TLDR & TLDL: National’s decision to join Labour in allowing a free-for-all of three three-storey homes on most sections may be hurting its support among its more NIMBY-ish supporters. ACT launched a campaign today to hoover up more centre-right voters with a campaign against the bipartisan ‘Townhouse Nation’ deal.
A fresh Newshub-Reid Research poll last night showed ACT up 4.9 percentage points to 16%, while National fell 1.8% to 26.8% and Labour was down 0.3 points at 42.7%. The poll found ACT Leader David Seymour with 11.9% support as preferred PM, which was twice as popular as Judith Collins on 6.1%, with PM Jacinda Ardern down 3.8% to 41.7%. (See more on this below in the podcast above for paid subscribers)
Elsewhere in the news over the weekend and this morning:
farmer organisers of Groundswell protests tried to disconnect from the anti-vaxx parts of the protests over the weekend (Stuff);
Austria is to make vaccination compulsory and Germany pledged to restrict the movements of the unvaccinated, sparking weekend riots (Reuters);
David Clark announced the Commerce Commission would launch a building materials market study; and
this morning’s scoops and breaking news below the paywall fold.
What I’m watching today and this week:
I’ll be at the post-cabinet news conference at 4pm in the Beehive Theatrette, when PM Jacinda Ardern is expected to leave Auckland in its level three (step two) lockdown for another week before the big ‘traffic lights’ decision next Monday;
key unanswered questions remain around which other sectors may have vaccination formally mandated with legislation (Police, MSD, Oranga Tamariki, Kāinga Ora, hospitality and retail still await clarity); and,
will the Reserve Bank hike 25 basis points or 50 basis points on Wednesday at 2pm?
I welcome suggestions for questions and comments below from full paid subscribers.
Listen to this episode with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Kākā by Bernard Hickey to listen to this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.
