John Armstrong writes that Key hit all the right buttons in his speech yesterday. He also liked the detail and substance to the announcements on youth training and crime
"Labour believes National's leader is highly vulnerable to accusations of substance-deficiency. The speech is all about destroying that avenue of attack by having Key offering a bucketful of ideas in a narrow area of focus"
"However, the policy detail also reflects National's far more disciplined approach to policy development than was the case with some of the skimpy policies released at the 2005 election.
The speech thus bears the confident sound of a Government-in-waiting, rather than an Opposition looking for something new to say."
Fran O'Sullivan says the speech was "notable for his move to set the agenda by stipulating the "questions" (not policies - that comes later) that this year's election will be fought on."
Fran looks at Key's agenda setting questions:
* Why, after eight years of Labour, are we paying the second-highest interest rates in the developed world?
* Why, under Labour, is the gap between our wages, and wages in Australia and other parts of the world, getting bigger and bigger?
* Why, under Labour, do we only get a tax cut in election year, when we really needed it years ago?
* Why are grocery and petrol prices going through the roof?
* Why can't our hardworking kids afford to buy their own house?
* Why is one in five Kiwi kids leaving school with grossly inadequate literacy and numeracy skills?
* Why, when Labour claims it aspires to be carbon-neutral, do our greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at an alarming rate?
* Why hasn't the health system improved when billions of extra dollars have been poured into it?
* Why is violent crime against innocent New Zealanders continuing to soar and why is Labour unable to do anything about it?
And she notes that Key is now honour-bound to clearly state before the election takes place just what National's answers will be. She also suggests that Key has "undermined Clark's pledge of "relentless" positivism by stating National will be "unrelenting" in its quest to lift New Zealand's economic growth rate and raise interest rates.
Labour once stated an ambition to get New Zealand back into the top half of the OECD on GDP per capita income basis.
But it let the ambition slide."
The Herald Editorial is also positive and calls National's proposed solutions to juvenile crime "practical".
