Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Dirty Politics

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  • Hilary Stace,

    Giovanni's latest Bat Bean Beam post is angry and sad at the state of NZ journalism.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report

  • Brent Jackson,

    FFS. Tracy Watkins opinion piece on Stuff this morning :

    It may not matter that National cannot be directly linked with most of the more sordid revelations...

    But they are directly linked - that is why it's such a big deal.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 620 posts Report

  • Rich of Observationz,

    I’m done with this

    Yay!

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Paul Campbell,

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Brent Jackson,

    If you would like to dispell that impression, you could try agreeing that Laila Harre was not impugning the Electroral Commission, but was actually questioning whether Judith Collins was fit to be the Minister overseeing it.

    I don't. So, I can "dispel the impression" that I'm a liar by saying something I don't actually believe? M'kay...

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

  • Paul Campbell,

    Key, in parliament a debater
    Hangs out with that Cameron Slater
    Who thinks it's a breeze
    To spread on the sleeze,
    But ends up just being a hater

    Hager, his book about Whale Oil
    Shows how our government can spoil
    As the dirt starts to heap
    Key starts to reap
    His huge smelly heap of night soil

    There once was a whale run amok
    Whose bile load of mail was snuck
    To a writer of note
    Just prior to our vote
    Now the nats can all take a flying

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to nzlemming,

    This is the woman who is part of a strategy to reduce voter turnout in the election and she is the minister in charge of the Electoral Commission, our public body charged with engaging voters, enrolling them and ensuring that they turn out to vote. She should go.

    Seems perfectly clear to me who's being criticised in that passage, and it's not the public servants. Next.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    Call me Email...

    There once was a whale run amok...

    ...Nah, that's Moby Dick
    Slater's a 'Mopey Dick'...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • nzlemming, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    I don’t. So, I can “dispel the impression” that I’m a liar by saying something I don’t actually believe? M’kay…

    Well, that's the problem. Because she wasn't remotely questioning the integrity of the EC. Please quote evidence that she was.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report

  • Paul Campbell,

    One more:

    It started with just one word "feral"
    That pissed off a hacker, now there'll
    Be emails each day
    Dripping away
    John Key's plumb job now's in peril

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to nzlemming,

    Can we just agree there isn't any and move on?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Kracklite,

    "Planet Key" has been banned and Key's more of a Coldplay guy, but I wonder if he's heard this song?

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

  • nzlemming, in reply to Sacha,

    Can we just agree there isn’t any and move on?

    I was going to say "yeah, sure" but I've thought about it and this is one of the key things that Hager is pointing out - that we enable slugs like Slater by accepting the crap lines he feeds (as Susie Ferguson did) and we don't point out that the emperor is naked, as Harre did, when she could get a word in.

    What irks me about Craig's comments is the hypocrisy I see in maligning the leader of a party by misrepresenting what she said. That's right out of the Slater/Farrar playbook, and I will call it out when I see it.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report

  • Michael Meyers, in reply to nzlemming,

    I was initially there in calling out Craig as promoting something that I didn't think was what Laila Harre had said. I had heard her in person at the Internet Mana roadshow rather than on Morning Report (which I have now listened to).

    I've got a couple of points. Firstly, I still think after listening to the Morning Report interview that Harre wasn't calling in to question the integrity of the Electoral Commission. However, Harre shouldn't get a free pass on this either. Is there any evidence that Collins is running down the budget of the EC? Is she otherwise hindering their operation? I've seen no evidence of this. So, you can say that Harre is being misrepresented, but what of her position. Is she also misrepresenting reality.

    Also, I have to disagree about Harre failing to get a word in. Harre was very evasive about any relationship that Kim Dotcom has to the Nicky Hager emails. She seemed wholly unprepared for a question that should've been expected. This was not preventing her getting a word in but rather asking pertinent questions.

    Wellington • Since May 2014 • 56 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Michael Meyers,

    Also, I have to disagree about Harre failing to get a word in. Harre was very evasive about any relationship that Kim Dotcom has to the Nicky Hager emails. She seemed wholly unprepared for a question that should’ve been expected. This was not preventing her getting a word in but rather asking pertinent questions.

