The Letter
4 April 2004

WHAT WASN'T TRUE?

John Tamihere's statements in "Investigate" are more devastating than the media reports. He claims our government is run by a group of anti-family homosexuals, who pander to trade unions and double cross their coalition partners e.g. "[W]e wouldn't survive without Cullen – he can cut a deal on a piece of legislation, he can change a single word in a piece of legislation without those other b.....ds [coalition partners] knowing about it, and it melts down everything they wanted but they still think they got their clause in. The pressure they bring to bear on individuals... Close to fisticuffs!" Ian Wishart says it was on the record. We recommend the article. For the choicest quotes see http://www.act.org.nz/blog.

COMPLACENT AND ARROGANT

Labour's intention to spend our tax dollars in a bidding war with the Maori party is extraordinarily arrogant. ACT's parliamentary research unit study entitled "Government taxation and spending on Maori" demonstrated that Labour spending on Maori is excessive while a study prepared for the Ministry of Social Policy shows that being Maori explains little about disparity of income. http://www.act.org.nz/maorispending
Labour thinks adopting ACT's proposal for a time limit on treaty claims will give cover for more race based spending.

POLL DRIVEN

All polls now show that if an election were held next Saturday the Maori party would win all 7 Maori seats. Tariana Turia's mana in the Maori electorates continues to rise. MPs who have witnessed her reception on marae say it approaches that given to royalty. Last weeks NBR poll showed 50% of the electorate has an unfavourable view of Turia (down 7%) while 24% have a favourable view. On these figures the Maori party will not only win all the Maori seats but may also win list seats. Now that explains Labour's electoral tactics.

HOW THE CENTRE RIGHT CAN WIN

- Don Brash needs to give Orewa No 2. Labour's race based spending has not stopped. This year Te Wananga O Aotearoa will receive $250,000,000 of taxpayers' money.
- Make rising interest rates the issue. They have increased seven times under Cullen. If an ex Reserve Bank Governor and his merchant bank finance spokesman John Key don't know how to keep interest rates down, who does? (ACT of course).
- Reassert NZ values. Helen Clark is imposing her politically correct UN inspired laws on to NZ. It is time to say no more.
- Abolish the politically correct NCEA and bring back external exams and standards.
- Zero tolerance for crime.
- Lower tax rates than Australia.
- Tax relief for middle-income earners. Help families help themselves by giving tax relief for health insurance and school fees.

ELECTORATE VOLATILE

Public opinion polls don't show how strongly voters hold opinions. Parties try to measure this in their polling. Most public polls show ACT at 3%. ACT's own polling, regarded as Rolls Royce, shows the electorate support for all parties is very soft. The number of voters considering voting ACT is as high as 18%. Labour's polling shows ACT getting 7.2% if the electorate thinks Labour will be re-elected. ACTs polling also shows that the electorate thinks ACT has been very effective in parliament, keeping the parties honest and producing fresh new ideas. Most voters, including a large number of Labour voters, think it would be a poorer parliament without ACT.

SEAT DILEMMA

The desire by centre right voters to have ACT in parliament to keep not only Labour honest but also National presents ACT strategists with a tough choice. If ACT is well below the 5% threshold, polling shows Epsom voters will vote for Rodney to keep ACT in parliament (and to get a number of MPs for their electorate vote.) However if ACT is close to the threshold and has no electorate seat, safety net polling shows that voters including some Labour voters will give their list vote to ACT. It is a tough call. ACT is pursuing both strategies.

SOME PRAISE

In opposition Justice Minister Phil Goff presented a poorly thought out private members bill to remove the legal profession's monopoly on conveyancing. Only the free enterprise ACT party supported him while criticising the drafting. In Govt Goff introduced a modest bill to deregulate the legal profession which has grown to a 345-page monster, increasing regulation and giving lawyers a whole raft of new legal privileges. ACT's Stephen Franks gave notice of hundreds of amendments. The bill looked like taking a week of parliamentary time in election year. No more. New Attorney General Cullen, on Friday announced the government is dropping the bill. Franks has shown again what an opposition MP can do. Thought - perhaps Cullen will be a better Attorney General than the ideologically driven Wilson.

SPEAKER WILSON

Labour now wishes Clark had not made Margaret Wilson speaker. Question time, never easy for the government has turned into a daily torture session. Not only do ministers have to listen to the hapless Minister of Police but Wilson has allowed question time to expand. Her mistake was to allow Ministers to include political insults in answers. She then had to let Opposition members respond, so MPs have been making mini political speeches with great effect. Question time, which used to last an hour, is now never less than 90 minutes and last Tuesday it was 110 minutes of agony for Labour.

OUR POLL

74% of our readers think the economy will have a hard landing and as we have an influential readership it's food for thought. This week "Do you support National's intention to keep the 5 cent fuel charge?" We will send your answers to Don Brash. Go to http://www.act.org.nz/poll.

ENDS

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