Nats eye blue collar red seats

National is plotting an assault on Labour's Auckland strongholds as the opposition party re-groups from its narrow defeat in last year's election.

In a heavily war-themed speech that invoked Winston Churchill's battle against the Nazis, party president Judy Kirk said yesterday that National needed to be on a permanent campaign footing if it was to capture more of the centre-left vote.

Mrs Kirk told the party's northern regional conference in Auckland that National had to make a special effort to market itself to Maori and Pacific Islanders, young people, women, and urban liberals.

"If we want to be a long-term government, we need to own a percentage of the Labour vote. Much effort will be put into this task in the next period."

Mrs Kirk said new MPs Paula Bennett and Tim Groser - who have opened an Auckland office - and Tau Henare and Jackie Blue would lead a special initiative targeting West Auckland seats. The poorer and more ethnically diverse electorates of West and South Auckland are typically red territory, with Mangere, Manukau East, Manurewa, New Lynn, Te Atatu, and Waitakere all held by Labour.

Political scientist Nigel Roberts said Labour's support in South and West Auckland was crucial in the last election and National was right to target the area.

"On election night last year it was particularly obvious as the considerable early National lead was whittled away by those large traditional Labour strongholds having been galvanized and whipped into voting," he said.

Professor Roberts said National needed to attract votes from women, Maori and Pacific Islanders if it wanted to become the Government.

Mrs Kirk told the Herald On Sunday she could vividly recall watching National's lead ebb away on election night as votes from the Auckland electorates were counted. She said that swing demonstrated National had work to do not just in West and South Auckland, but also urban areas of Wellington and Christchurch.

National list MP Tau Henare said he and the other West Auckland-based MPs were working on a strategy to sell the party's message in the region.

"It's not an overnight strategy, it's a long-term strategy, and hopefully by 2008 we'll be ready to fight a really good campaign."

The former NZ First MP rejected the idea that poorer parts of Auckland were Labour's natural constituency.

"A lot of people out West are conservative working class people," he said.