Gower rightly apologises to Greens

Written By: - Date published: 11:44 am, August 10th, 2017 - 35 comments
Categories: election 2017, greens, the praiseworthy and the pitiful - Tags: , ,

Just one of many apologies he should be making:

Patrick Gower apologises for claiming poll result drove Metiria Turei to quit

Newshub political editor Patrick Gower has apologised to Green Party leader James Shaw for suggesting a bad poll result drove his co-leader to quit.
…
Her resignation came just hours after she was informed of the latest Newshub-Reid Research poll results, which saw the party’s support crumble by a third, down 4.7 points to 8.3 percent.

“The truth is you had a terrible result in the Newshub-Reid Research poll today one of the worst results ever for the Green Party – and for the first time slipped behind Winston Peters,” Gower told Mr Shaw on Wednesday night’s episode of The Project.
…
Appearing on The AM Show on Thursday morning, Gower was contrite.

“I actually got my tone wrong on this, and I apologise to James Shaw,” he told host Duncan Garner.

“I think things have moved on – Metiria Turei is gone. It doesn’t matter if she went because of this poll result, or more things were going to be revealed or not. New Zealand needs to get on with this election and stop talking about Metiria Turei. “I think she’d believe that herself. She has been a warrior.” …

Deep breaths.

See also:

Labour surges, Greens slump, and media scrap over Turei’s scalp

There is something distasteful about fighting over a political corpse.

“We drove her to resign!” “No, we drove her to resign!” bawled Checkpoint and Newshub. The RNZ programme had put a number of questions to Metiria Turei about her living circumstances in the ’90s when she lied to Winz and “instead of answering them, she resigned”.

Newshub was having none of that. Turei was gone, and “it has been a Newshub poll tonight which has forced her out”, was the introduction to Patrick Gower’s report. The poll, the first since New Zealand politics entered the mirror maze of the last 10 days, was awaited by some of us with an eagerness bordering on frenzy. It delivered a “catastrophic, disastrous result” for the Green Party, said Newshub’s political editor. For the Greens, “losing one third of their support in one week [is] an absolute political nightmare, and that is what has obviously forced Metiria Turei to go – she learned of the result just hours before she resigned”.

Boom time for the New Zealand scalp collection industry. While it’s unseemly at the best of times, there’s an added layer of unpleasantness when the scalp belongs to someone whose sins are, in the scheme of political scandals, kind of piffling. …

If you are angry about this – use your vote…

35 comments on “Gower rightly apologises to Greens ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. WILD KATIPO 1
    10 August 2017 at 12:09 pm

    I think we should be holding a petition calling for Patrick Gowers resignation for political interference. This sort of political sabotage should not go unchallenged.

    • rob 1.1
      10 August 2017 at 2:45 pm

      totally agree, it is happening way too often and change is needed imo

    • rob 1.2
      10 August 2017 at 2:47 pm

      and it just? just might cause a head pull in moment?

      • WILD KATIPO 1.2.1
        10 August 2017 at 3:01 pm

        The right wing embedded media sycophants did it last election during 2014.

        They constantly fed the public a diet of how bad Cunliffe was and talked up John Key. Right in the middle of Dirty Politics and John Keys obvious duplicitous statements regarding the XKEYSCORE program and mass public surveillance.

        They deliberately misrepresented MANA / Internet party at its public launching and totally ignored any policy statements to get at and frame Kim Dotcom.

        And these embedded National party media sycophants are still there.

        They are a cancer , therefore, examples need to made of some of them to send home the message.

        Expect more of the same if something isn’t done about them.

  2. Dennis Frank 2
    10 August 2017 at 12:11 pm

    Yeah, I saw him do that apology. He seemed genuinely contrite. I suspect media colleagues gave him a hard time about it. Interesting to hear on the news just now that the Green caucus is negotiating with Kennedy Graham the possibility of him returning to it. Why not Dave Clendon also? Perhaps the list ranking differential?

    • KJT 2.1
      10 August 2017 at 12:22 pm

      Why would we want those two back, after they jumped ship when they were needed. Whatever the reason.

      • Venezia 2.1.1
        10 August 2017 at 12:38 pm

        + 1.

      • Dennis Frank 2.1.2
        10 August 2017 at 12:50 pm

        Who’s we? If you’re operating from a class warfare frame, I get it, but I’m not. Elementary that govt legislation only proceeds on the basis of consensus. So, to help the poor, you need sufficient middle-class support.

