KEY POINTS:
The joint decision of the two main political parties to exclude others from their televised debates leaves smaller parties with a struggle at this election. No doubt with that challenge in mind, three of them launched their campaigns at the weekend, ahead of the major players. The Greens, New Zealand First and the Maori Party all made a predictable pitch.
The Greens and New Zealand First, more or less allies of the Labour Government during its past term, need now to put themselves at a distance. Both have achievements to trumpet - the Greens in transport and energy policy, New Zealand First its pensioner concessions card - but since they were negotiated with Labour they are achievements Labour also claims.
The two are not the first junior partners to find their constructive contributions go largely unnoticed, unacknowledged and unrewarded in opinion polls and general elections. In this experience they are not so very different from the major players; elections seldom reward the past, though they can punish it. The future is what counts. Small parties, as much as large, need to give voters a reason to return them.
They can offer particular policies or a broad philosophy, preferably both. Some interesting, not to say eccentric policies were heard at the weekend launches. New Zealand First wants to give taxpayer support to New Zealand-owned banks so that they can lead interest rates down.
The suggestion is not out of line with liquidity boosts provided by the United States and European governments in response to the current credit squeeze, though it would pointless to favour one bank over another. New Zealand First's proposal seems to be primarily intended to punish foreign ownership.
"Can't you hear the squeals already as financial and political quislings rush to defend the right of their foreign friends ... ," said Winston Peters. Elections will not be the same without his xenophobic rants.
The Maori Party deserves to be taken more seriously. It has carefully put itself in a position to negotiate with whichever main party is capable of forming the next government. It has some unwise, and hopefully expendable, policies, notably removing GST from food. But if there is one plank in its platform that it cannot compromise it is the constitutional entrenchment of the Maori seats.
The Maori Party wants not only to retain the seats but to put them beyond threat of abolition by a bare parliamentary majority. It will seek to have them included in the sections of the Electoral Act that cannot be removed or amended by less than 75 per cent of the House.
It must stand a good chance of achieving that goal, even in an agreement with National which under John Key has watered down its policy to abolish the seats. It now says it would postpone abolition until all historic Treaty claims have been settled, though the connection is not obvious.
The seats with their separate Maori roll were set up to ensure Parliament always had Maori representation. That need will outlast Treaty negotiations.
The Greens could also be in a position to negotiate with either of the main parties if they choose, but they probably will not. They might find National's commitment to climate change too equivocal and its determination to fast-track the Resource Management Act for some purposes unpalatable.
The Greens, though, should do well if Labour does not, for the same reason the Act Party stands to suffer if this is National's year. The less the main party looks likely to win, the more likely its support might look for an alternative.
The minor league can be an interesting contest too.
