Peters says he could not recall a donation being discussed.

"We would have discussed a number of matters but I do not recall talking to him about money during that conversation," Peters told the Privileges Committee.

Peters insisted, again, that it was his lawyer Henry who asked Glenn for the money but the testimony left many key questions unanswered and a there is still a raft of contradictory evidence.

The committee decided to hold another meeting on Tuesday next week when Henry will be called to explain a crucial email he sent to Glenn which referred to a conversation with "my client".

It had been assumed the client was Peters, but the MP told the committee it was someone else.

He did not say who that was, and Henry will be asked to explain.

Glenn claims he asked Peters for the bank account details of his lawyer Brian Henry and produced an email showing the account number was sent through immediately after that phone call.

National MP Gerry Brownlee, on the Privileges Committee, asked Peters never asked Henry why Owen Glenn had asked for his bank account details.

But Peters replied saying that Henry was a professional and he felt it was no business of his to question him on that.

National went on the offensive in Parliament today saying Helen Clark's hands were tied.

"Can the Prime Minister confirm the now wide-spread rumour, that the reason she won't sack Winston Peters is because he might go feral on her, in the same way Owen Glenn has and he knows where the bodies are buried," National deputy leader Bill English said.

Peters will welcome Labour's support, although it is qualified.
"He adopts a belligerent stance and that makes people less likely if you like to give him a due process to work things through," says Clark.

Winston Peters has stood down as foreign minister but still holds his ministerial warrant.

It's believed that Owen Glenn's rant against the Labour Party and its top members is what changed Clark's mind about sacking Peters.

There were worries that Labour would not be able to handle both Glenn's rants and the expected rants from Peters around the same time, had he been removed from government entirely.

How this decision has affected New Zealanders views on the Labour Party will be known when the ONE News Colmar-Brunton poll releases its latest results this Sunday.

Emissions Trading Scheme passes into law

ONE NEWS: The Government's controversial legislation to tackle climate change has become law over night.

The emissions trading scheme, passed by 63 votes to 57,  will limit the amount of greenhouse gas that can be emitted and force industries that breach it, to buy carbon credits.
The scheme passed with the support of both the greens and new zealand first.

It has had a troubled history, and the Government was forced to negotiate for months with the Greens and New Zealand First to get a majority on it.

The Climate Change (Emissions Trading and Renewable Preference) Bill has implications for every household and the potential to change the make-up of the labour force as environmental factors gain increasing importance in business.

It will eventually bring all sectors of the economy under a regime which sets limits on the amount of greenhouse gas they can emit.

Those that breach their limit will have to buy credits from those that are below their cap.

Electricity comes under it in 2010, transport in 2011 and agriculture in 2013.

Climate Change Minister David Parker launched the third reading debate, saying he was proud New Zealand had risen to meet the greatest challenge facing the world.

He said New Zealand was joining 27 others nations that had adopted emissions trading schemes, and many others that were developing them.

"The ETS does not create costs, it minimises the cost of reducing emissions," he said.

"It does so in a fair and effective way by charging the polluter for increases in emissions and rewarding decreases. It will save New Zealand hundreds of millions of dollars between now and 2012 alone."

Parker said its provisions meant New Zealand could meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, at the same time helping the country reduce emissions at the lowest possible cost.

National has opposed the bill from the start and the party's climate change spokesman, Nick Smith, said the ETS was not in a fit state to be put into law.

"National wants a balanced climate change policy," he said.

"If the Government is honest about wanting a world-leading ETS they should say that means having world-leading petrol and power prices as well."

Smith said National was worried the ETS would cause job losses and force heavy industry overseas.
He said if National won the election it would amend the legislation.

"We will change it to a more balanced objective, to a target of a 50% reducing in New Zealand's emissions by 2050," he said.

Labour, NZ First, the Greens and the Progressive Party supported the bill on its third reading.

National, ACT, the Maori Party, United Future and independent MPs Gordon Copeland and Taito Phillip Field voted against it.

In layman's terms

The new Emissions Trading Scheme is important enough to have had politicians arguing for months, but ordinary New Zealanders may have no idea what they are talking about.

On the street, reactions ran the gamut from confusion to bewilderment.

So on Wednesday ONE News went to Auckland's Avondale college, where a class of 17-year-olds had half an hour to research and then explain the ETS.

It was going to be an education for all of them, with even teacher Anna Martin conceding she didn't know too much about the scheme.

Explaining important but complicated issues can be tough, but the students gave it a good go.

