Transtasman Political Letter – 31 August Digest

31st August 2006

Publicly humiliated, scorned by the PM, Taito Phillip Field decides to hang on in there, but will the smell of corruption keep haunting Labour?
... Nats scent blood, but don’t want Field to go just yet
... Just how sick is Winston Peters, and will he be the same old bullet-proof politician when he returns?
... And does the Govt intend to shake up the personnel of the Electricity Commission?

Mangere MP Refuses To Walk Plank Despite The PM’s Shove

Mangere MP Taito Phillip Field became such damaged goods this week the PM, no less, tried to unload him.

National’s Goal: Dismantle PM’s Reputation For Infallibility

National is scenting blood as it pursues the Field affair. But it may not have been totally unhappy it failed to take the Mangere MP’s scalp.

Rumours Abound: Just How Sick Is Winston Peters?

Parliament was rumbling with speculation this week, as the NZ First leader’s return from his sojourn in Rarotonga was delayed again.

Japan’s Pacific Free Trade Initiative Welcomed

Trade Minister Phil Goff showed enthusiasm this week for Japan’s proposal to establish a comprehensive economic partnership in East Asia which would create a free trade area with a combined population of 3.1bn and GDP of $US9 trillion.

CAPITAL TALK

While Winston Peters is recuperating in the Cook Islands from the viral infection he suffered in Kuala Lumpur, Michael Cullen has been acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, though as before any major issues are kicked upstairs to the PM.

Play Of The Week: Crime And Punishment

We got a batch of justice reforms a few weeks ago, changing parole issues, introducing truth in sentencing, and also having the general aim of making punishment more commensurate with the crime.

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