Hard News: Madness in Mt Albert
328 Responses
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No, but making it sound like he's a nobody simply because he hasn't lived in NZ, but rather spent years tucked away in the "upper echelons of the UN peacekeeping apparatus" is equally as strange.
I don't have any coprophagous tendencies, so don't go putting any more crap in my mouth.
First, I thought it was a pretty unexceptional statement of fact that most people don't really know a great deal about the UN aid/peacekeeping apparatus. Don't see what value judgement is involved.
Second, don't recall saying a damn thing about where Shearer lives because I don't really care.
Hope that clears up a few things.
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I don't have any coprophagous tendencies, so don't go putting any more crap in my mouth.
Along with your snipe at Shearer's "ego" I couldn't really see any other way to read it. But whatever ...
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What Russell said.
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You can have enormous respect for what both men did, but suggest they actually need to bring something else to the table.
Sounds like he'd bring an interesting perspective to Foreign Affairs.
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Well, Shearer did his best to counter it on Morning Report today. It didn't seem to make much difference: RNZ led its story with last week's private-armies angle for the next few bulletins.
Followed by Matthew Hooten obfuscating as fast as he could about David Shearer on Nine to Noon this morning and not much of an attempt to put things right from Laila Harre or Katherine Ryan.
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Judging by Sean Plunkett's performance this morning, even Morning Report has taken the bait.
Even Morning Report? It's not called Radio New Zealand National these days for nothing, you know. Ahem.
Seriously, though, I'm still surprised that Plunket didn't take his chance and jump ship from Radio NZ last November. He would have made an excellent press secretary for John Key.
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Oh, come on. The Herald is clearly a Nat lapdog, but RNZ? Endangering your credibility with that claim.
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I wasn't at the selection meeting and am not involved with any of the parties. However, also from the Standard, a poster claiming to be from the local Labour branch reports a stitch up:
Shearer came a distant 4th at the selection, and did even worse at the Q&A.
I’d prefer Labour didn’t bother with the farsical venner of democratic process, it’s just an insult to it’s members.
I am very angry with what happened at that ’selection’ and you know perfectly well, if you were there, that a lot of people who left that hall were very angry too. screw you and screw your party. it definitely isn’t my party any more. good luck with hiring enough volunteers to run to campaign because after that fiasco don’t expect too many grassroots volunteers.
It's politics, so I am surprised when people of any stripe expect it to be fair.
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Wow. So he thought he'd establish himself on the national stage as a wanker, did he? Kudos.
What Gio and Russell said.
The Greens will do whatever they want but I'm now far less sympathetic to the woe-is-me-I-was-screwed-over-by-Labour line. I can't help but notice that Norman's no less a blow-in than Shearer really and an Australian to boot.
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Oh, come on. The Herald is clearly a Nat lapdog, but RNZ? Endangering your credibility with that claim.
I have detected a shift to the right in Radio NZ in recent years with Sean Plunkett leading the charge, of course. But Kathryn Ryan does her best to keep up and Jim Mora chooses some strange 'Act-lite' companions in his four to five slot. The only people I can really be bothered listening to these days are Kim Hill, Chris Laidlaw and Mary Wilson - who seems to attack all comers like an endearing foxie on speed.
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Shearer came a distant 4th at the selection, and did even worse at the Q&A.
Yes, thank you, I was going to write something to the effect that if Goff politely suggests a name, surely whatever party structure is in place will go for that, at least publicly.
The most hilarious example of this I can think of was in the early nineties, when the Italian equivalent of Labour was in the process of deciding whether to elect Mr D'Alema or Mr Veltroni as leader, and had the brilliant idea of polling its base, by asking them to send faxes (this is before email). The base responded in the tens of thousands, and the result was Mr Veltroni. So naturally the party elected Mr D'Alema.
The only people I can really be bothered listening to these days are Kim Hill, Chris Laidlaw and Mary Wilson
Laidlaw should come with a health warning, though. May cause drowsiness. Do not operate heavy machinery.
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Seriously, though, I'm still surprised that Plunket didn't take his chance and jump ship from Radio NZ last November. He would have made an excellent press secretary for John Key.
Key already has some pretty formidible press secretaries - and the qualities that make Sean Plunkett a good interviewer would have made him a disaster as a comms advisor. I think the Nats made the right call there.
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<quote>I have detected a shift to the right in Radio NZ in recent years with Sean Plunkett leading the charge, of course.<quote>
Yeah, I think it's been quite apparent, both in choice of personnel and the tenor of a lot of RNZ's political interviews. But perhaps it's been obscured by the general shift to the Right in New Zealand's political, cultural, and media landscapes since Orewa.
But, yeah. Nat Rad these days broadcasts to people of a certain class, a certain age, and a certain race, and if you're not part of that demographic the biases are very, very noticeable.
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Laidlaw should come with a health warning, though. May cause drowsiness. Do not operate heavy machinery.
Yes but I'm so boring I occasionally find him electrifying.
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Perhaps it's that I'm edging into that demographic myself (whatever demographic that is?) but I'm having trouble seeing these biases at work. The apparent rightward drift, if it's a reality, hasn't really affected most of the stuff I listen to, particularly since I never liked The Panel anyhow.
There's also a fair few signs that NatRad is trying (however haltingly and awkwardly at times) to expand its audience to a younger and more diverse listenership. Anyway, as far as I can tell it's the last consistent public service broadcaster left in any medium in this country, no matter what Sean Plunkett might think or Jim Mora might allow from his guests.
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Wow.
