Election Campaign On: Gloves Off

Perhaps in anticipation of a possible failure to receive majority support on supply, it seems that Labour and National yesterday kicked off the election campaign. It is interesting that initial battle lines have been drawn in the infrastructure space where we see Labour and National as having very similar policies. National has essentially announced a move into policy space that Labour was already inching towards. Inter-generational funding of major infrastructure is mainstream and sensible economic policy, as is the use of the private sector are issues very much on the current Government's policy table. Readers will be aware of our strong support for the Government's broadband and transport infrastructure programmes. National seems to be suggesting an acceleration of this programme. We welcome this as there is a clear link between our poor productivity growth performance and the state of our infrastructure.