Photos: A funny photo

LEFT-WING blogs are in a tizz over a photo of a National Party sign behind another sign advertising fraud investigators. I think this photo is funnier.

Spinwatch: Rankin appointment

THE Herald has picked up the Labour Party that the Rankin appointment was wantonly partisan. Have a cup of tea and a good lie down Clare. Then answer this. Who was the first Families Commissioner?

Rajen Prasad. A career academic, Prasad was appointed by his mates in the Labour Party and proceeded to dump on the National Party from the position. Then he ditched his six figure salary for a high ranking on the Labour Party list and a seat in Parliament.

Labour: The nasty party

CLARE Curran has ratcheted up the rhetoric, calling Rodney Hide “demonic” after first twittering he gave her “the creeps“.

Fixing Auckland: Pot calls Government black

FAILED List MP Phil Twyford put out an outraged press release yesterday attacking the Government for spending $500,000 – or fifty cents for every Aucklander – on communicating the Government’s proposals for fixing Auckland.

Labour Party blogger Lynn Prentice – who can’t even name the Minister of Local Government – dutifully continued the outrage.

Putting aside the ridiculousness of the fact that Labour is accusing the Government of being opaque and undemocratic, as well as spending too much on consultation and communication, it shows the Labour party is oblivious to it’s egregious record on PR blitzes.

Back in the 90s, Helen Clark and Michael Cullen described a $2.5m Government information campaign on hospital restructuring as a “orgy of advertising” and “pure propaganda”. When they got in to Government, they proceeded to spend:

– $15m on advertising Labour’s Working for Families policy. This was down from $21m after the Auditor-General criticised the scale of the advertising. Keep in mind that only around 50,000 families eligible to receive WFF did not already do so automatically.

– $800,000 on promoting, erm, the Labour Party with the pledge card just a few weeks before the 2005 election.

– $2.3m on ad agency fees for DOC

– $1.2m in one month advertising KiwiSaver, an opt-out scheme.

– $50m a year on departmental spin doctors

It’s also the same Government that ramped up ad spends in election years, that said it would be a “bloody good idea” for Labour party canvassers to hand out state funded advertising and that used state funded brochures in it’s election campaign in 2008 too.

It is perfectly legitimate for Governments to spend money on informing voters about important issues, particularly those still up for consultation. Labour rorted the system, but has the gall to complain when National uses it legitimately.

As a side note, it is heartening that Twyford could obtain this information so quickly under the Official Information Act. Under the previous Government, there was widespread disregard for the Act and journalists and others who made requests were often ignored or obstructed by Minister’s Offices and Government Departments.

Labour reshuffle: The height of arrogance round two

GEORGE Hawkins has followed the footsteps of his a couple of his vain colleagues and sent journalists a tardy press release yesterday welcoming his appointment as Local Government Spokesman.

The release, which was incorrectly dated, does not appear on the Labour Party website is presumed to have been unauthorised by the party’s press unit. Further, it did not fit the format of the Party’s standard press releases. The whole release is produced below:

Hawkins to champion local communities

New Labour Party Spokesman on Local Government, George Hawkins, intends to become the champion of local communities in the Auckland governance restructuring process.

Mr Hawkins replaces Shane Jones in the Labour local government spokesmanship. He sees his former experiences as a Mayor of Papakura during the last restructuring of local government as a plus in the new role.

“This restructuring exercise by the Government represents an opportunity to put local back into local government and I want to do my best to see that it happens,” he says.

“Communities such as those in Manurewa and Papakura deserve a full say on the responsibilities and activities of their local boards under the restructuring plans. For too long the existing city councils have been in a big spending mode and to some extent remote from immediate community concerns.

“This regional governance restructuring exercise gives us the chance to enhance local community ownership of their patch. I’m sure, for example, that Devonport in the north, Pakuranga in the east, and Swanson in the west will feel as strongly and passionate about their right to have their say on how their local communities develop as do the people of South Auckland.

“Attendance of some 1000 people at the meeting called this week by Papakura Mayor Callum Penrose demonstrates the depth of local wishes to have control over how their area develops.

“I support the Auckland Council concept for the region as the vehicle for getting rid of development and economic stumbling blocks to progress in the area as a whole. Through it we can get infrastructure, including transport and water delivery, streamlined to both save money and achieve better outcomes.

“But we must put the local back into local government and ensure communities throughout the area don’t feel disenfranchised from the new model that emerges.

“I hope to have dialogue with the Minister of Local Government Rodney Hide and his associate, John Carter, to advocate that local voices must be heard and “local” is put back into local government. No doubt we’ll have some strong disagreements from time to time. It is my aim to make sure this exercise is finalised in a manner that benefits all Aucklanders.”

Labour: The nasty party

CLARE Curran used to communicate for a living. While Labour has a few loose cannons, she knows better than anyone that words matter. So saying Rodney Hide gives her the “creeps” was deliberate and nasty. Labour is still the nasty party.

Hat tip: Whale Oil Beef Hooked

Labour reshuffle: The nasty party

The decision to bring Trevor Mallard back to the front bench wasn’t simply a choice of Old Guard over fresh talent, it was an explicit endorsement of the grubby, nasty politics that brought the last Government down.

,Mallard is easily the grubbiest man in Parliament. He was sacked from the front bench after smearing a whistleblower and assaulting a National MP. Other career highlights including raising Don Brash’s private life in the House, threatening to dish dirt on other MPs, some off colour remarks about beer bottles and bodily orifices and telling outrageous lies about American bagmen.

