Matt McCarten: When the party's over, the resolutions kick in...

Political party resolutions and wishlists for 2010 ...

National

1. Thank God each morning for John Key. He's unassailable.

2. Don't let Rodney Hide hijack the Auckland Supercity legislation and then get blamed for the fallout.

3. Hope the economy comes right before anyone realises there is no job creation strategy, except giving employers tax money to hire new staff.

4. Admit the party's economic policy of borrowing a billion dollars a month to pay the bills is socialist.

5. Make sure weak ministers aren't picked off by Labour. Don't let what happened to Bill English over his rent problems spread to others.

6. Pray that no soldier gets killed in Afghanistan so voters don't start asking why we are over there supporting a corrupt regime.

7. Be careful about the repeal of the Seabed and Foreshore Act. Labour is just being an opportunist and wants the redneck vote. But anyway, how does it feel having the tables turned on you?

Act

1. Bring back the old Rodney Hide. The rottweiler's been replaced by a kitten. Since John Key saved him from being rolled by his own party, it's probably going to be impossible.

2. Someone tell Roger Douglas that Key really meant it when he said he won't put him in Cabinet - ever.

Maori Party

1. Keep Hone on the porch and busy. Intemperate emails, compounded by loose talk about sacking MPs, are electoral suicide. Even worse, it's amateur and your supporters deserve better.

2. Get a proactive and tighter communications strategy. Labour and National use the party as a political football whenever it suits them. Understand that neither John Key nor Phil Goff are the party's friends - it's just business.

3. Select two candidates this year who can win Tainui and Ikaora-Rawhiti. If they take these two electorates off Labour, the party will be in Cabinet forever, no matter who leads a government.

Labour

1. Remind the caucus every day the party is now in opposition, not the government. There is a cunning plan to rebuild, right?

2. Get the working class vote back. Accuse National of being anti-worker due to their limiting tea breaks at work, selling off holidays and increasing ACC levies whilst cutting entitlements. Blue-collar workers have deserted to National. Labour needs to rebuild its core constituency. There are only so many middle-class voters to go around.

3. Win the mayoralty and a council majority on the new Auckland Supercity in October. A victory will build the momentum to win Auckland back in the 2012 general election.

4. Be careful about using the race strategy. Good for getting social conservatives and racists on side but it makes the liberal wing nervous. Don't piss off the Maori Party too much as they might be needed in the future.

5. Have a talk to a few more of the backbenchers about retiring. The caucus still has a long tail in the batting order. Does the party need so many student politicians and others who've never had a real job?

6. Hope like hell Winston Peters makes a comeback. If NZ First gets enough polling this year to be credible, people might believe Labour can win a majority with him and the Greens. Anyway, Winston does populism far better than Goff.

Greens

1. Brand the party as cutting edge and trendy again so that supporters don't notice that the caucus is, like, really old and boring. Get the youth back.

2. Brazenly promote Russel Norman and Metiria Turei more. The leaders need the same profile and credibility that Jeanette Fitzsimmons and Rod Donald once had.

3. Try not to get too resentful at Labour taking you for granted. Also make sure they don't steal the party's policies and voters.

4. Stop flirting with National. No one believes it for a second anyway. It just looks insincere and shallow.

Happy New Year, parties.