Labour after oldies vote

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: A territorial spat has broken out between Labour and New Zealand First as they both chase the senior citizen vote, with Winston Peters asking Labour to stop claiming the credit for policies he has won for seniors.

Prime Minister Helen Clark and her ministers have been trumpeting free off-peak public transport for SuperGold card holders over the past fortnight without so much as a mention of confidence-and-supply partner New Zealand First.

The off-peak travel deal was announced in May's Budget after being proposed by New Zealand First.

Mr Peters yesterday finally spoke out and called on Labour to quit stealing his party's thunder.

"It is one thing to eventually endorse another party's policy, but it is totally something else to try and take credit for it," Mr Peters said.

"We know it's every man for himself now, but that should not include purloining and plagiarising other parties' policies."

Labour is clearly zeroing in on the senior citizen vote this election campaign as New Zealand First has been mired in ongoing drama around political donations.

Since announcing the election date, Helen Clark has attended numerous Grey Power meetings around the country and last week launched free off-peak travel for SuperGold card holders.

Yesterday, at a Grey Power meeting in the Masterton Town Hall, she won applause as she said the Masterton-to-Wellington train ride would be included in the free SuperGold card offer. The Prime Minister made no mention at the meeting of either New Zealand First or Mr Peters, despite his statement coming out only moments before.

Helen Clark was more generous when speaking to reporters who asked about the issue, saying, "We are the Government, we funded the initiative, we made room in the Budget for them, we worked with New Zealand First on them and they deserve some credit for that."

The omission of New Zealand First from speeches has been notable because Helen Clark has always been generous in allowing her partners to share some of the spotlight.

Last week, a statement celebrating off-peak transport in Auckland did not mention New Zealand First.

A version later sent out publicly did include Mr Peters' party - a change that was apparently nothing more than an accidental oversight.

But there is no question Labour is putting some distance between itself and New Zealand First with the election nearing.

In Masterton yesterday, Labour was getting some of the credit for the policies from older voters.

David Anderson, 70, and his wife Cynthia, 71, gave the majority of the credit to Labour.

"The push came from Winston, but it wouldn't have gone through without Helen," said Mr Anderson.

Added Mrs Anderson: "Winston gets some credit and I'm sorry things have blown up for him lately."

Peter Maxwell, 82, said he knew Mr Peters had started the SuperGold card but "if he'd been aligned with anyone but Labour it wouldn't have gone through".

Mr Peters said the whole package was New Zealand First's idea and people in the Grey Power movement knew what his party had done.