Hard News: The Minister's Brain Has Exploded
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
Bagsy not look at Kiwiblog to see if they're whinging about "nanny state" taking control...
Chances are they'd frame it as "manning up".
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Sacha, in reply to
McCully's bogus claim that he'd told the CEO
I think he said his people had done the talking rather than himself, to be fair.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
I think he said his people had done the talking rather than himself, to be fair.
Which doesn't alter the fact that McCully claimed Doug McKay knew what was going on -- but he clearly didn't.
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This is a bit of a tangent but down here in Shakeytown we are relying on the Govt to help us rebuild our wrecked city...and it looks like they can't even organise a party in a totally intact city.
Not inspiring confidence.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Wasn't that the aspect McCully claimed needed his special intervention?
Yeah, quite. And, as the council told Todd Niall, this was all in train before McCully got up in his grandstand.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
I got the impression that the Forums own "Party Central" was moved to Captain Cook wharf, although I can find no "official" notice of this.
That makes sense. Stuff was getting moved around all over the place during the run-up.
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Sacha, in reply to
Which doesn't alter the fact that McCully claimed Doug McKay knew what was going on
for sure
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Russell Brown, in reply to
(I still can't really figure out why, since it's not like anything at all disastrous of note actually fucking happened)
I wouldn't go that far, but it was ironic that 3 News had a "hell on earth" voiceover running over pictures of Quay Street during the fireworks -- which showed people of all ages laughing, cheering and having a good time.
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Sacha, in reply to
Stuff was getting moved around all over the place during the run-up
I'd encourage you to write more about that. Most media seem to have missed the implications about who was calling the shots.
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Sacha, in reply to
this was all in train
if you'll excuse the expression :)
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merc,
Mr Lee blamed problems with the organisation and design of fan zones on the Super City reforms enacted in November last year.
These gave unelected officials at the council-controlled organisation Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development responsibility for the waterfront, he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby-world-cup-2011/news/article.cfm?c_id=522&objectid=10751701 -
recordari, in reply to
Not inspiring confidence.
Not inspiring anything. Least of all the rugby. Thought we were having a Rugby World Cup, not a Party Planners Pity Convention.
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BenWilson, in reply to
not a Party Planners Pity Convention.
LOL. You're right, I'm going to watch the game.
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3410,
the mess, which is imploding (I still can't really figure out why, since it's not like anything at all disastrous of note actually fucking happened).
Chokers.
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If the ABs win the world cup, will Mussollini McCully lead the "Moobs on Bikes" victory parade?
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Richard Aston, in reply to
Not inspiring anything. Least of all the rugby
Good point recordari - The actual game of rugby is certainly taking a back seat to the - rah rah hoopla economic miracle global media madness Adidas Heineken et al promotional machine - with wobbly wheels.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Mr Lee blamed problems with the organisation and design of fan zones on the Super City reforms enacted in November last year.
These gave unelected officials at the council-controlled organisation Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development responsibility for the waterfront, he said.Josh Arbury is saying that at today's council meeting it emerged that a failure of communication between ATEED and Auckland Transport seems to have been crucial. This should raise questions about the CCO structure, I think.
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Sacha, in reply to
From an ODT article.
Mr McCully told Radio New Zealand today that government officials spoke to Auckland City officials on Monday about the proposal.
"I've got a whole range of officials who work on our side, and a whole range who work on the Auckland City side and I thought getting chief executive to chief executive was a very good way of getting our whole systems plugged into each other.''
I guess he may mean the ceo of MED? Or MFAT?
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merc, in reply to
Let's hope. Events are now an important part of any cities economic focus, especially so for Auckland. Auckland is a fantastic place to visit, so many natural assets.
The whole thing needs to be reviewed with these simple things in mind,
1. visitors are a good thing
2. public transport is a good thing
3. visiting Auckland is a good thing
Maybe the outfall of all this will focus the unelectables? -
Sacha, in reply to
This should raise questions about the CCO structure, I think.
Finlay McDonald ruminated about broader democratic implications before the final supercity enabling Bill and first election, linking it with lessons from recent finance company collapses.
Speaking of [John] Banks, if he does become Auckland's first super mayor, he'll inherit several pre-packaged Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) that look, on the face of it, about as accountable to ratepayers as the board of your average failed finance company was to its investors.
Stacked with government-appointed directors, these companies will control vast amounts of money and decide how it's spent on transport, the waterfront and various vital services. Local Government Minister Rodney Hide has been busy reassuring us that these CCO boards will serve at the pleasure of the duly elected super council, implying that they are only one remove from democratic accountability. Yet, as Labour's Phil Twyford has pointed out, councils can't simply sack what are effectively employees without justification and due process. Provisions within the third supercity bill, he argues, will make the appointing and paying of directors even less transparent if central government reserves power over the process.
What we're witnessing, I think, is the colonisation of democratic institutions by the ideology and rhetoric of so-called economic rationalism. Accountability and transparency – noble concepts in theory – are being applied in a very narrow business sense, meaning the books should be open, the accounts audited and the results reported quarterly, while everything else is "commercially sensitive".
Which is fine, except we already know how woefully we regulate and police accountability and transparency just at the financial level. To allow that culture to take root within the body politic itself would be unaccountably stupid.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
...but it was ironic that 3 News had a “hell on earth” voiceover running over pictures of Quay Street during the fireworks – which showed people of all ages laughing, cheering and having a good time.
Yes, I wondered about that, too - it didn't make their case particularly well...
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DexterX, in reply to
Sir, you are most well informed.
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recordari, in reply to
Yes, I wondered about that, too - it didn't make their case particularly well...
Yeah. Sure there were some problems, but as Lilith pointed our earlier, shouldn't the fault finders be doing their work in your neighbourhood right now?
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Yes, I wondered about that, too – it didn’t make their case particularly well…
Sigh ... news. Basically, the narrative has been agreed on and that's it.
As Ben keeps pointing out, a lot of people were really happy downtown on Friday.
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Lilith __, in reply to
the fault finders
Pun intended? Cos, yeah, without wanting to play the blame game, it's easy to find fault(s) down here. ;-)
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