Campaign's 'Two Ticks' redirected

"Two Ticks for Maori" said the slides presented by Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia as he gave the Labour Congress' Maori delegates a flavour of the upcoming campaign yesterday.

Minutes later, the identical brochure highlighting the party's Maori policy wins was whisked unceremoniously from hands and then returned with the "typo" fixed.

"Two Ticks for Labour" it then read, somewhat less ambiguously.

In the past, the MPs may have got away with the initial wording, given their traditional support in the seats when "Maori" equalled Labour. Of course the "two ticks" message may then have hardly needed featuring.

Yesterday, its significance in Labour's battle to retain the Maori seats was unmistakable. It sat at the top of the brochure, just under the new "Maori on the Move" slogan.

A slogan designed to distance Labour from the Maori Party, cleverly hinting at Labour's underlying message - that members of the latter haven't "moved on". And if there was one thing the MPs tried to emphasise, it was that they had moved on from the foreshore and seabed tsunami and were not going to fan its memory.

Tainui MP Nanaia Mahuta put the plan most succinctly when she said "our key task is singing from our songsheets our achievements".

The party needed to focus on the "bread and butter" issues Labour had worked on and Maori were most concerned about: education, employment and enterprise.