National has announced that it will set up a $100 million fund to buy and retire farmland next to important waterways. The idea is that it will create an environmental buffer to improve water quality. Further, by July 2017 it will be illegal not to have waterways fenced off.

On the face of it, it’s a good policy. Why wouldn’t you want to improve water quality by setting up buffer zones to keep cattle out? What could be wrong with fencing off paddocks from the river?

Well, even Amy Adams, National’s Environment Minister admits that 90% of waterways next to farms are already fenced off, and as Andrew Hoggard, the Federated Farmers dairy chairman, says, a ban was effectively already in place:

“It’s in our conditions to supply to Fonterra. If you don’t meet the conditions of supply, they won’t pick your milk up, and you’ll be out of business…

Internet Mana had been the minor party with momentum. As the Party Party / Internet Mana Roadshow worked its way around the country, the coverage was positive – crowds of hundreds flocking at each venue to see Dotcom, Harre, Harawira and the local candidates; mixtures of young, middle-aged and old; the anti-authority message hitting the headlines on a regular basis. Since mid-July, Internet Mana was consistently hitting at least 2% in the polls, even hitting the heady heights of 3.9% in the mid-August 3News Reid Research poll.

And then the wheels seemed to fall off. The “Fuck John Key” saga may not have had an immediate effect, but it hinted at a nasty, darker side to the party’s leadership. And although the party may not have had anything to do with the effigy burning and Kill the PM song that followed, it seems that Internet Mana had become, in the public…

We’ve had two polls out today, the latest Roy Morgan poll and the 3News Reid Research poll.

In the Roy Morgan poll, there’s a slump for National, down 3% to 45%. Despite National’s fall, there’s no good news for the Labour Party, who drop 1.5% to 26%. Instead, the news is overwhelmingly good for the Greens, who rise a huge 4.5% to 16%, their best Roy Morgan result in over two years.

For the remaining minor parties, NZ First may be down 0.5%, but they’re still on 6%, which would see them returned to Parliament. The Conservatives climb 2.5% to 3.5% (their highest ever Roy Morgan result), while ACT is up 0.5% to 1%. There’s bad news for the Maori Party (who drop from 1% to 0.5%), United Future (who don’t even register, having dropped 0.5%), Internet Mana (who drop 1% to 1.5%).

In the Reid Research poll, National…