Brash wary of Winston

Don Brash says any reliance on NZ First to support a government - whether led by Labour or National - might have the country back to the polls within a year.

"NZ First is a very unpredictable party which seems to vary its position depending on what Mr Peters thinks on the day," he said. "We would certainly prefer not to have to depend on NZ First."

The National Party leader yesterday returned to his theme of the place of women in a rough and tumble world: campaigning in Timaru, he expressed surprise at the involvement of a "very feminine" woman in the dangerous sport of motocross.

Last month he was in trouble for saying he had gone easy on Helen Clark in a televised debate because it was a bad look for a man to shout at women.

In Herald on Sunday feature interviews with Brash and Clark this week, both refused to rule out giving such senior portfolios as finance minister to a coalition partner like United Future's Gordon Copeland or the Greens' Rod Donald.

Dr Brash has extended a hand to United Future leader Peter Dunne, saying if he won the most votes he would aim to take no more than three weeks to form a government with United or Act.

Helen Clark says she also has extended an olive branch to Peter Dunne - who has supported her for the past three years - but received no response to her invitation to publicly campaign together.

"The door's open," she said. "We said at the outset of the campaign to the three support parties that we were happy to provide each with the same opportunity."

Mr Dunne said last night that the only discussion did not, to his mind, constitute a proper invitation: "If there is an invitation and there's a purpose for doing something, then we might consider it."

Transport was Dr Brash's theme yesterday. He chose Timaru, the site of the infamous Helen Clark motorcade trial, to announce his party's police policy.

Vowing to boost police numbers, scrap the focus on revenue-gathering and "rescue" police from their crisis of confidence, Dr Brash blamed low morale in the force in part on an "incompetent" George Hawkins, Minister of Police.

Dr Brash seemed in good spirits as he greeted shoppers in Timaru's main centre before he set off to attend the National Motocross Championship near Waimate. Dr Brash declined offers to try out a bike for size, fearing a photograph of him with 250cc of pure grunt between his legs on the front page of today's paper would do little for his popularity ratings.

The only race he was gearing up for, he said, was the election.

Dr Brash was much impressed with 17-year-old rider Katherine Prumm, who is the second-ranked motocross rider in the world.

He believed she was also a model, "so she's very feminine and all that. I wouldn't normally expect women to be involved in such a sport".

Meanwhile, the Labour team was out in force with Helen Clark yesterday as she campaigned in Lower Hutt.

In the morning she opened a cultural centre at Waiwhetu Marae supported by a cadre of MPs including Cabinet ministers Trevor Mallard and Parekura Horomia, speaker Margaret Wilson, South Island Maori MP Mahara Okeroa, and Georgina Beyer and Winnie Laban.

Following a short drive through Lower Hutt, she was joined for a walkabout at the Westfield Queensgate shopping mall by Ohariu-Belmont candidate Charles Chauvel and a large contingent from Trevor Mallard's electorate office, including campaign dogs Kaiser and Chloe, who wore red vests that read: "I'm a political animal."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY