Couldn’t organise a party at Party Central

Written By: - Date published: 8:18 am, September 14th, 2011 - 58 comments
Categories: john key - Tags: , , ,

Keen to shift the blame for the RWC opening fracas Murray McCully has used reserve powers under his very own CERA-like powers to seize control of the whole Auckland waterfront. Here’s John Key explaining why:

Key: Interestingly enough, one good example of where the Government was the agent responsible for administration is party central, where it had joint responsibility. That worked absolutely perfectly in terms of the 12,000 people.

“worked absolutely perfectly”, eh?

TV3: Details have emerged about an incident that overshadowed the opening of the Rugby World Cup.

Nine members of a fleet of waka that landed at Queen’s Wharf on Friday were injured by drunk spectators.

The sight of 23 waka cutting their way through Auckland Harbour left many with a lump in their throat. But the day also left the crew with lumps and bruises on their bodies and even a broken rib.

Rawinina Farrell was one of those punched and kicked by a drunken mob.

“People were chucking bottles and all that at our other kids and ladies,” she said.

The crowd had been good natured, but as the crews tried to get back to their hotel, some drunk spectators became aggressive.

“You just had people asking if they could hold particular taonga or treasures as we like to call them and we replied by saying ‘no, because you’re intoxicated’,” says waka captain Waha Tauhara.

The crowd responded by throwing bottles and fists.

Six of the women’s injuries were serious enough to need hospital treatment.

And National’s cunning plan is to replicate Party Central 20-fold, on the spur of the moment. Reckon I might stay away from the CBD come the final.

PS. I like Danyl’s hypothesis of how this came about: “Staggeringly inept, in political terms. It won’t change anything, but it means McCully owns any more issues. I suspect this is the fall-out from a pissing competition between McCully and the Council, which ended with McCully screaming, ‘Fuck you! I’m seizing the wharf!’”

58 comments on “Couldn’t organise a party at Party Central ”

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  1. drx 1
    14 September 2011 at 8:36 am

    I thought it was telling that McCully could not even organize a courtesy call to Brown.

    • aerobubble 1.1
      14 September 2011 at 2:23 pm

      McCully says he had no power, wasn’t him, not his role.
      So National designs and implements a new Auckland Council.
      National cuts local feedback in its grab for power.
      Selects its own head of council affairs, to do all the hiring, under the
      eyes of Hide.
      Then Len gets elected and its all down to the council, Brown
      never had a say in the design, or the people, he now is supposed
      to be failed by, but the Government did.
      Then McCully goes out and says that he had no power, well as
      he then seizes powers, exactly why would he so openly admit to
      having power he could seize, and then admit to not being capable
      of using that power when all looked like going snarlled.
      McCully basically is saying it was his job to be ready to
      intercede, but as he pull his power to do something too late its
      down to Len Browns handling of the National baby – the
      new Auckland Super City.
      Sorry, but the moment Len Brown become Mayor I’d be watching
      every aspect, if I were National, to make sure it all worked correctly
      because it would not be able to blame the new Mayor of the
      new entity without focusing on the designers of council, Hide.
      Key should be offering his resgnation by now for abysmal
      shameful leadership of our National religion.

  2. Adrian 2
    14 September 2011 at 8:38 am

    Now we’ve got the Minister of Incompetance to add to the Min of Bad Manners overseen by the Min of Silly Walks. Can’t wait for the next installment. I bet it won’t take long.

  3. mickysavage 3
    14 September 2011 at 8:44 am

    McCully has gone down in my estimation over this.  I did not think it possible but he has shown how conniving and calculating by this latest effort.
     
    Party central is the problem.  It was a dumb idea from the start and is way too small and in precisely the wrong place.  If the crowd spills out then ferries and roads are munted.
     
    It is really rich that McCully is trying to blame Len.  He has been involved in this from the start of this Government and is that involved that he even chose the colours of the blazers that the RWC ambassadors are wearing.
     
    Obviously the Government are fearful that their carefully crafted election campaign may be derailed by this fiasco.
     
     
     
     
     

    • freedom 3.1
      14 September 2011 at 10:05 am

      Obviously those in authority never heard of large well operated events like Pasifika Festival, Big Day Out, or Christmas in the Park. If they had, they would certainly have asked the organisers why they do not make use of the picturesque location of the waterfront for their large successful events?

      The answer is two fold,
      It is not big enough, it does not have enough suitable public services

      For public events, are these not the two most important factors?

      The RNZ interview with Cameron Brewer was educational.
      I had no idea a person could twist responsibility into such convoluted shapes and still talk of accountability as if it is the domain of those elsewhere. I suspect a number of people are questioning the wisdom of handing Auckland over to Central Government.

      • Draco T Bastard 3.1.1
        14 September 2011 at 10:23 am

        I suspect a number of people are questioning the wisdom of handing Auckland over to Central Government.

        It wasn’t handed over, the government took it. The first would have been democratic, the latter the action of dictators.

      • tc 3.1.2
        14 September 2011 at 10:49 am

        Cameron Brewer is an extension of the nat party machine, he excells at twisting knives in backs mostly along with his other nat cronies on supershity (Fletcher etc) to undermine Brown as they’re gutted JBanks didn’t swan back in.

  4. Bill 4
    14 September 2011 at 8:45 am

    Maybe the government should go the whole hog, take over Lion Nathan for the duration and fail to organise piss ups.

  5. The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 5
    14 September 2011 at 8:47 am

    You guys should be all for this. Don’t you want the government owning and controlling everything?

    • Blighty 5.1
      14 September 2011 at 9:11 am

      no.

      do you?

      if not, why aren’t you opposing this?

    • Zaphod Beeblebrox 5.2
      14 September 2011 at 10:21 am

      Good point- Canterbury Regional Council, Auckland Council, Auckland CCOs, CERA. Thos socialist control freaks from Wellington would do Stalin proud.

    • AAMC 5.3
      14 September 2011 at 7:53 pm

      “The guiding idea at the heart of today’s political system is freedom of choice. The belief that if you apply the ideals of the free market to all sorts of areas in society, people will be liberated from the dead hand of government. The wants and desires of individuals then become the primary motor of society.

      But this has led to a very peculiar paradox. In politics today we have no choice at all. Quite simply There Is No Alternative.

      It’s a bit odd – and I thought I would tell a number of stories about why we find it impossible to imagine any alternative. Why we have become so possessed by the ideology of our age that we cannot think outside it.”

      Adam Curtis’s new blog post on the origins of think tanks and their ability to stifle new ideas in order to indoctrinate Gormless Fools!

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2011/09/the_curse_of_tina.html

  6. marsman 6
    14 September 2011 at 8:53 am

    Saw McCully on the tv news last night reading the carefully crafted Crosby /Textor dog whistle speech. What a fucking weasel.

  7. Tom Gould 7
    14 September 2011 at 9:42 am

    Someone told me that Len Brown was sworn in as Auckland Mayor eleven months ago on 9 October 2010. Can someone explain to me how it is all his fault?

    • marsman 7.1
      14 September 2011 at 9:50 am

      Those who claim that it is all Len Brown’s fault are using the same logic as Key and English when they try and blame Helen Clark for the mess they themselves have dumped the country into.

  8. Andrew 8
    14 September 2011 at 9:49 am

    How on earth can assuming responsibility be passing the buck?

    whether you like or dislike the move, mccully has made a ballsey move that takes on far more responsibility and blame for the event than he otherwise would have had.

    • marsman 8.1
      14 September 2011 at 9:53 am

      He is the Minister in charge of the event ergo responsible for it and has been passing the buck. He’s finally manned up and said he’s taking charge but not man enough to apologise for the cock-up.

    • Puddleglum 8.2
      14 September 2011 at 8:50 pm

      Andrew, I’m not sure you understand how discourse works.

      In this case, by saying he is “taking control” the inference McCully invites is that, prior to taking control, he was not the one in control/responsible/to blame for the ‘bad stuff’. Rather, he has now come in on his white charger to ‘fix it’.

      The reality, however, is that he was ultimately responsible at the time of the ‘bad stuff’.

      It’s a bit (lot) like John Key’s immediate response: “I don’t want to point the finger of blame at anyone …“. That invites the inference that he was not to blame (he would hardly be talking that way if he thought his finger should be pointing at himself). It positions John Key as being above it all, in terms of responsibility.

