KEY POINTS:
National leader John Key aims to be viewed by the public as a prime minister-in-waiting by the end of the year.
Mr Key yesterday shied away from setting a concrete goal of equalling Labour leader Helen Clark in the preferred prime ministerial stakes in political polls - a
forum in which she consistently out-flanked his predecessor, Don Brash.
He said the Prime Minister had more public exposure which boosted her personal poll ratings.
But he said "fundamentally this is a critical year for us" and much rested on his performance.
"If I had been leader of the Opposition for quite some time then there would be a lot more data points for the public to have on me.
"I think it's extremely important that we end 2007 from the perspective that the public view me as a serious contender to be prime minister and the National Party as an alternative to the Government, ready to govern and fully electable."
Asked if he aimed to have similar poll ratings to Helen Clark he said: "While that would be nice the plan is, however it gets measured, for there to be a high degree of confidence . . . that I'm a credible alternative prime minister.
"We live in a world that is becoming increasingly more presidential in its politics and I think where Labour and National are hunting for the centre ground it exemplifies it, so certainly I think it's very important that I can match it with her and hopefully beat her."
Mr Key said the public was tiring of Labour and Helen Clark was the only linchpin to its brand.
Increasing public confidence in him would help erode it in her.
He wanted National to focus on a more in-depth policy agenda, which saw it place greater value on "proposing not exposing".
While the public didn't read the minutiae of every policy "they do get a sense as to whether you've moved beyond the bumper stickers that dominate Opposition, to having an agenda".
National would produce a range of discussion documents this year, in areas including law and order and health, he said.
The good management of caucus and of relationships the party had with various interest groups was also important, he said.
"There are many groups . . . certain Maori groups, for example, that won't vote for us en masse, but it's important that we prove that we can have a constructive relationship with them and that would include the unions for instance."
Mr Key's first major public engagement will be on Wednesday when he attends celebrations at Ratana commemorating the the birthday of the prophet T.W. Ratana.
He said he planned to give a speech "from the heart" preceded by a short mihi.
Asked if he'd delivered one before he said: "Probably not well. It's not terribly long ... but I think it's good manners and respectful to say something in te reo."
National planned to discuss how to revise its policy on the Maori seats at a three-day caucus retreat next week, he said.
The caucus, preceded next Tuesday by Mr Key's state of the nation speech in Burnside, has a range of options before it.
Under National's 2005 election policy it would abolish the seats once it got 51 per cent support in the House.
Options under consideration for the new policy could see the party revert to a previous position involving supporting abolition, but not acting on this until Maori also supported the move.
Alternatively, National might set a fixed optimal date in the future for abolition, with an option of tying it to the end of the Treaty settlement process.
Asked if he expected coming under heavy artillery fire from Labour, Mr Key said he did.
"Politics is a dirty business and these guys play to win, but I have no concerns whatever. I have nothing to fear."
