Former Labour leader Mike Moore (now NZ’s ambassador in Washington) is quoted as saying “we in the Labour Party have a serious problem with John Key. He’s a very hard man to hate.” Key’s popularity however doesn’t rest simply on his likeability. He’s got a quality rare among politicians in tackling issues which most would prefer to tuck away in the “too hard” basket, and he is determined to show a conservative Govt has more effective answers to social issues than Labour with its “nanny-state” approach. This was evident again in the way the Govt is revising the country’s liquor laws and in particular the so-called “binge drinking culture.” The Govt hasn’t gone as far as the anti-alcohol zealots have been demanding but, instead, it has identified measures which are practical and won’t return NZ to the “sly grog” environment which prevailed in onetime “dry” areas. Similarly Key is willing to confront issues around suicide which previous Govts have always backed away from.

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High on the agenda for Key is the politically explosive issue of the foreshore and seabed. The Govt has been wrestling with a formula which falls short of what the Maori Party had initially expected. Attorney-General Chris Finlayson had to block off what could have been unintended consequences of customary title. Trans-Tasman’s top sources say the Maori Party will accept something less than ideal from its point of view in order to get the deal done, and ensure the repeal of the Labour Govt’s hated legislation. It will be signed off by the Govt next week and puts the Maori Party in a difficult situation. It has to have the law changed by the next election, which means the Bill has to be drafted and put through Parliament quickly.

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