Prime Minister hosts online chat

Helen Clark's typing skills were put to the test last night as she answered questions from New Zealanders in an online chat session marking the fifth anniversary of her Labour-led Government.

Kiwis quizzed the Prime Minister on policy and personal information during the session, which began via the web and text messages at 6.30pm.

Compliments, congratulations and the odd criticism also appeared in the chat transcript on the Labour Party website www.headsup.co.nz.

In her replies, Helen Clark reiterated her support for the Civil Union Bill but said Labour opposed compulsory Maori language in schools.

"We think making Te Reo compulsory would be counter productive to good race relations," she wrote.

She criticised National for its policy U-turn on superannuation.

"Personally I don't trust them. In 1990 they promised to abolish the surcharge on NZ Superannuation, and then imposed an even stricter means test! They will say anything right now in their desperation to try and recover it's [sic] support," she wrote.

An internet user called "Andypandy" asked the prime minister how she intended to fix the labour shortage.

Helen Clark answered that the Government had brought tens of thousands more people into industry training and had a skilled migrant policy to fill gaps.

Messages from supporters included the following text: "A good 5 yrs for wkers thnx for the family help good luck nxt yr GO LABOUR frm a worker with four kids."

Ms Clark replied: "Thanks for your encouragement. Messages like this make our jobs worthwhile."

The prime minister took familiarity in her stride.

"Hello, Hon," wrote Clayton, a 17-year-old who praised her support of the Civil Union Bill.

The prime minister thanked him for his "kind words".

Helen Clark revealed that her most admired past New Zealand prime minister was Peter Fraser. Nelson Mandela was her most admired international political leader.

She said her proudest moment was seeing unemployment drop to 3.8 per cent this year.

A user called Spongepants wanted to know if the prime minister had any pets.

"No - but when I was a child on my parents' farm I had a pet lamb every year - we also had lots of cats," came the reply.

Two others asked for jobs with the Labour party.

She told them to contact their local MP "urgently".