Opening Speeches

A shame I was overseas so couldn’t attend the opening speeches in Parliament yesterday as it seems Don Brash was in excellent form and delivered a very hard hitting speech.

Colin Espiner in The Press describes it as “arguably his strongest speech in Parliament since assuming the Opposition leadership” and even Jeanette Fitzsimons is quoted as saying Brash appeared to be on steroids and “looks like he is enjoying himself for the first time since he came here”.

The theme of asking Labout to “pay it back” is an excellent one which much of the public can be worked up about. Labour’s refusal to do so contrasts nicely with National which having discovered the GST error with its broadcasting allocation immediately reported it to the Electoral Commission and offered to pay the $100,000 without reservation.

The Press supports the theme with its editorial headed up “Pay the money back” and says “Prime Minister Helen Clark is quite correct to say that campaign funding rules need overhauling, her party must not be allowed to use this as a smoke screen to obscure what seems to be a cynical attempt to sidestep the spending regime”.

The NZ Herald also has a story on the speeches and John Armstrong also praises Brash’s speech, albeit with reservations.