Transtasman Political Letter – 28 Feb Digest
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28th February 2008
Voters’ Disillusion With Labour Deepens
Both the Fairfax-Neilsen and Roy Morgan polls, indicating Labour is trailing National by as much as 23 points, underline
the trends of earlier polls this year.
Lifting NZ Onto Rudd’s Radar
Helen Clark’s mission to Canberra to get NZ more firmly on the Kevin Rudd Govt’s radar acquired some urgency after
soundings taken by her key advisers, DPMC’s Maarten Wevers and MFAT’s Simon Murdoch who have done the rounds in Canberra
over the last week or so.
New Gas Resource, But Minister Chills Out
More good news on NZ’s energy resources this week: Solid Energy says there could be 300 petajoules of gas, as big as the
offshore Kupe gasfield, locked in coal seams in the Waikato.
Cleaning Up The Waterways
Environment Minister Trevor Mallard has ordered a new move towards sustainable management of NZ’s fresh water resources.
CAPITAL TALK
Condoleeza Rice might have scrapped her planned NZ visit (she has been in Africa and Afghanistan) but Winston Peters has a catch-up in Seoul this week where both are attending the inauguration of President Lee Myung-bak (nicknamed “the Bulldozer”). North Korea, where Peters paid a recent visit, is on the agenda.
Play Of The Week: Getting The Lead Out
The first stories about Helen Clark’s leadership have appeared. The general theme is, things look bad for the party, but
no change of leader is likely.
Transtasman is a subscriber newsletter published weekly and read widely in New Zealand and abroad. The above is a
summary of this week's edition. To subscribe and read the full newsletter see.. http://Transtasman.co.nz