    Oath – and I don’t blame her one little bit for wanting to talk about Cameron Slater as desperately as Key was trying to avoid the subject literally minutes earlier. And even if you think he’s Evil Incarnate, you’ve got to have a sneaking admiration for Joyce’s steely determination to stay on (talking) point, even if reduces an interview to a piece of Dadaist performance art.

    That’s what politicians do, and what journalists shouldn’t have a bar of without tipping things into a ridiculous shouting match. Which neither Fergusson nor Espiner did yesterday, and all credit to them. Neither of them “shouted down” or “ran over” anyone, but had the gall to expect straight answers to straight and legitimate questions. Keep it up, I say.

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

  • Roger Lacey,

    I'm just so glad that this stuff was leaked to Nicky Hager and not Winston Peters.

    Whatakataka Bay Surf Club… • Since Apr 2008 • 148 posts Report

  • nzlemming, in reply to Michael Meyers,

    We agree that she wasn't calling the EC into question. What she said was:

    This is the woman who is part of a strategy to reduce voter turnout in the election and she is the minister in charge of the Electoral Commission, our public body charged with engaging voters, enrolling them and ensuring that they turn out to vote.

    She didn't accuse her of manipulating the EC, but we have a track record of lying from Collins and misusing taxpayer resources for her own benefit, so it's fair to question whether she's a fit person to manage a central pillar of our democracy, the electoral process, even without the stuff in Nicky's book. Harre did not accuse Collins of doing any of those things (in fact their budget is up, but that's standard in an election year, and it's about the same as it was in the last election year) but questioned her fitness to hold the warrant of responsibility, given matters in the public arena since October last year.

    I'm not giving Harre a free pass. She should have been ready for those questions, I agree, which is why I initially agreed with Craig on Twitter that it was not a good look. However, to ask her about Bradbury was completely asinine. He's been out of the picture since Alistair Thompson had to fall on his sword last year.

    What you don't get from the transcript is the difficulty I had in making out a lot of what Harre had to say because of Ferguson talking over her. That's not asking pertinent questions - that's just badgering. There's a place for it, in judicious measure, but she should really review some of Geoff Robinson's interviews where he let his subjects lay out their own rope before he tripped them up with it.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report

  • Scott Dunavan, in reply to Kracklite,

    Planet Key will be removed from sale by 5pm this Thursday by order of the Electoral Commission.

    https://www.facebook.com/darrenwatson.nz

    This is bizarre and disturbing.

    North Otago • Since Jul 2014 • 3 posts Report

  • Trevor Nicholls, in reply to Scott Dunavan,

    Has anyone reported 7# to the EC? It's every bit as blatant as PK, and it's certainly more performance than journalism.

    Wellington, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 325 posts Report

  • Richard Aston, in reply to Roger Lacey,

    I’m just so glad that this stuff was leaked to Nicky Hager and not Winston Peters.

    Good point Roger , mind you Winston seems to like big wads of paper in wine boxes, maybe he would not know what to do with all the digital files.

    Northland • Since Nov 2006 • 510 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to nzlemming,

    I will call it out when I see it

    and you've done so, well.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • A S,

    The latest @whaledump release is interesting. It appears that Judith Collins didn't just release the name and role of the public servant whaleoil wanted to attack, she helpfully included his cell phone and direct dial numbers too.

    Personal contact info like this isn't generally found in the public domain, particularly for people whose jobs aren't very public facing.

    This feels a bit seedier and more deliberately nasty than that way she attempted to pass it off to the media as her just harmlessly passing on a name to a friend...

    Wellington • Since Nov 2007 • 269 posts Report

  • Brent Jackson, in reply to A S,

    ... or the changed story of just giving his official title.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 620 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    And yet again the PM is embarrassed after relaying to the public Judith’s lie that it was only the name and role. Game over?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Alfie,

    John Key has announced that Judith Collins is now on her "last chance". Hold on... didn't he say exactly that after the Oravida scandal? Apparently this time he really really really means it... cross your fingers and hope to die!

    This is sounding more like a Monty Python skit every day. "It's only a flesh wound" (from the Life of Brian) comes to mind.

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report

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