KEY POINTS:
John Key's log: 16-10-2008
In Christchurch yesterday I unveiled an important economic initiative I believe will help drive New Zealand's growth.
National will put a greater portion of the large capital pool sitting in the New Zealand Superannuation Fund into the New Zealand economy.
Our plan is to amend the law to let the Finance Minister direct the allocation of the fund - and we will set a target that at least 40 per cent be invested in New Zealand.
In every other way, the guardians of the NZ Super Fund will continue to invest as they do now. They'll make decisions on a prudent, commercial basis.
But I believe having more of that fund's money - now amounting to almost $14 billion - invested in New Zealand can only have positive spinoffs for the country, both in the short-term and long-term.
The range of investment opportunities is large - it include shares, government bonds, high-quality commercial paper, private equity and so forth.
While the guardians of the NZ Super fund will determine the appropriate rate by which to increase their investment in New Zealand, I want to see that pool of capital back New Zealand.
In the short term, in a world where capital will be more tightly held and closely guarded, our plan will help ensure we have funds to help get us out of recession and into a period of solid and sustainable growth.
It's a central message of National's campaign that we want the economy to grow - and I believe yesterday's announcement will add another layer to the economic management plan I unveiled last week.
John Key
Helen Clark's log: 16-10-2008
Affordable housing was the focus of our campaign yesterday, and I visited the heart of West Auckland to announce a new policy of HOPE.
I met a delightful Westie couple, Sunny and Benjamin, who proudly showed me through their little 1940s wooden home in Avondale, bought with assistance from the Shared Equity scheme.
HOPE, or Home Ownership on the Public Estate, is the next step in Labour's affordable housing policy. It involves making Crown land available so the homeowner pays for the house to be built while the Crown continues to own the land, dramatically lowering the cost of home ownership.
Sunny and Benjamin had saved for over four years for their house.
Sunny, a student midwife, says the Shared Equity scheme, where the government took a 24 per cent sharein their home, made a huge difference to its affordability.
She estimates their weekly mortgage repayments of $350 would be closer to $500 without it. That frees up the household budget for other items.
Benjamin showed me a fridge magnet left by a previous owner, proclaiming "Helen's kitchen". He's kept it there because he estimates the kitchen is about the size of the government's stake in their home!
They told me their plans for doing it up and I swapped stories about the renovations on our 100-year-old wooden house when we first moved in.
I was delighted to learn of another connection - the midwife who delivered Sunny in a home birth was the late Joan Donnelly, a friend and former Mt Albert constituent.
What to watch for on Thursday: The Labour team heads to Hamilton.
Helen Clark
