Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern discusses Labour's election promise to make Matariki a public holiday from 2022.
COMMENT:
One day does not make a campaign, but Day One of the restarted campaign has to go to Labour, hands down.
Jacinda Ardern's promise in Rotorua for a new public holiday to mark Matariki not only has popular appeal, it immediately put her opponents into a negative frame.
National,Act and New Zealand First came out, competing to be the biggest opponent – and yes, New Zealand First has cast itself as an opponent.
The Greens were the only ones of the main parties who came out in support.
And that is just as Labour wants it. The more that Labour can typecast its campaign as positive, and the rest as the knockers the better.
Promised to begin in 2022, the Matariki holiday is far enough away for Labour to be regarded as unsympathetic to business rather than reckless in the face a potential Covid-19 slump.
Jacinda Ardern in Rotorua. Photo / Andrew Warner
The Matariki policy is also controversial enough to have set the agenda. People are talking about Matariki. They are not debating Judith Collins' promise to tackle the scourge of methamphetamine.
The requirements for social distancing gave the impression she had launched it in an empty room in Napier - except for a group of performing statues behind her.
Collins also continued her practice of a very last-century delivery - reading from lengthy speech notes.
It was perfectly good policy. Like the parenting policy last week, it looked as though National had put some serious effort into its development.
Judith Collins in Napier with, from left, MPs Shane Reti, Lawrence Yule and Simon Bridges, and candidate Katie Nimo. Photo / Warren Buckland
But it leaned more towards the Todd Muller approach than the Simon Bridges approach - namely sensible and moderate rather than including any elements to outrage or be noticed.
Rather a Strike-force Raptor, there was a plan to "target domestic organised crime networks with extra focus and resourcing from police".
Winston Peters continued his bus tour campaign in Dunedin and Mosgiel .
He was looking to claim some credit for giving new life through the Provincial Growth Fund to the Hillside railway workshop which stopped in 2012.
But as politician who thrives on the roar of the crowd, he does not appear to be thriving under alert level 2.
