By Patrick Gower
The battle cries of the election have finally emerged.
National's to Phil Goff is "show me the money", and Mr Goff's to John Key is “show me the jobs”.
Both cries point to their rival's perceived weakness - and both were scoring points today.
National says the billion dollar cheques that Mr Goff is signing are not going to work, and at last night’s Christchurch leaders’ debate Mr Key even made a catchphrase around it.
“Show me the money, show me the money. It ain't there son,” he told Mr Goff.
But Mr Key's call isn’t original - Jerry McGuire got in first.
And it’s been well-known down at the pokies for years.
It is all part of National's attack politics to turn Labour's “Own Our Future” plan to “Owe Our Future”.
National says Labour will need to borrow $17.2 billion over and above what it will spend over the next four years.
Labour needs that to fund its promises like GST off fruit and vege and a tax-free zone for the first $5000 of salary.
And Mr Goff will be out to prove it wrong tomorrow - releasing a spreadsheet showing Labour's finance plan.
“I'll be showing New Zealand the money,” he says.
That will please the likes of Peter Lynch.
He was wondering about the money after bumping into Mr Goff in Nelson today.
“Show me the money, where's the money, who's gonna bring it,” he says.
Mr Goff dropped a hint today that Labour will borrow $2.6 billion more than National in the short term. He says that is because they are not selling assets.
“If they're going to fill that hole there's just got to be a new tax we don't know about,” says Mr Key.
So it really is show time for Mr Goff tomorrow. If his numbers do not stack up then Labour's credibility is on the line and his campaign will suffer some serious speed wobbles.
3 News
source: newshub archive
