A weekly current affairs programme presented by Ross Stevens.
“Feathers are flying in Australia where the Peacock election has stalemated. Who will win the battle between the government nobody wants, and the coalition that nobody likes?”
“And on our side of the Tasman, does the Australian election mean that a Government that visits hard times on voters can still win? We talk with Finance Minister David Caygill and Ruth Richardson.
And Cyclone Ofa: we go home to Samoa with Jay Laga’aia to look at the aftermath of the worse hurricane to hit Samoa since records were kept.
It might all come down to a man called Ted Mack: the first independent ever to be elected to the Australian parliament. Pundits today predict that it with either be a win by a whisker to Bob Hawke in the Labour Party, or a hung Parliament. If it’s evens, then Ted Mack will suddenly be the most powerful politician in Australia as he decides whether to go the way of the Labour Party or decide on Andrew Peacock’s coalition. Ted Mack spoke today with Channel Nine’s Laurie Oakes.”
Interviewees: Ted Mack; Max Suich, Independent Monthly;.
“When New Zealanders go to the polls in October, they’ll be given a chance to elect a Labour government for a record third consecutive term. Right now the polls say that’s unlikely as National leads by a country mile. But the huge number of unconfirmed voters and the time yet to go before October, means anything could happen. Central to Labour’s chances to hanging on and National chances of winning will be their approach to the hip pocket nerve of the electorate. Who will handle the economy better? David Caygill or Ruth Richardson? And they’re both with us now. But first we take you through six years of hard Labour”
Ross Stevens interviews David Caygill and Ruth Richardson in the studio.
“When natural disasters occur, the news coverage lasts for a few days, then its forgotten about by most people. But for those directly affected, the impact lasts much longer. Last month, several Pacific Islands were ravaged by Cyclone Ofa. Western Samoa had not experienced anything like it in living memory. An early estimate of the damage was $240 million, a catastrophe for a small country with a population of 160,000. The Samoan-born entertainer Jay Laga’aia has just been back to his home country to look at the aftermath of the cyclone.”