      This is how discourse works Andrew – it’s very clever stuff but even ordinary Joe’s like you and me use it all the time, even without being aware of what we’re doing. With politicians it’s more calculated. 

  9. Sanctuary 9
    14 September 2011 at 9:51 am

    Has anyone read John Armstrong’s extended adulatory masturbation piece in today’s Herald? The guys love affair with key is starting to threaten the nations supply of tissue paper. What a complete moron.

    Fran O’Sullvan piece is far more, well, normal.

    • freedom 9.1
      14 September 2011 at 10:11 am

      I am not saying i find myself agreeing with her any more or any less, but in my humble and lowly opinion, of late, Fran O’Sullivan is showing real signs of returning to journalism.

    • JS 9.2
      14 September 2011 at 10:30 am

      In the Hollow Men documentary it showed how politically aligned newspaper colunnists helped to get the right message across at the right time. Happening again?

      • tc 9.2.1
        14 September 2011 at 11:22 am

        Never changed, Armstrong’s always there with a Sideshow John fan club newsletter. Sometimes he’ll change to having a go at labour in the interests of ‘balance’. he could write his pieces weeks in advance they’re so predictable.

    • Deb 9.3
      14 September 2011 at 6:02 pm

      I thought he was spot on. The move was brilliant and decisive politics – there’s no denying it.

      • tc 9.3.1
        14 September 2011 at 7:48 pm

        Maybe deb but it follows some inept and lazy decisions over RWC they left till last minute as they assumed they’d get a JBanks led supershity that would do whatever they wanted to with akl ratepayers assets.

      • AAMC 9.3.2
        14 September 2011 at 7:57 pm

        It’s just a pity when “brilliant and decisive politics” is not in the country’s best interests but is just point scoring in a cynical dick measuring contest.

  10. Bill 10
    14 September 2011 at 10:16 am

    If Michael Redman, chief executive of ATEED (Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development) is overseeing an ‘investigation’ into the waterfront debacle that ATEED planned over the past four years…. and if the chairman and chief executive of Auckland Transport are ‘reviewing’ the issue of the transport debacle they ‘organised’; then dyathink we can expect a bit of a whitewash and a bit of finger pointing?

    A simple question in my mind; Who appointed these gentlemen and who were they accountable to in their roles as head honchos? [note] I’m asking who they were accountable to; not necessarily who they passed details of their emerging planning and organising to.

    ie If someone appointed them to act on behalf of the council, then the appointee is the top of the food chain and ultimately responsible

    • Blighty 10.1
      14 September 2011 at 12:00 pm

      Auckland Transport heads were appointed by the govt as part of the supercity creation

      • aerobubble 10.1.1
        21 September 2011 at 12:07 pm

        Hide’s baby. How long has Len been Mayor? National hates public transport.
        It designed the super city, it implemented it, it stacked the boards, it
        cut the public oversight, then Len got elected.

    • HC 10.2
      14 September 2011 at 8:11 pm

      Only an independent investigation by competent outsiders would bring about some kind of balanced and objective result. We have too many systems, where there are internal complaint procedures, investigations and so forth being done. I have had to deal with this kind of stuff in the area of a health provider, and the outcome was mostly a kind of “whitewash”.

      Also the Independent Police Conduct Authority is a joke, because I have been informed, that most complaints are actually “investigated” by the police, who are the very party that caused the incidents in question. What a ridiculous structure of systems there are in NZ. It invites affected persons and professionals to expertly find ways to cover their back-sides.

  11. freedom 11
    14 September 2011 at 10:57 am

    The whole ‘blame it on Len’ debacle is a bit like blaming a new born for falling out of an overpriced, and poorly made crib that was bought and paid for well before said baby was conceived

  12. Rich 12
    14 September 2011 at 11:18 am

    You didn’t have to shop the image of Captain Murray McMainwaring very much, did you?

    • tc 12.1
      14 September 2011 at 11:24 am

      well they never made a grandad’s army so best you could do really. Black adder II’s price regent would work also.

