Here's something for everyone

By Andrew Laxon

From car pooling to abortion, you get a wider range of issues from the political minnows of this campaign - the Greens, Mauri Pacific, United and Christian Heritage.

The Greens will be hoping to get some of their ideas implemented if Labour and the Alliance need their support to govern. They remain close to their former colleagues in the Alliance in many areas, pushing for pollution taxes, tariffs and more generous working conditions.

The Greens also want to decriminalise cannabis. Aware of a hardline public mood on law and order, they emphasise that it would save $29 million a year for community policing. The party supports car pooling and people living where they work as a solution to roading problems.

Mauri Pacific, whose hopes lie with leader Tau Henare holding his seat in Te Tai Tokerau (Northern Maori), is best known for its various policies to promote the Maori language. They include bilingual road signs and compulsory Maori for public servants and for schoolchildren until form two.

Mauri Pacific also wants to give Maori lore the same status as New Zealand's existing British-derived law.

It would temporarily waive taxes for students paying back their loans and build six-bedroom houses for extended Maori and Island families.

United leader Peter Dunne is almost certain to keep his Ohariu-Belmont seat in Wellington, as National will not run a candidate against him.

Like National and Act, he wants to cut the top 33c tax rate to 30c. He also wants to scrap the fringe benefit tax.

United's merger with the Ethnic Minority Party shows in its pro-immigration economic policy and support for teaching English as a second language.

It would also set a $200 million-a-year limit on treaty settlements, although this figure is above the yearly average so far.

Christian Heritage looks unlikely to win any seats, as it is polling less than 2 per cent.

It would bring back the death penalty for clearcut cases of murder and stop most abortions by removing consideration of the mother's mental health from the list of grounds for terminating a pregnancy. Contraceptive advice could not be given to under-16s without their parents' consent.

Despite its strong moral conservatism and generally right-wing stance, Christian Heritage has some polices which resemble those of the Alliance - it would stop foreigners owning land in New Zealand and bring back tariffs to create full employment.

* An updated version of party policies will be published later in the campaign.