As the election campaign approaches the halfway mark Labour is focused on child poverty backed by accusations that the Government has created a widening gap between rich and poor.
Party leader Phil Goff will be in Hawke's Bay on Wednesday where he's going to discuss Labour's $2.6 billion plan to tackle child poverty at a series of community meetings.
He says income inequality has increased under National, the "underclass" Prime Minister John Key promised to eradicate in 2008 has grown and more families are destitute than ever before.
Mr Key is challenging the centrepiece of the policy - extending Working for Families tax credits to beneficiaries - and says its going to trap even more people into a life on welfare.
"The single biggest thing we can do to tackle poverty is to try and get people off welfare and into work," he said on Tuesday.
Mr Key is heading for Nelson and Auckland, armed with more policy announcements.
He's likely to hear more from Mr Goff this week about his "leadership failures" - a new Labour tactic aimed at countering Mr Key's huge personal popularity.
Mr Goff is accusing him of using excuses like the Christchurch earthquakes to explain the government's $18 billion deficit, and says it's time he fronted up to explain why 100,000 Kiwis left for Australia under his watch, unemployment has increased and economic growth has been poor.
Mr Key says Mr Goff is in denial over the difficulties the government had to face during its first term - and he doesn't care what the Labour leader thinks of him anyway.
NZN