    • billy fish 12.2
      14 September 2011 at 12:04 pm

      Actually I think its a bit unfair on Capt Mainwaring, he may have been a bit of a blusterer and not the best at what he did by when the chips were down he was stalwart, capable and to the fore.
      Cpl Jones may have been a better option
      Don’t Panic

    • Ed 12.3
      14 September 2011 at 5:52 pm

      Someone on nz.general referred to the image at the top of http://www.backbencher.co.nz/
       

  13. Hennie van der Merwe 13
    14 September 2011 at 11:45 am

    100% in agreement with the sentiments expressed however, the trouble with the Waka participants was IMO not anywhere near the Cloud where access was restricted to the 12000.

  14. DavidW 14
    14 September 2011 at 11:56 am

    @Tom Gould.
    Qute simple really. It was Len himself who proudly claimed to have taken personal charge of the arrangements and who was more than willing to take credit for the successful trial run of arrangements at the time of the Bledisloe Cup Test a few weeks ago. What this debacle has shown is that the planning and testing of the plans was deficient. Scenario planning and analysis of contingencies appears to have been non-existent. The train company had no fallbacks, the bus operator was unreactive to the number of people crowding the bus stops both into and out of town on Friday and the taxi companies had been fobbed off. No-one appears to have asked the question “but what happens if …….. (insert disaster here) … happens? ” Auckland Hospital A&E was overwhelmed with assault and booze cases arriving by ambulance and the list goes on. As a country we dodged a bullet by the skin of our teeth and I for one would not be relying on the people who were too blind to ask the obvious questions the first time round to kinda learn on-the-job and get it right the second time. Too much is at stake to risk it.

    • HC 14.1
      14 September 2011 at 5:56 pm

      The government appointed Murray McCully as a minister with special responsibilities to manage, organise and oversee the Rugby World Cup. He was supposed to co-operate with all local bodies and various event management organisations to achieve a successful staging of the RWC. Any decisions of a major type, whether it would involve Party Central, Eden Park, traffic preparations or other matters, would have been things that he would have been informed about and had some scope of input with. So to simply blame Len Brown, who has only been a mayor for not even one year, and that in a newly created mega city, is frivoulous, biased and non-sensical. Of course the Auckland Council shares part of the responsibilities for what happened last Friday, but at least equally responsible are Cully as the Minister, John Key as Minister for Tourism (he talked up his great idea of a “Party Central” at the waterfront all the time), Steven Joyce as Minister for Transport and others, for failing to communicate with, to co-operate with and support the Auckland Council in staging the historic opening events. To turn around and slap Len Brown and Auckland Council in the face with using special, excessive powers given by a special Act is cheapest and lowest political game playing and hopefully will be exposed and punished over the coming weeks.

  15. hellonearthis 15
    14 September 2011 at 12:09 pm

    John Keys “Mostly” absolutely perfectly.

  16. randal 16
    14 September 2011 at 12:17 pm

    this whole r*gby world cup is descending into farce. Mcully has turned into an angry ant and the whole thing has gone to his head. He’s like Hooton. A little man who suddenly has a lot of “big guy” friends and dickey licking them is more important than making sure the country is run right. He’s so busy trying to impress the world that we can bend over backwards that he has forgotten that the rest of the world really doesn’t give a stuff and in a month the r*gby will be gone and in two months so will he.

    • Deb 16.1
      14 September 2011 at 6:08 pm

      The RWC is not “descending into a farce” at all. Transport from downtown on one night was a farce, I agree, however it seems that it will be sorted sooner rather than later. As for bringing Hooton into it, that’s bizarre. Apart from political junkies he is not well known and you can be assured that the vast majority of the population couldn’t give a fig for all this politicking and are only hoping for two things, the ABs to win and for the experience to be enjoyed by Kiwis and tourists.

  17. drx 17
    14 September 2011 at 1:48 pm

    Breaking News
    Carter is out- sore back.

    Murray McCully has used his reserve powers under the emergency RWC legislation to replace Carter as first five.

    Because Ted was from Auckland he felt that the use of the RWC legislation was perfectly reasonable.

  18. HC 18
    14 September 2011 at 5:45 pm

    What a very fitting photo, Eddie. Soon all your government ministers will wear similar regalia, and the army will also be redressed, because in Parliament today it was commented on by one of his ministers, that the Prime Minister has a very good taste for fashion.