Eventually, the Year 13 Statistics class found a fine analogy for the Emissions Trading Scheme. They liken it to a situation where every big business has ten pollution dollars on their prepay cellphone.

If you run out of pollution credits, you have to buy more from companies which pollute less.

The overall aim is to have a maximum emission that the country like New Zealand can spend up. If we spend too much overall, we will be destroying the environment.

Essentially, it strives to punish the polluters and rewarding the greener companies.

Something everyone can understand - even Year 13 Stats on a Wednesday afternoon. If they can get their heads around it, perhaps there is hope for us all.

Peters' last chance tonight

DOMINION POST: Prime Minister Helen Clark has indicated she will not wait for the privileges committee to reach its decision on NZ First leader Winston Peters before determining his future.

Walking into Parliament today, Miss Clark said Mr Peters would have right of reply before the committee tonight.

"I will then be considering my next steps," Miss Clark said.

She described expat billionaire Owen Glenn's evidence to the committee yesterday as disturbing.

"Clearly I gave Mr Glenn and Mr Peters the benefit of the doubt and time will tell whether that was justified," Miss Clark said.

Miss Clark now appears to have little choice but to sack Mr Peters after Mr Glenn documented a trail of phone calls and e-mails to support his claim that the NZ First leader knew about his $100,000 donation.

Mr Glenn also drew Labour Party president Mike Williams into the row - saying he consulted him before agreeing to the donation. Mr Williams denies the claim.

Miss Clark said this afternoon she retained confidence in Mr Williams.

Labour beats National to release the opposition's health policy

STUFF.CO.NZ: The Government had taunted National again by releasing yet another of the party's confidential policy document – this time on health.

National leader John Key said this morning the party would release part of its health policy tomorrow, hoping to beat Labour to it.

But Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton beat him to the draw, releasing it this afternoon.

The National Party rushed out its housing and building policies yesterday as it tried to stem the embarrassing series of stage-managed releases by cabinet minister Trevor Mallard.

Mr Mallard had earlier "launched" four of National's policies – environment, conservation, biofuels and research, science and technology – and said they were leaked by an insider.

Today Mr Key said Mr Mallard probably had National's health policy and National would release part of it tomorrow.

"It's a great policy."

But in Parliament's question time, Mr Anderton said he had a report that a National government would continue to fund primary health care.

"This report is from the National Party's health policy which I just happen to have a copy of," Mr Anderton said.

The National Party would also propose tax breaks on health insurance premiums in the policy "it has yet to release, except to us."

After question time, Mr Anderton released the document titled National's Health Policy and stamped "Draft Confidential."

National says a batch of policies was left in a public place like a cafe and picked up by either someone in Labour or someone who is giving them to Labour.

Speaking on TV One this morning, Mr Key revealed the policies had been emailed to MPs.

"There's been a pile of data that was emailed to our caucus colleagues. Someone has obviously printed them out. . .

"I know it's ridiculous but it does happen. It's not a leak, it's an act of stupidity."

National's emails have been leaked, or stolen, before. Nicky Hager based his book The Hollow Men on them.

Mr Mallard said yesterday the leaks were "a gushing stream" and showed internal problems.

"There is clearly a simmering resentment with John Key who is muzzling the caucus, keeping them out of all decision making and keeping his agenda secret from his own MPs as well as the New Zealand public."

Mr Mallard said someone in National was unhappy, and if that person wasn't a caucus member, it was someone who had access to unreleased policy.

Parliament will have its last day

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: Parliament is set to have a final session beginning on September 23, Prime Minister Helen Clark said yesterday.

There had been some speculation that this week's sitting of Parliament could be the last before the election, but Helen Clark said yesterday that was not her plan.

"It is our intention to be back on the 23rd [of September] ... we are certainly not intending this to be our last week."

She would not say how long the final session of Parliament would last and said she had "no news" to share when asked about the election date.

Confirmation Parliament would convene for a final session all but ruled out an election being held on October 18, unless Helen Clark wanted to have a short formal election campaign of less than four weeks

This Parliament will expire on October 6 and an election must be held by November 15.

Dissolving Parliament before that time and setting the election date is entirely the choice of the Prime Minister.

Many observers are selecting November 8 as election day.

This week the Government is planning to pass the centrepiece of its climate change policy - the emission trading scheme bill (ETS). It still has to complete its committee stage and it is expected to be given its third reading tomorrow.

The Prime Minister also confirmed that the Government would be adopting the Greens' Waste Minimisation Bill to ensure it passed before Parliament wound up.

Labour was relying on support from NZ First and the Greens to pass the ETS.