Editorial comment from the Deep South condemns Key’s dirty politics in the strongest possible language.
Consequential questions
If those persistently high polls have been giving the impression that John Key can walk on water, the first post-Hager poll will show whether he can walk on sewage. …
Certainly the initial, seemingly airy rebuff that the public will see through all this and won’t care is looking like a perilous approach. In particular, attention must turn to the charge that blogger Cameron Slater was tipped off by the Prime Minister’s office to seek SIS documentation that embarrassed former Labour Leader Phil Goff. …
Cleansing process needed
Justice Minister Judith Collins has become a liability to Prime Minister John Key, the Government and more widely, and disturbingly, the country.
How a Minister of Justice, entrusted with upholding the highest standards in the land, can lower her own personal standards to feed confidential personal information about a civil servant to a right-wing blogger – knowing full-well the consequences of her actions – is beyond most right-minded people.
Mr Key should sack Ms Collins now, but will not take that action. The reason he will not sack her is, of course, because the election is a month away and to remove the Justice Minister now will give further oxygen to an issue he has already handled badly. …
The only evidence this issue can be judged on is what is front and centre, and currently that is the material in Nicky Hager’s book. At first, Mr Key dismissed the claims as a left-wing conspiracy. Even before the book was released, Mr Key was besmirching the reputation of Mr Hager. And while Mr Hager may be seen as to the left of New Zealand’s political spectrum, that does not negate the evidence he has produced in this book. …
Is this what the country’s democracy has become? Personal attacks, led by a minister and fed through blogger conduits (which operate without the standards applied to traditional journalism)? …
Perhaps these views – far from the Wellington “beltway” – are rather more representative of ordinary Kiwis than Key’s self-serving pronouncements. And for further forthright comment – this time from a most unexpected source – here’s Claire Trevett:
No tabloid tactics – except in politics
Back in 2011 Prime Minister John Key stood before the media and said “there is no place in this country for News of the World-type tactics”. … It now appears that what he meant was while there was no place for tabloid tactics by the media, there was plenty of space for them by his own office, a minister and a handpicked selection of bloggers. …
Her [Collins] attempts to poison the opposition by colluding with Slater over stories, passing on details of public servants, and the immoderate language used in their communications have resulted in a spectacular own goal. She has poisoned herself.
Sewerage. Poison. Dirty politics. People see it for what it is.
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