New Zealand Labour Party Regroups with New Leadership

Still licking its wounds from last Saturday's general election loss, the New Zealand Labour party elected Phil Goff as its new leader with Annette King as his deputy. David Cunliffe will act as Labour's finance spokesperson.

Goff served as Minister of Defence and of Trade in the outgoing government. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs until 2005 when NZ First's Winston Peters took the portfolio.

Former Prime Minister and Labour leader Helen Clark will serve as Labour's foreign affairs spokesperson while Dr Michael Cullen, former Minister of Finance, will be the Shadow Leader of the House.

At a post-election caucus, Labour farewelled ousted MPs and welcomed 13 new ones.

The new list MPs are former race relations commissioner Rajen Prasad, 28-year-old policy adviser Jacinda Ardern, Auckland lawyer Raymond Huo, former Oxfam global head of policy Phil Twyford, 31-year-old part-Tongan part-Samoan primary school teacher Carmel Sepuloni, former prime minister Walter Nash's great grandson Stuart Nash, school principal Kelvin Davis and unionist Carol Beaumont.

New electorate MPs are Clare Curran in Dunedin South, Grant Robertson in Wellington Central, Chris Hipkins in Rimutaka, Iain Lees-Galloway in Palmerston North, and Brendon Burns in Christchurch Central.

New Zealand Government Exchanges Letters with Lending Institutions over Distressed Mortgages as Election Looms in Background

The Minister of Finance, Dr Michael Cullen, says the Crown and New Zealand's largest mortgage lending banks have exchanged letters on the approach the banks will take in handling distressed mortgages.

Dr Cullen said the Labour Government places high value on home ownership for New Zealanders and on assisting to keep them in their own homes during periods of temporary financial distress.

To that end, the banks have assured the Crown that distressed mortgage loans will be evaluated on a case by case basis and where there is a reasonable expectation that mortgage-servicing could be resumed within a reasonable period, they will use their best endeavours to work with borrowers to avoid forced sales where appropriate.

Banks will restructure mortgage loans by capitalising interest or temporarily reducing servicing obligations in order to assist borrowers to deal with short term financial difficulties. Foreclosure will be a final resort, not a first option.

National's Emergency Worker Assistance $42 million Package in New Zealand Election Campaign

National leader John Key unveiled the party's emergency economic assistance policy for those who become unemployed as a result of the economic crisis.

For families eligible for tax credits under Working For Families, the in-work tax credit, valued at $60 per week, will continue for up to 16 weeks after a worker is laid off. Additionally, the accommodation supplement available to unemployed workers will be raised up to $100 per week to assist in making rent and mortgage payments.

The package is estimated by National to cost $42 million.

In addressing the distribution of benefits received by banks and the unemployed, Key reminded banks that the taxpayer was funding the deposit guarantee system and there was an expectation that banks would "be very careful about the manner in which they deal with customers who may, as a consequence of the global financial crisis, find it hard to meet their obligations."

As the election campaign heads into its final week, the economic policies of the two major parties are becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from one another. This may pose a greater risk for National as it attempts to secure a vote sufficient to give it a clear majority to govern without relying on support from minor parties such as the Maori Party.

Labour Party's Stance on Entrenching Maori Seats

Helen Clark, Labour Party leader, has said "I don't have any particular difficulty with entrenching those" Maori seats that are created on the basis of the numbers of voters registered on the Maori electoral rolls.

She clarified that she meant entrenching the seats through the electoral option rather than entrenching a set number of seats.

Entrenching the Maori seats means that a 75 percent majority of parliament would be required to abolish the seats.

The Maori Party, likely to play a pivotal role in any coalition or support agreement with a major party post-election, has made it a condition of support for a major party to form a government that the Maori seats be entrenched.

The political problem is less with Labour and more with National since National has declared it will seek to abolish the Maori seats by 2014, although National leader John Key has said during the election campaign that this position is "not the bottom line" on the issue.

Maori Party Leadership Division As General Election Heats Up?

Maori Party co-leader Dr. Pita Sharples appears to be getting the message loud and clear from the Maori electorate that voters prefer a post-election agreement with Labour rather than National.

"We would prefer in the first instance that Labour got the higher share of the vote, because that's what our people want," Dr Sharples told The Press in Christchurch.

His co-leader Turiana Turia expressed surprise at Dr Sharples comment, continuing to take the line that the Maori Party remains interested in talking to all political parties about post-election arrangements.

Polls indicate that the Maori Party is likely to win 6 or 7 of the 7 Maori seats.