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Finance Minister Michael Cullen is trying to make political capital out of the turmoil which has sparked the world's worst financial crisis in years.
The crisis is even drawing comparison with the great depression of the 1930s.
As New Zealand markets reacted to some of Wall Street's darkest hours, Cullen certainly wasn't playing things down.
"This is probably the worst financial crisis for a very long time indeed," Cullen says.
But he wasn't above making political capital out of the financial turmoil, including the forced sale of Merrill Lynch, a giant international investment bank that used to employ National Party leader John Key.
Merrill Lynch has been bought out in an emergency sale aimed at
preventing an imminent collapse. The fire sale to the Bank of
America and the collapse of massive investment bank Lehman Brothers
have sent world sharemarkets tumbling.
"Mr Key has put forward his Merrill Lynch credentials as an
important part of his narrative his story if you like - 'here I am,
I have this international experience as a Merrill Lynch person.'
Well that doesn't look such a good qualification any longer for
running the New Zealand economy...because Merrill Lynch has just
gone down," says Cullen.
Key says Cullen is desperate.
"Oh look I think he's so desperate that he's really dredging the bottom of the barrel and he should get on and focus on the economic problems that New Zealand is now facing," says Key.
In the 1980s Key was a foreign exchange dealer. He then went on to make his millions during a career at Merrill Lynch before entering parliament six years ago.
Labour says this election campaign is about trust and putting
National in power in uncertain economic times is like trusting
gamblers with the money shop.
"I'm saying that he's got a short-term profit maximising mentality
and that's what has brought Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers and
these other businesses to their knees. Do you want someone like
that running the New Zealand economy when we're going to be going
through a difficult period?" says Cullen.
But Key dismisses the link Labour has made between him and
Merrill Lynch's woes.
"It sounds desperate, absurd and frankly quite pitiful from Michael
Cullen," he says
He is laughing it off but Key is left in no doubt now that Labour is running an attack campaign and he's right in the firing line.
