On 27 January 2004, National Party leader Don Brash delivered a speech at Orewa that was highly critical of the government's policy towards Māori. Brash said that the government was showing strong favouritism to Māori, both in the foreshore and seabed debate and in many other areas of government policy. Brash's speech was condemned both by the government and by many Māori groups, but met with widespread approval from many other sectors of New Zealand society. This support was boosted by the successful ‘iwi/Kiwi’ billboard campaign which followed Brash’s speech. These billboards framed the foreshore debate as the Labour Party’s attempt to restrict public access to beaches, while the National Party would protect this aspect of the ‘Kiwi way of life’. Shortly afterwards, an opinion poll put the National Party ahead of the Labour Party for the first time in over 18 months.