KEY POINTS:
John Key's log: 03-11-2008
Yesterday I visited Queensgate Mall in Lower Hutt and was frankly surprised by the reaction.
Not one person had a negative thing to say to me in this traditionally Labour-leaning area.
There were undoubtedly people who vote Labour there, but as I went around meeting people, I was surprised at the level of support. This was particularly the case with younger people I met, who wanted me to pose for cellphone camera pictures with them.
Even the ever-present Muffin Break poll had National ahead, although I'm not sure how scientific that particular poll really is.
As I've travelled the country I've found that people are not interested in the latest desperate dirt-digging attempts by Labour, or the latest news involving Winston Peters.
People want to know what National will do in the areas they care deeply about - the economy, health, education and law and order. It is these issues that will decide the election.
After visiting Queensgate I headed to Upper Hutt to announce our Schools Policy, including our plan to plough more money into school buildings.
National will inject an additional $500 million into school property funding over the next three years to allow for a 21st century School Building Programme. There's an urgent and overdue need to plan for the future by improving and expanding current schools and building new ones.
Today I am campaigning in Auckland, and tonight I will be appearing on the TV3 debate.
John Key
Helen Clark's log: 03-11-2008
I've just come out of an action-packed weekend of campaigning and pre-election media interviews around Auckland.
I opened the season for the Mt Albert Ramblers Softball Club, popped into the Sandringham Spring Festival, visited a gathering of mothers from a Samoan Presbyterian Church, opened the building extension to the Mangere Family Doctors and Tapasefika Health PHO, attended a couple of Diwali events, and got a great reception from the Tongan community at the Tokaikoloia Kalaisi Fellowship Church. It's a wonder I had time for several media interviews!
A strong focus for Labour over the weekend was our plan to lead New Zealand through difficult times. Labour has already taken initiatives to underpin the stability of New Zealand's financial system.
Over the weekend we also outlined more detail of our plan to stimulate the economy, and ensure there are jobs for people during tough times. Labour will bring forward access to the $1 billion home energy efficiency fund so that schemes for retrofitting older houses can be expanded to areas where higher unemployment emerges. This programme is labour-intensive, and people can be trained to work in it within a relatively short time. We'll also provide an enhanced Financial Assistance Rate of funding for regions in need of additional economic stimulus to allow local authorities to bring forward projects such as road maintenance.
And Labour will bring forward our planned investment in the roll-out of superfast broadband in regions in need of support from the economic stimulus package. Rolling out this infrastructure creates real jobs for Kiwis.
What to watch for today: the TV3 leaders' debate.
Helen Clark
