0 Another Stuff-up

One error is careless. But two Stuff-ups in their Daily Trivia Quiz is getting very, very careless. And we were going along really well too:

Here, via history.net.nz is the correct answer:

Of course David Lange succeeded Sir Robert Muldoon after the infamous "Schnapps" election in 1984. And who could ever forget this moment?

This is another fail from Fairfax. We know that Fairfax journalists in Australia are on strike, but we didn't realise that extended to this side of the Tasman. In the case of Stuff's Daily Trivia Quiz, that is in fact strike two; a success rate of Trevor Mallard proportions!

0 Always read the fine print...

Fairfax journalist Stacey Kirk has been busy. She's done what good journalists should do, and read the fine print of Labour's "big tool" policy. And look what she's found, lost in the fine print:

Labour may look at controlling immigration as a way to affect housing demand and general price inflation.
In the small print of Labour's monetary policy documents, the party says "there may be a case for varying inward migration and/or work permits in a counter-cyclical manner". 

Unsurprisingly, another party leader has praised Labour's policy:

NZ First leader Winston Peters has praised the policy.
"We have always been for compulsory savings and New Zealand desperately needs a long-term savings regime, so that's very wise," he said today on Morning Report.
"On the Reserve Bank Act, that surely needs changing and has been the case for a very long time, which is good too.
"The variable savings rate of course means money stays in our economy, rather than goes off in high-interest payments to some other economy."
The issue of immigration, particularly where it might drive house prices and inflation, has also been an issue Peters has focused on. 

Winston Peters was mentored by Sir Robert Muldoon when he first entered Parliament. So there is no surprise that he favours intervention by the Government with regard to the supposedly independent  Reserve Bank. 

And there are more signs that Labour is putting out the welcome mat to Peters:

The Labour documents say immigration tended to be "pro-cyclical, with higher net inwards migration coinciding with strong local economic conditions".
Labour was open to investigating whether that cycle could be reversed - letting more immigrants into New Zealand when the economy was weaker, and tightening controls during high-growth periods. 
"This would require consideration of a range of factors, including the lag time between approval and arrival, the wage effects of inward migration at times of supply constraints, and the need to meet skill shortages," the documents said.  

Intervention in the Reserve Bank and controls on inward migration are Winston peters' stock-in-trade, and it is barely surprising that he is lauding a policy which could have been written just for him.

But is Labour is cuddling up to Uncle Winston, that spells bad news for the Greens, whom Peters abhors. On the very off chance that Labour was able to do deals after September's General Election, might the Greens be left at the altar once again, and might Russel and Metiria become the perennial bridesmaids?

That's all hypothetical, of course. If Labour really is polling at 23%, as sources within the National Party claim, they will be more focused on trying to remain the dominant opposition party, not preparing to somehow lead a coalition of the unwilling and unsuited.