Chance for minor party leaders to win over voters

4.30pm

Leaders of the minor parties have one of their last chances to impress voters on television tonight as Labour's hopes of forming a government on its own fade.

The latest poll yesterday showed that Labour, even with Jim Anderton's Progressive Coalition, looked increasingly unable to get the backing of most voters.

Last night's TV3 NFO poll had Labour down two points to 46 per cent, which would give it 58 seats in the 120-seat Parliament and leave it short of a majority even with Mr Anderton.

National went up one point to 25 per cent and would have 31 seats in Parliament.

At 7pm tonight on Television One the minor parties will attempt to bolster their positions in their last major TV debate.

Among them will be United Future leader Peter Dunne who has come into contention as a possible coalition partner after highly publicised performances on TV debates.

Based on the TV3 poll NFO poll, Labour's main options for support were the Greens on 9 per cent, NZ First 8 per cent and United Future on 0.9 per cent. Mr Dunne's party needs to reach around 1.2 per cent to get a second MP.

With support waning, Prime Minister Helen Clark and Mr Anderton attacked the Greens and New Zealand First as being unreliable and holding impossible policy positions.

Miss Clark visited Tauranga yesterday, the electorate of New Zealand First leader Winston Peters and accused him of the "politics of division".

Mr Anderton said it was "extremely difficult to believe either Labour or myself will ever trust Winston Peters".

Miss Clark also referred to the coalition talks in 1996 when Mr Peters chose to form a government with National after initially indicating he favoured Labour, saying "once bitten, twice shy".

Mr Anderton said Mr Peters had run a "racist campaign" this year and in 1996 had held the "country to ransom".

Mr Peters said the attacks showed "Labour will sink to any depths in their efforts to rule alone". He attributed Miss Clark's attack to Labour's fall in the polls.

Voters had the right to know whether Miss Clark was ruling out NZ First as a coalition partner or just attempting "scare tactics", he said.

Miss Clark and Mr Anderton also turned on the Greens, accusing them of holding an irresponsible position over genetic modification and supporting policies which would damage the economy.

While the political parties slugged it out, the most pressure on Labour came from its traditional support base.

Labour continued to rule out increasing minimum annual leave to four weeks despite pressure from the union movement.

The Alliance and Greens were quick to pounce on the disagreement, saying a vote for them would be a vote to increase the minimum holiday entitlement.

The most immediate problem for Labour though, is the Post Primary Teachers Association's determination to carry on with industrial action as teachers consider an offer to go into arbitration.

The union yesterday dismissed Education Minister Trevor Mallard's announcement the School Trustees Association would seek an injunction against industrial action unless they quickly agreed to arbitration.

Shortly afterwards the association dropped its threat and Mr Mallard tried to distance himself from the latest development in the long running dispute.

The PPTA will now wait until Tuesday to consider the arbitration proposal, meaning more secondary school students will be sent home.

If the teachers do not agree, the Government could face the prospect of all secondary schools being closed next Friday, the before election day.

- NZPA

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