    He is already consulting uniform manufacturers in Mainland China to have the right aspects put into place, so that all key personnel of government and the executive will be dressed in new and smart uniforms like the one in the photo above.

    I heard through some channels today, that news was seeping through, that the Minister for emergency rule, Muzza McCully, has made an order that the whole government controlled area at the waterfront of Auckland will be fenced off with concrete and steel barriers. Major checkpoints will be established to check everyone entering or leaving the area.

    One suggestion was made to have a major gateway to the enlarged “Party Zone” named “CHECK POINT CHARLIE”. On a large sign it is supposed to read: “You are now entering the NZ government controlled sector. Please have your identification ready and be prepared for thorough body and bag searches.”

    Any resemblance with a check-point and signage of similar style of a historic location in the centre of a major European city is pure coincidence.

    We trust in our leaders. “Hurra, hurra, hurra! Peace, Order and Security are our prime objective.”

  19. Private Parts ex army 19
    14 September 2011 at 7:06 pm

    Hi I know this is possibly not the right spot. But can someone tell us how to contribute a post as we appear to not be able to post on the contribute section and also can not get into the help to find out what we are doing wrong.

    Thanks

    • Ianupnorth 19.1
      14 September 2011 at 9:49 pm

      I had this problem a while back; lprent is a good person to contact; there is a standard gmail address you can use.

      • Private Parts ex army 19.1.1
        15 September 2011 at 8:47 am

        Thanks for that Ian I will try

        • lprent 19.1.1.1
          16 September 2011 at 5:16 pm

          The contribute is somewhat broken under some browsers and I never seem to get time to fix it. It requires a couple of hours of close debugging amongst the browsersthat I never seem to get. Last weekend was meant to be the fix up but I had an infuriating week long cold.

          You can just send to thestandardnz at gmail.com

  20. randal 20
    14 September 2011 at 8:16 pm

    pardon me if I you didnt understand what I was saying. mcully and hooton are ruritanians trying to adopt a veneer of sophistication and project an air of being in control when they are patently not. and hooton is displaying increasing cheney like syndrome with all this talk about guns. it makes me nervous. I cant sleep at night. anyway if the allblacks want to win they will have to play the wild bunch on teevee that night.
    and deb I dont know anybody in well regarded political circles. Randal only knows what Randal knows.

  21. KJT 21
    14 September 2011 at 9:02 pm

    NACTM couldn’t organise a p–up in a brothel.

    The worst failure at organising a country since Mugabe.

    What happens, when a Parties only reason to be in Government is to look after those who are bribing them.

  22. Ianupnorth 22
    14 September 2011 at 9:52 pm

    On a side note, please can they take over Rotorua council too; the traffic control at the Old Taupo Road roundabout was appalling – five cops controlling the five entry/exits. Complete chaos; has nobody told them that roundabouts are designed to allow traffic flow; and blocking four of the exits and then allowing all the traffic from another to try and go round doesn’t work.
     
    I say get John key down to give them a good telling off!

  23. vto 23
    15 September 2011 at 7:23 am

    This goes right to the heart of the issue of excessive pay rates for those at the supposed top of both the private and public sectors.

    Under Clark in rebuilding the public sector the public pay rates rose rapidly to exceed private pay rates for the first time ever.

    Similarly, in recent decade or two private company CEO rates went from a multiple of something like 5 x the company’s average worker to something like 50 x the company’s average worker.

    The above two examples were lately exemplified by Gerry Brownlee’s unilaterally determined pay rates for the CERA overlords from the state sevrices commission approved approx. $500 per day to over $1,000 per day. The reason given by Brownlee? He “just thinks” that they should be paid more.

    There is in both private and public sectors a dreamland state of how much people think they are worth at the top. It bears no relation to anything. Nothing. Not work done. Not difficulty of task. Not responsibility involved.

    And this has just been proved by the heads of the public Auckland Council, the public government, and the private Veolia company. Paid shitloads. And fucked up. They have just proved that they are simply not worth the money they pay themselves. Most average New Zealanders can do these jobs. Which means that the pay rates should be the average. It’s bullshit.