Gordon Campbell has a blazing response this morning:
So David Shearer is to be the Labour candidate in Mt Albert. The claims by Greens Co-Leader Russel Norman on Morning Report that this leaves Norman as the only progressive candidate on offer in the Mt Albert by-election were singularly depressing, as an index of how the Greens plan to fight this campaign. To reach that conclusion, Norman has willingly bought into the distortion of Shearer’s views on mercenaries in extreme Third World hot spots. He has also resurrected the bogey of the right wing leadership of the Labour Party, and claimed Shearer to be the creature of that faction and thus discredited as a ‘progressive’ candidate.
Is it hard to see anything progressive in this array of smear tactics. For one thing, Shearer has spent a good deal of his professional life in humanitarian work in the Third World, some of it while Norman was kicking back safely on Waiheke Island. Secondly, Shearer’s views on private armies have been wildly distorted. In one paper, written 12 years ago, he had been saying that in Sierra Leone the private army involved had helped to end a hideously brutal civil war. Subsequently, Shearer’s position has been that such private armies are a fait accompli that has to be regulated – which would mean that the likes of Blackwater could no longer enjoy legal immunity for their actions inside Iraq. That, I would have thought, was a progressive position that Norman himself would endorse.
There's more. Given Gordon's background, this is very strong stuff.
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as far as I can tell it's the last consistent public service broadcaster left in any medium in this country,
Totally agree and I hasten to add that I do listen to it - and to backtrack a little - even Morning Report - because Plunkett, in spite of his bullying and his biases is a well informed and interesting interviewer. Kathryn Ryan on the other hand bores me stiff with her girlish self-consciousness and her questions that border on the bleeding obvious.
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I wasn't at the selection meeting and am not involved with any of the parties. However, also from the Standard, a poster claiming to be from the local Labour branch reports a stitch up:
The most I can make of this is to guess that Shearer lost the floor vote at the selection meeting, but still had the central party and LEC votes, and was thus elected. Which is how the selection process works. Anyone know any more?
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Gordon Campbell makes some compelling points.
I'm not hopeful for the Greens in this election. Given that Russell Norman's spell as campaign manager for the Greens saw them lose 30% of their vote, I can't see him leading them to much in Mt Albert.
More than likely this is an opportunity to grandstand on motorways. All well and good, but they'll need more than that to be competitive and be taken seriously by the electorate.
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The most I can make of this is to guess that Shearer lost the floor vote at the selection meeting, but still had the central party and LEC votes, and was thus elected. Which is how the selection process works. Anyone know any more?
Personally, I don't care but I understand the news angle. Labour's selection process is often commented on but it's been what it is for ages and has yet to result in the kind of screw-up National endured in Selwyn.
I'm sorry that the Greens are positioning themselves as holier-than-though in this by-election but I'm persauded by comments earlier in this thread about the nature of the electorate (now compared with when Clark first won it) which suggests Shearer's precisely the right candidate.
It also occurs to me that although he's talked of as the Leader's candidate, Phil's Leader and also the MP for Mt Roskill (at least 27 years as a Jafa) and might just have a few insights into Auckland matters that the Queenslander doesnt?
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Meanwhile, it might be nice to hear a Morning Report discussion of an actual local issue in the electorate. I just got a release from a group of residents, which includes this:
Steven Joyce, the Minister of Transport has asked for a review of the tunnel option citing costs as prohibitive to building a tunnel. Despite numerous requests from Mt Albert residents, the Minister has so far refused to visit the Mt Albert/Waterview area, to listen to residents concerns about how a surface motorway would impact on their lives. Residents are concerned the Minister is being influenced by other groups while not hearing what residents have to say.
Mt Albert Community Board vice –chair Phil Chase believes the Minister is being disingenuous about the costs he has publicly stated as $2.77 billion and the reason for the review. “The Minister has included the cost of the upgrade to SH16 (North Western motorway) in the tunnel option price. This upgrade has to be done regardless of what option is chosen (tunnel or surface). The Minister needs to take the SH16 upgrade out of the cost of the tunnel figure and then compare this to the surface motorway option.”
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Kathryn Ryan on the other hand bores me stiff with her girlish self-consciousness and her questions that border on the bleeding obvious.
*cough* Well, I get rather bored with whats-her-face on Checkpoint. I'm just waiting for someone to just snap and tell her, "I didn't give you the answer you want the first dozen times you screeched that incredibly stupid leading question, so why don't you fuck off?"
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It also occurs to me that although he's talked of as the Leader's candidate, Phil's Leader and also the MP for Mt Roskill (at least 27 years as a Jafa) and might just have a few insights into Auckland matters that the Queenslander doesnt?
I think a better point is that Goff has demonstrated that he knows how to hold on to an electorate in Auckland. Driving through Roskill on the back way to the airport during the election campaign last year was hilarious -- he had a hoarding on nearly every corner of the main road.
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*cough* Well, I get rather bored with whats-her-face on Checkpoint I'm just waiting for someone to just snap and tell her, "I didn't give you the answer you want the first dozen times you screeched that incredibly stupid leading question, so why don't you fuck off?"
That would actually be quite funny.
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<quote>
It also occurs to me that although he's talked of as the Leader's candidate, Phil's Leader and also the MP for Mt Roskill (at least 27 years as a Jafa) and might just have a few insights into Auckland matters that the Queenslander doesnt?
</blockquote>They also have the advantage of being able to talk to the last member for Mt Albert, who was member for 27 years, and still very popular as a local member when she left. I'm sure she has more than a few insights.
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