        I don’t agree with the rationale used by Ken & Dave, but they aren’t the baddies depicted by some here, and they are the kind of mainstreamers normally referred to as liberals. They represent part of the green support base that is too large to ignore. I presume that’s why the Green caucus is having second thoughts.

      • Korero Pono 2.1.3
        10 August 2017 at 8:00 pm

        Kjt +1

  3. red-blooded 3
    10 August 2017 at 12:19 pm

    Interesting that he apologised to Shaw but not to Turei. It was her that he was calling a liar, and it is her who is hurting the most.

    • Phil 3.1
      10 August 2017 at 12:23 pm

      She is a liar. Can you not see that?

      • DoublePlusGood 3.1.1
        10 August 2017 at 12:32 pm

        Didn’t she just recently have several press releases where she told the truth about things? Which politicians rarely ever do? But Phil here thinks that she’s the liar. Sure Phil.

        • Phil 3.1.1.1
          10 August 2017 at 1:00 pm

          Sure, She told the truth as the axe was falling. Should have told the truth about her situation from the outset. I for one believe the Greens are much better off with Turei out of the picture. My only wish would be leave the socialism to Labour and get back to the Environmental roots from which the party was forged. A socialist Labour and Environmental Greens would have been a formidable option for governing.

          • You_Fool 3.1.1.1.1
            10 August 2017 at 1:31 pm

            And if Labour ever tries to be socialist then maybe that can happen. But the survival of society and the environment are linked, so until others step up to the plate I guess the Greens will be the voice of reason

          • DoublePlusGood 3.1.1.1.2
            10 August 2017 at 2:06 pm

            She led with the truth on her benefit actions. When someone pointed out the electoral thing, she told the truth on that.

            You also clearly don’t understand how the Green party works. You cannot have a sustainable environment without social justice, and you cannot have social justice without a sustainable environment. Both are intertwined and fundamental to the whole existence of the Greens.
            Plus, when Labour aren’t being socialist, someone has to.

            • Feeder 3.1.1.1.2.1
              10 August 2017 at 2:32 pm

              “You cannot have a sustainable environment without social justice, and you cannot have social justice without a sustainable environment.”

              The Greens like to link these two but the logic is rather self-serving and clearly trying to unite two quite different agendas.

              For example, it could be argued that supporting people having more children is not environmentally friendly, as the world is overcrowded as it is. If we had less people, there would be less strain on environments.

              • DoublePlusGood …
                10 August 2017 at 2:51 pm

                The Greens support the children people have, not to have more children. With higher incomes in society generally comes a reduction in birth rates anyway.

            • dukeofurl 3.1.1.1.2.2
              10 August 2017 at 5:29 pm

              It was a major political mistake to make herself and her circumstances the centre of the Greens welfare policy.

              That never works as they go after your background in order to destroy both the policy and the politician. Have any ambiguity in your background and you are toast

              She may as well put a target on her back when this happened.

      • left_forward 3.1.2
        10 August 2017 at 12:44 pm

        … and how many year’s ago was that Phil? I think you got your present and past tenses confused.

      • rob 3.1.3
        10 August 2017 at 2:52 pm

        definition of lieing?
        run that past the pm perhaps

      • Korero Pono 3.1.4
        10 August 2017 at 8:03 pm

        @ Phil, I wonder why you and your ilk still get any oxygen.

    • Jenny Kirk 3.2
      10 August 2017 at 9:17 pm

      Yeah – there’s quite an element of sexism there. Maybe most men don’t see it, but as a woman who has experienced apology second-hand thru a male, I certainly do.

  4. Stuart Munro 4
    10 August 2017 at 12:26 pm

    Don’t be sorry Patrick – be careful.

    Now sod off – NZ needs real journalists not self-serving clickbait artists.

  5. Venezia 5
    10 August 2017 at 12:39 pm

    If the traitors are accepted back onto the Green list, I will have difficulty sending my vote to the Greens.

    • mikes 5.1
      10 August 2017 at 3:23 pm

      Why? Were you going to vote Green because you wanted their policies implemented? If they (the two MP’s) are accepted back, that doesn’t change the GP’s policies going into the election does it?

  6. DoublePlusGood 6
    10 August 2017 at 12:46 pm

    Patrick should apologise by resigning and moving to Saint Helena, permanently.

    • Stuart Munro 6.1
      10 August 2017 at 2:58 pm

      The St. Hellenans deserve better. Give him a job where his character flaws are in the public interest – in the corporate fraud section of IRD.

