The Hillary and Kevin show

Given Howard has called the Australian Federal election for 24 November, and the US primaries are beginning to heat up, I thought it was worth floating the question that would ALP and Democrat governments at a federal level be good for NZ?

I'm not so sure, in fact I would actually lead towards 'not really'.

Howard and Clark, despite being from opposite ends of the spectrum, have actually worked really well together. In fact the last eight years are referred to as a "golden-period" in the relationship. Howard, despite his conservative flaws, has actually been very good towards NZ, primarily because he gets on with Clark.

But, just because ALP leader, Kevin Rudd, comes from the same political family as Clark, doesn't mean they will get on. Take Whitlam/Kirk or Lange/Hawke as examples - all 'labour' prime ministers, but they did not get along. Or on the other side, Muldoon/Fraser didn't really get on either, and even when we have had a left/right mix in the past - Keating/Bolger, it hasn't worked. But Clark/Howard has, because they have both had the relationship as a top foreign policy priority.

So far Rudd has mostly seemed interested in China, which is fine, and it is clearly a strength of his (he's fluent in mandarin), but I would love to see some sort of nod towards his neighbours.

On the US I have similar sentiments. Don't get me wrong, the Republicans have to go - but don't forget that the Democrats were more than willing to give us the cold-shoulder for the best part of the 1990s.

Now I'm not saying I would vote for Howard or the Republicans, but we do have to recognise that for our own nationalistic interests, a Rudd Government is not necessarily a great thing. I think New Zealand is going to have to work very hard in the next few years to ensure we aren't shut out again.