KEY POINTS:
Labour has had a great week. Since John Key was elected leader, National has had a dream run. Helen Clark must have been despairing over the endless own goals her colleagues have been providing to their political opponents.
I can't think of many weeks that there hasn't been bad news for Labour. It's become the conventional wisdom that National will coast to victory at the election without even breaking a sweat.
The only question being asked is whether National will have more MPs than everyone else put together or whether they would need Peter Dunne and Rodney Hide to govern.
The National Party conference last weekend was the unofficial launch of its coronation to victory. It was a public relations extravaganza and was choreographed with precision. Apart from Key and Bill English looking a bit dorky, New Zealanders would have the subliminal message that the Nats are ready to govern.
But the fallout from two things this week must have given them a nasty jolt. One was inadvertent and the other should have been anticipated and managed better.
The first disaster was, of course, when senior Nats at their conference cocktail party let alcohol loosen their lips. The three stooges, English, Lockwood Smith and Nick Smith, would have been groaning in their cornflakes the day after their taped conversation to an apparent young Nat had been passed to TV3.
English's admission that he would eventually sell off Kiwibank reminds voters who are tempted to vote National of the party's predisposition to privatise public assets. Lockwood Smith's taped conversation, indicating that National needs to gain the confidence of people before it carries out a wider political agenda, hints at a secret privatisation strategy.
No doubt Labour will hammer their comments and link them with possible sales of Kiwibank, KiwiRail, NZ Post and other core utilities as soon as National feels it can get away with it. If Labour can persuade enough voters to believe this, it's only a step away from exposing National's longer-term goal of privatising major chunks of our public education and health services.
National's minders have done a great job since Key was elected to inoculate National by dumping or suppressing its right-wing policies. People are now generally convinced the two main parties have similar policies. But the revelations by the three senior Nats have put its campaign strategy at risk.
The attempt by National to turn these leaked conversations into a question of ethics rings rather hollow, given its cock-a-hoop behaviour when the comments of Labour Party president, Mike Williams, were recorded at his conference and leaked.
This is the first major hit on National this year that has the potential to stick and damage it in the election. Labour must know that, in itself, it's potentially worth a few percentage points.
The second matter which could damage National was its launch of further tax cuts, announced by Key. Labour has spent so much of taxpayers' money on its social programmes, there really isn't anything left for National to provide its promised second-tier tax cuts.
So Key has had to take the dubious step of offering further tax cuts at the same time as borrowing money to pay for so-called infrastructure.
The fact that infrastructure now is paid by current taxes raises the obvious cynicism of National's tax-cut policy. Clark was right to jump on it and say that National is merely borrowing to pay for its announced tax cuts. Of course, how we would pay off these loans for infrastructure is not explained by Key. It shouldn't take voters long to work out that these loans for infrastructure will be paid for by selling off public assets.
We've been down this road before. Robert Muldoon borrowed billions to build infrastructure and most of our public assets were sold off to pay those debts. Labour just has to remind voters of this and that might make many middle-ground voters think twice before voting National.
The other good news for Labour was, funnily enough, good ol' boy Winston Peters.
The accusations of money meant for his party being diverted into the mysterious Spencer Trust were assumed to be damaging to Labour. I'm not so sure this is now true.
National's unwillingness to nail Peters has meant the muck is not sticking to Clark. Both main parties think they will need him after the election if his party gets back in.
Clearly Peters believes in the mantra, "You can fool some of people all of the time".
He's not nicknamed the political Houdini for nothing. But Peters does hold grudges and will remember National was trying to shaft him. If NZ First is returned, I'd put money on him going with Clark.
All in all, a great week for Labour. It'll be hoping for more weeks like this before Election Day.
