As expected, the polls out last weekend did not show National being hit by the secret agenda tapes scandal because they were conducted before the story had fully emerged. We will have to wait for the next round of polls to see what effect there has been – although sources say both National and Labour’s internal polling shows the gap narrowing by 4-5% already. A Colmar Brunton poll, also conducted before the secret agenda tapes had fully emerged, showed voters do not believe National is being open about its plans and do not support its borrowing for tax cuts policy. Other than the polls, there was a grab-bag of smaller issues, but look forward to fireworks when Parliament resumes next week for the last session before the election. Here are our favourite posts of the week:
Ambitious for transport
Why are we spending $1 billion on Transmission Gully when by the time it is finished the price of petrol will be up to $10 a litre according to a study by the Australian CSIRO?..[more]
Did you say “wages”, John?
That’s nice to hear but given National’s policy is to reduce work rights and make it harder for working Kiwis to negotiate a better deal it seems a bit rich….I guess it’s this kind of credibility gap between what National says and what it does that makes it so hard for voters to trust them….[more]
Reviewing the weekend polls
As I said last week, the polls that came out this weekend can not reflect any impact of the secret agenda tapes…Labour will be heartened to have moved up in 2 of the polls (including an 8% gain in the last two Colmar Brunton polls) and recorded no change in the third. The Greens polled under 5% in two of the three polls, but nobody seriously expects that they won’t win 5% on election day… [more]
Greens call for public input on ETS
The Greens should vote for the ETS not because it is perfect but because it is good, because it has been improved by negotiations between Labour and the Greens, and because the alternative is much worse…[more]
Nats: some of us look like youse
you’ve got a woman at 7, another at 10, yet more at 17 and 20 – you’re talking up to four women in a National Cabinet! And two of them aren’t even Pakeha!…good on National for joining the twentieth century. I look forward to the day they move beyond tokenism but I won’t be holding my breath…[more]
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