ELECTION 1999: Delamere Sacked - Jenny Shipley - Helen Clark - Debate Preparation 9.30PM TONIGHT TV3- Winston Peters - Greens - OTHER NEWS: Petrol - Lomu

DELAMERE SACKED: UTU on the PM's mind as she announces saking Tuariki Delamere for creating new policy without the sanction of Cabinet. PM at the Press Conference "…against the advice of both myself and officials he authorised investment in Maori land that was clearly out-side of government policy…" Jane Young Live: Delamere hanged himself in the letter she released with this decision. He has clearly broken collective responsibility. A lot of people may see National as being strong - on the other hand they have also had criticism for cobbling together a cabinet. Now we see one of those people dropping off by crossing the line.

JENNY SHIPLEY: The PM spent a quiet day at the Ellerslie Flower Show and visited a Manakau shopping mall. Another protest - this time from Greenpeace. PM says she thinks no-one will know the outcome till election day and is not conceding a swing to the left. She meets a cute little girl who says she has seen her on the TV News.

HELEN CLARK: Mental Health focus of the campaign today. She launched a petition on Mental Health with the family of slain Aucklander Malcolm Begg - killed by a flatmate patient who he did not know was a patient. The petition calls for the blue-print for mental health to be implemented. Helen Clark says the privacy Act has been taken to an insane level in the case. Helen says she hopes TV3 will take a broad approach to issues in its coverage of the debate tonight.

DEBATE PREPARATION: Sarah Hall Live: How does she prepare? She goes into seclusion and rehearses the questions. She is feeling pretty confident. Both women like to spend a lot of time preparing. Steven Parker: Jenny knows she has only a few opportunities left. She will tonight be playing up her sacking of Delamere, trying to look strong and to maximise what few opportunities are left in the campaign.

WINSTON PETERS: Winston Peters accused of desperate tactics after accusing Winz of sub-leasing 16 Mercedes Benz cars at an $1100 a month loss for each. Roger Sowry says he has been assured there is no truth to the claims. The Alliance says it too will hold Winz responsible .

GREENS: The Greens are now confident they have Coromandel in the bag. Coromandel hopefuls on Coromandel FM debating local issues. Fitzsimons is thanking the PM for attracting attention to the Greens. Rod Donald is too. Murray McLean is crying foul saying that the Greens are saying that he has said he wants to demolish a hospital. Even conservatives think its now all over for McLean in the street.

PETROL: BP says rising crude prices are forcing up the prices of petrol.

LOMU: Jonah Lomu is to play Super-12 and NPC rugby in Wellington. The Wellington side will have one of the most lethal backlines in the world. People in the street are very pleased. Hurricane debut likely in March.

© Scoop Media

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

CONTACT ALASTAIR THOMPSON

• Mobile - 021707044
• Twitter - @althecat
• Google+

• Linkedin
• Facebook
• Email - alastair@scoop.co.nz