Last night’s debate on TV1 was too tame. Politics should be fun and interesting. It livened up a little towards the end, but the formula was just too rigid to get any real spontaneous debate.

However, it was important that the serious financial crisis facing New Zealand got a good airing. Many New Zealanders have lost the value of their homes and their businesses are struggling. NZ First has outlined what it would do to protect and save peoples livelihoods and homes.

We were forced to issue a press release about a donation we made to a very worthy cause.  It speaks for itself.

DONATION GIVEN TO SUSAN COUCH TRUST

New Zealand First made a donation of $78,000 this year to the Susan Couch and Crime Victims Charitable Trust, Rt Hon Winston Peters announced this evening.

As we expected the Electoral Commission has found that the party’s secretary committed no offence over the filing of the 2007 annual return of donations. All these complaints from “you know who” have wasted a lot of time and money. The only motive was political malice.  Now Act has been caught by a failure to declare free office space donated by Bob Jones.

 We at NZ First are outraged. The very day that the Reserve Bank tries to instill some confidence in the New Zealand economy (too little and a bit too late in our opinion, but at least they are finally waking up to reality), Contact Energy blunders ahead with plans to double directors’ fees while increasing customer’s charges by 10 percent. One step forward, two steps back!

It has been a few days since my last post. We’ve been busy around the country.

Especially, we’ve been busy outlining the sorts of policies New Zealand needs to keep moving forward. The sorts of policies that will protect and save the things we hold dear in this country and yet give us a platform to keep growing economically.