Scoop Audio: PM's Pre-Caucus PresserText and Audio by Lyndon Hood
The Prime Minister met the press today prior to Labour's first caucus meeting of the year. Sheltering from Wellington's
bright sunshine outside Premier House and backed by chirping cicadas, she answered questions on John Key's accusations
of Labour "standover tactics and bullying" being behind Wesley School's refusal of National's attempted charity,
Labour's record on poverty, negotiating with Fiji's military government on trade, the entry charge for and arrangements
for the control of the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, the state of the Labour Caucus and her upcoming speech at the opening of
Parliament which will outline the Government's agenda for the year. She also indicated a resolution to talk as little as
possible about John Key in coming months.
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Among the other arriving Labour MPs was Steve Maharey, who rejected Key's accusations of political bullying over Wesley
High. He discussed the assertion that 150 000 children in New Zealand were going without breakfast, contrasted Labour's
record on poverty with National's, and expressed the expectation that New Zealand would soon be shown to have poverty
levels in the region of those of the Netherlands.
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