John Armstrong: Brash slices through Labour's spin

No sooner had the lights gone out in Auckland on Monday morning than Labour had switched on its slick damage control machine in Wellington.

Labour's strategy for handling such crises is now familiar: get in first and find someone to blame before your opponents start blaming you.

The Prime Minister switches between two personas. One moment she is the Opposition politician empathising with an angry populace and demanding answers of the state agency concerned.

The next she is once more wielding the power of office, saying the problem is being sorted - and by yesterday at the latest.

The formula is designed to put as much distance as possible between Labour and responsibility for things going wrong, while giving comfort that they will be fixed.

The Prime Minister has almost turned what National's Maurice Williamson yesterday called "the blurring of the margins" into an art form. It happened with the Qualifications Authority over NCEA. It is happening with Transpower.

Labour has put responsibility for the blackout down to National's lack of infrastructure spending in the 1990s.

National failed to make the necessary investment in the national grid. Labour is making that investment.

That message is reinforced by contrasting Monday's five-hour-plus power cut with Auckland's 35-day crisis in 1998 - again something that happened under National's watch, even though fault lay with a power company, not the then Government.

Meanwhile, National's attempt to sheet responsibility home to Labour was made more complicated because Energy Minister David Parker could hardly be blamed for an earthing cable breaking and wrapping itself around high-voltage lines.

The more difficult-to-answer question was whether he had done enough to get Transpower to heed industry warnings about the security of electricity supply to Auckland, given his short tenure in the portfolio.

Having forced a snap debate, National was consequently somewhat reticent in demanding Mr Parker's resignation, instead placing culpability on Pete Hodgson, who had a lengthy spell as Energy Minister.

Mr Hodgson was not in the House, but Trevor Mallard, the immediate predecessor to Mr Parker, was. As Minister of State Owned Enterprises with responsibility for Transpower, Mr Mallard suggested the blackout might have a simple cause - poor maintenance of the Otahuhu sub-station - rather than indicating a wider "systemic failure".

The Prime Minister had likewise been busy muddying the waters during ministers' question time, deflecting questions from Don Brash about the dilapidated state of the national grid.

However, for once, Dr Brash got the last word. How many years did Labour have to be in office before it started accepting responsibility rather than abdicating it? he pondered somewhat sarcastically

The question instantly sliced through the torrent of spin that has been pouring out of the Beehive - and for one reason.

That is the question Labour fears Aucklanders will begin asking themselves.