Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Not Helping

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  • Don Christie,

    And it's all being done here with significant scrutiny or debate,

    s/with/without

    +1 for transparency on aid delivery.

    Fancy McCully making Peters look like a shining light of forward thinking.

    Fancy Clayton Cosgrove saving Collin's skin by suggesting she is a failure because she wasn't tough enough.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

  • Mikaere Curtis,

    And it's all being done here with significant scrutiny or debate

    I believe that should be without.

    It seems quite clear that McCully wants to build an empire (again !). He really is the worst of all worlds.

    What strikes me about the Key government is the sheer lack of rigour in so many of their decisions. It's as if they think they can simply spin any unintended consequences.

    Tamaki Makaurau • Since Nov 2006 • 528 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    Our new Foreign Affairs minister, Mr McCully, is ditching the philosophy of New Zealand's foreign aid programme. And he is doing so unilaterally, "with virtually no consultation, parliamentary scrutiny or public discussion."

    Funnily enough, I remember being annoyed with Labour's moves around foreign policy during the start of their Government - taking us even further from our traditional allies - without much or any public discussion. Change this law or that law, sure, but changes around our diplomatic relations are a lot harder to undo. Etc.

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Andrew E,

    What strikes me about the Key government is the sheer lack of rigour in so many of their decisions.

    Agreed. In 2 years time as the chickens start to come home to roost, maybe they'll start to recognise the last lot weren't completely divorced from reality.

    It's as if they think they can simply spin any unintended consequences.

    Yes, well that's not surprising. *cue rant about NZ media and fooling many of the people most of the time*

    174.77 x 41.28 • Since Sep 2008 • 200 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    Whatever happened to the Opposition?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Jonty,

    One only has to look at the National line-up to see that they are totally bereft of vision. They simply have no answers to the current problems. The one thing that they eagerly latched onto from their futile Talk Fest was depriving the workers of 10% of their pay -- a typically Tory response -- let the workers carry the burden while the bosses receive the subsidy.

    Katikati • Since Mar 2007 • 102 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    What ever happened to the opposition? Well:

    1/ Phil Goff largely agrees with Key. He is the right of the labour party and has a lot of baggage. And since everyone knows he is just an interim leader, he has trouble being regarded as fresh or interesting.

    2/ The media are not interested in what Labour has to say.

    3/ National are playing with what should be to any intelligent observer a fairly artless PR strategy but is currently being reported like holy writ (see 2/).

    Anyway, whether it be Iraq in 2003 or New Zealand in 2009, it always takes about a year for the opposition to get its act together and start fighting back.

    I am beginning to think this administration is starting to resemble Dubya's - elected on a platform that proves to be at best a very malliable interpretation of what they said it was, with a leader who is just pleased to be there, with the resultant vacuum being filled with fiefdoms and lobby groups.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Ben Chapman,

    a minister who still seems to regard ministerial office as something like a fiefdom

    Welcome to the Brotherhood.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2008 • 135 posts Report Reply

  • Gary Hutchings,

    Russell:

    NZAID have been underwriting Air NZ flights to Niue for the past 4 years, so the extension of such a type of support to Samoa ( as I understand the move is) is not a move that can really be seen as political meddling .

    The existing deal was made under the current arms length process

    http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=19800

    P2 of
    http://www.nzaid.govt.nz/library/docs/factsheet-niue.pdf

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 108 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    What strikes me about the Key government is the sheer lack of rigour in so many of their decisions. It's as if they think they can simply spin any unintended consequences.

    Who can Argue? Key got the vote, remember?

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Sara Bee,

    Every week the shallowness seems to plumb new depths...

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 67 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Aid works best when it is a regarded as a humanitarian gesture. Government tampering serves only to debase it.

    Isn't this exactly the sort of thing we decry Japan doing to get people to join up and vote for them on the IWC?

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • James Liddell,

    I've long thought of McCully as part mischievous child and part Francis Urquhart. He's the kid who can't leave well enough alone, interfering in things because he can, because he's bored, or simply because he wants to see what would happen. It always ends in tears and with broken toys. And then there's the nasty Machiavellian part, which the media portrays with equal wonderment and revulsion as him being the ultimate back room dealer (always on the right side of a coup) and the consumate political power broker. Either make him totally unfit to govern. Combine the two and it's a disaster.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2007 • 102 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Has anyone seen my kitten?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • James Liddell,

    Excellent analysis, Tom.

    What strikes me about the Key government is the sheer lack of rigour in so many of their decisions. It's as if they think they can simply spin any unintended consequences.

    Who can Argue? Key got the vote, remember?

    Breast cancer sufferers having congestive heart failure whilst on Herceptin? But we had a mandate! The people spoke!

    Wellington • Since Jul 2007 • 102 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Either make him totally unfit to govern.

    Yeah, similar thoughts went through my head with the systematic undoing of Winston. It felt like Winston was the real threat to National and we know what Winston thought of National, so KAPOW, BANG! IMO

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Kracklite,

    Agreed. In 2 years time as the chickens start to come home to roost, maybe they'll start to recognise the last lot weren't completely divorced from reality.

    I remember an earnest bit of satirical dialogue in the 2000 film, Traffic, which earnestly and with great earnestness scorned the 'War on Drugs.' The outgoing drugs Czar gives advice to his successor on the nature of crisis management: the disgraced leader writes two letters to his successor to be opened on his first and second major crises. The first letter says, blame everything on your predecessor. The second says, write two letters...

    At the moment the government has the recession as a clear common enemy and Key can spin sunrises as part of his stimulus package, but I expect the first two years of this administration to move from Key's emotional neediness to English looking stern, and then in two years, they'll open the first envelope and repeat its contents at every opportunity. The second will be ignored.

    The Library of Babel • Since Nov 2007 • 982 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    Has anyone seen my kitten?

    Murray McCully borrowed it

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Alastair Jamieson,

    @ Tom - you answer "whatever happened to the opposition" as though Labour is the only opposition party. Unfortunately it seems as though 2/- media disinterest - applies to the Green Party too.

    It beggars belief that this government is not coordinating a serious response to environmental issues with whatever it might be thinking about the economic crisis. Instead it is working on irrational projects like gutting the Ministry for the Environment, and increasing natural gas exploitation at a time when overseas the headlines warn of impending environmental disaster.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 99 posts Report Reply

  • Lyndon Hood,

    Gordon part two

    And somebody was made enough to make NZAID a new website

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • Lyndon Hood,

    that would be "mad enough". Though "made mad enough" is also fine.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    The existing deal was made under the current arms length process

    And the new one wasn't. The two don't seem strictly comparable. NZAID had concluded a three-year arrangement with Samoa, then chose to embark on one with Niue, as part of a wider development plan. Now, the government has effectvely issued an edict to underwrite flights to two other countries. As I said, it's probably a good thing for those economies. But they've done it by jamming their hands in an already small cookie jar.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    applies to the Green Party too.

    They try all the time. Just ,don't get much.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    And somebody was made enough to make NZAID a new website

    Ha ha.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    And somebody was made enough to make NZAID a new website

    I read that as Paid enough. Guess that works too, eh?

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

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