KEY POINTS:
Cabinet minister Trevor Mallard has released another National Party policy.
Last night it was environment, today it was conservation - both due to be launched by National's leader John Key at Waiheke Island tomorrow.
The policies are twins but Mr Mallard told reporters they reached his office in "separate drops" which were clearly deliberate leaks.
A spokesman for Mr Key said the policy documents were in the same bundle and were not leaked.
"It's most likely it was left somewhere it shouldn't have been," the spokesman said.
"Mallard is trying to manipulate the media by spinning it out over a couple of days and then claiming multiple leaks."
One suggestion has been that the documents were left in Copperfields, the Beehive cafe.
"I'm not going to identify where it came from but I'm making it quite clear it wasn't left in Copperfields," Mr Mallard said.
"I'm not going to say anything to identify anyone who is currently being very helpful."
Mr Mallard said he would be very upset if Labour Party policy escaped in the same way.
"If I had a core group of MPs and staffers who were not capable of looking after policy, I would be deeply embarrassed."
He suggested it was another case of leaks coming from "a dissenting person" within National's ranks.
Mr Mallard, who is Minister for the Environment, handed out copies of National's conservation policy and said it had been helpful to be able to analyse it before it was launched.
"Not that there's a lot in it, it's very short with big gaps," he said.
"They haven't addressed public access to the High Country, there's nothing in there about marine reserves so it's a case of National avoiding the harder issues but that's what we've come to expect from them."
- NZPA