Mallard had a poor record as Minister of Education, so his appointment can scarcely be justified on the grounds of experience. His tenure was marked by prolonged bungling of NCEA, school closures and a series of scandals involving te Wananga o Aotearoa.

Phil Goff has sent a clear message: Labour is the nasty party. Expect to see Mallard bully Education Minister Anne Tolley in the House. Expect press releases containing wild assertions. Expect grubby, nasty politics.

Labour reshuffle: The height of arrogance

A couple of Labour’s more vain MPs took the virtually unprecedented move of sending media releases welcoming their portfolio allocations.

The cringeworthy PRs have been removed from the “Labour News” panel on Labour’s home page but are still on the website. Read them and weep:

Carter determined to promote New Zealand as independent voice on foreign affairs

…

Labour’s new Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Chris Carter says he’s determined to promote New Zealand as having an independent voice on foreign affairs.

“Successive Labour Governments have given New Zealand a principled, proud an independent foreign policy. I intend to continue in that tradition.”

“The National Government’s response to the excessive response in Gaza by the Israeli Government earlier in the year was disappointing, as was withdrawal of the New Zealand candidature for the UN Human Rights Council despite considerable international support, and their moves to absorb the NZAID budget into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in face of strong condemnation was appalling,” Mr Carter said.

“New Zealanders expect their Government to be a responsible voice in the world and I intend to hold the Minister of Foreign Affairs to a high standard of independence.

“I am proud of Labour’s record on Foreign Affairs, New Zealand is respected for having strong voice on international matters.”

In his role as Conservation Minister from 2002 to 2007 Chris Carter attended five international IWC meetings and was a vocal global champion of marine mammal conservation. In his conservation role Chris Carter also attended the COP (world’s largest biodiversity conference) in Malaysia in 2002, Brazil in 2004 and at The Hague in 2006. Field visits to Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea and Kiribati were also undertaken as part of DOC participation in NZAid projects in the Pacific.

As Education Minister Chris Carter represented NZ at the APEC Education Ministers Conference in Lima, Peru in 2008 and led educational delegations to Thailand, Vietnam Cambodia and China in 2008.

“This is a role I look forward tackling,” Chris Carter said.

Street welcomes Treaty role

…

Labour MP Maryan Street has welcomed today’s announcement that she will take over the role of Opposition spokesperson for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations.

“This is an area where it will be important to work with the Government.

“I will also be making sure however, that the Government does not lose any of the momentum gained by Michael Cullen’s work over his last 18 months as the responsible Minister,” Maryan Street said.

“I have experience in Treaty negotiations through my past role as a trustee of the Crown Forestry Rental Trust. It gave me a chance to get to know a number of the key players involved in the settlement process and I look forward to engaging with them over these important issues again.

“The Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations portfolio has, in my view, the most far-reaching impact on the future of New Zealand of any portfolio.

“As the Labour MP working in the Nelson region, I have followed the Te Tau Ihu negotiations with the Crown over an impending settlement with interest and I look forward to working more closely with Te Tau Ihu and other groups to help ensure fair and final settlements are achieved across New Zealand,” Maryan Street said.

Labour reshuffle: Infrastructure not a Labour priority

Phil Goff’s backward looking reshuffle gave New Zealander’s a pretty clear view of Labour’s priorities. Shane Jones, who is currently dogged by corruption claims, was dumped as Infrastructure Spokesman and not replaced.

What can be taken from that? Either Goff doesn’t trust Jones, or any of his MPs, to work on the portfolio or he doesn’t think Infrastructure is important enough to justify a portfolio. The latter is a pretty extreme call: Goff even appointed a spokesperson on “Interfaith Dialogue”, so he’s not exactly rationalising portfolio distribution.

So maybe it’s the former. Either way, there’s a clear choice between a Government where the Infrastructure portfolio is held by the Deputy PM and Finance Minister and an Opposition that thinks Interfaith Dialogue is more worthy of attention.

Labour reshuffle: Hawkins back from the dead

PHIL Goff was pretty keen to make the Government’s Auckland reform agenda a major political issue.

Sure, he doesn’t have a policy on the super city. Phil Goff won’t say where he stands on Maori seats, 6 councils versus 30 community boards or anything else. But by golly, he wanted to make it an issue and he had the help of anti-change, patch protecting Mayors.

But now he’s gone and appointed George Hawkins as Local Government Spokesman. Reeeeeewind. “George Hawkins as Local Government Spokesman”?!

Hawkins, a cancer sufferer with a stroke induced speech impediment. Hawkins, who entered Parliament 19 years ago. Hawkins, the incompetent former Minister who would cry “operational matters” on “the Louise Nicholas allegations, Iraena Asher’s taxi and other 111 foul-ups, police issuing speeding tickets while serious crimes go unattended, and a mutiny over resourcing“. Hawkins, the “dead wood” targeted by Clark in the lead up to the last election.

WTF? Can someone please explain?

Shane Jones, dogged by allegations of corruption, was clearly not appropriate to be fronting the issue but word around the traps is that list MP Phil Twyford had his eye on the job. Twyford is bitter about being forced out of Mt Albert and the portfolio would have been some consolation. He’s articulate, young and a competent media performer.

Instead of promoting talent, Goff copped out and put up an old boy from the Old Guard. Weak.