With four days to go until the New Zealand election, polls are putting the opposition National Party in front, but Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark is fighting.

Yesterday, Labour claimed Australian fingerprints were on underhanded election tactics allegedly being employed by her conservative opponents.

The National Party has acknowledged that Australian Mark Textor has given advice on research and polling, but denies any involvement by his business partner and former Liberal federal director Lynton Crosby in the campaign.

But minister Pete Hodgson claims a leaked National Party board minute shows Crosby-Textor is doing more than just polling. “The Australians have been involved since last year in shaping National’s campaign policies,” he says. “It is public knowledge that Crosby-Textor are rather notorious across the Tasman for running campaigns for the Liberal Party, which focus on race issues and use push-polling.”

At the same time NZ Greens are also claiming that anti-Green, anti-Labour pamphlets being distributed by the reclusive Exclusive Brethren Christian sect, which have embarrassed National leader Don Brash, have their origins in Australia.

The brochures are almost identical to leaflets used in Tasmania during the federal election last year.

The National Party has denied any connection with the Brethren or their leaflets, although Brash has admitted representatives of the group told him of their plans.

Attempts by the local Greens to capitalise on the controversy have been less successful.

Greens leader Bob Brown raised the issue in Question Time on Monday, asking Special Minister of State Eric Abetz if he would “investigate a pamphlet headed ‘Keep Howard in Bennelong: what John Howard promises, he delivers’ and the first item is lower interest rates, believe it or not – that was circulated in Bennelong during the last election campaign and had an authorisation from an address of MET School 32 See Street, Meadowbank by S. Hale? Would he investigate whether that is an Exclusive Brethren church, whether it is funded by taxpayers and whether any taxpayers’ money directly or indirectly found its way to supporting the Prime Minister’s campaign? I also ask the minister: will he establish whether the Prime Minister met with Mr Bruce Hales, the world leader of the Exclusive Brethren church, which advocates that people should not vote?”

Abetz slapped him down with a “I think we have just witnessed for all to see the extent of tolerance in the Green dictionary. Tolerance is only meant for those that actually agree with the Greens. If you happen to pursue a different ideology or a different religion such as the Exclusive Brethren, you are then to be pilloried in this chamber.”

Marion Maddox, the author of God Under Howard: The Rise of the Religious Right in Australia picks up the story with an opinion piece in The Sydney Morning Heraldtoday.

But how well is the Herald dealing with religion itself? We referred to yesterday’s article on Opus Dei by Kate Mannix in the Crikey Daily, only to hear that afternoon from numerous sources it had been pulled for legal reasons. Only the title remains on the Herald‘s site at the moment.