      • SpaceMonkey 6.1.1
        10 August 2017 at 4:02 pm

        Amongst the penguins in Antarctica then. There’s a few eggs that need to be kept warm. Oh hell… what am I saying? Even the penguins deserve better…

  7. Delia 7
    10 August 2017 at 12:51 pm

    God they are horrible, who needs Dirty Politics?

    • tc 7.1
      10 August 2017 at 5:19 pm

      He is part of the dirty politics landscape. Recall his near vein bursting antics over DC at that labour conference, it bordered unhinged.

      A half decent media outlet would’ve ripped him off air and chucked him on court stories/police rounds/fluff end of show pieces.

      He stays on air because he does a job…..which isn’t unbiased intelligent political commentary.

  8. Adrian 8
    10 August 2017 at 1:44 pm

    At one stage Gower said something “…with these numbers we ( as in, the royal we ) would be calling for her to go..”” . Listen you arrogant shit, you job is to REPORT, not to direct the democratic process.
    You are the one that should go.

  9. Richard Christie 9
    10 August 2017 at 2:58 pm

    Patrick Gower,

    aka “Mr Second from the Left ” ( https://tinyurl.com/y7osqojv )

  10. In Vino 10
    10 August 2017 at 6:52 pm

    Gower is an apology – for a journalist.

  11. Drowsy M. Kram 11
    10 August 2017 at 10:22 pm

    Would it be wrong to assume that those on a benefit are effectively excluded from parliament, the expression of our ‘representative’ democracy?

    Gower’s self-serving apology is too little, too late. Now any former recipient of a benefit who improves their circumstances and is elected to parliament (fairly few and far between) will think twice before publicly recounting personal experiences (no matter how ancient) to highlight issues of poverty and social justice – feel the chill.

    What was it about Metiria’s AGM comments that the media and middle New Zealand found so confronting? Having a frank, open discussion about poverty in NZ is like drawing attention to an infected leg wound – many Greens want to save the leg, but it seems that for most necrotising fasciitis or amputation are preferable.

    The MSM message to beneficiaries from non-beneficiaries (and the message from all political parties other than the Greens tbh) – you and your experiences are politically toxic; be grateful, BE QUIET, and (above all) know your place!

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    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • Top 10 news links at 10 am for Tuesday, Nov 28
    Nicola Willis’ first move was ‘spilling the tea’ on what she called the ‘sobering’ state of the nation’s books, but she had better be able to back that up in the HYEFU. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • PT use up but fare increases coming
    Yesterday Auckland Transport were celebrating, as the most recent Sunday was the busiest Sunday they’ve ever had. That’s a great outcome and I’m sure the ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    6 days ago

  • The very opposite of social investment
    Nicola Willis (in blue) at the signing of the coalition agreement, before being sworn in as both Finance Minister and Social Investment Minister. National’s plan to unwind anti-smoking measures will benefit her in the first role, but how does it stack up from a social investment viewpoint? Photo: Lynn Grieveson ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Giving Tuesday
    For the first time "in history" we decided to jump on the "Giving Tuesday" bandwagon in order to make you aware of the options you have to contribute to our work! Projects supported by Skeptical Science Inc. Skeptical Science Skeptical Science is an all-volunteer organization but ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago

  • Let's open the books with Nicotine Willis
    Let’s say it’s 1984,and there's a dreary little nation at the bottom of the Pacific whose name rhymes with New Zealand,and they've just had an election.Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, will you look at the state of these books we’ve opened,cries the incoming government, will you look at all this mountain ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago

  • Climate Change: Stopping oil
    National is promising to bring back offshore oil and gas drilling. Naturally, the Greens have organised a petition campaign to try and stop them. You should sign it - every little bit helps, and as the struggle over mining conservation land showed, even National can be deterred if enough people ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • Don’t accept Human Rights Commission reading of data on Treaty partnership – read the survey fin...
    Wellington is braced for a “massive impact’ from the new government’s cutting public service jobs, The Post somewhat grimly reported today. Expectations of an economic and social jolt are based on the National-Act coalition agreement to cut public service numbers in each government agency in a cost-trimming exercise  “informed by” head ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • The stupidest of stupid reasons
    One of the threats in the National - ACT - NZ First coalition agreements was to extend the term of Parliament to four years, reducing our opportunities to throw a bad government out. The justification? Apparently, the government thinks "elections are expensive". This is the stupidest of stupid reasons for ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • A website bereft of buzz
    Buzz from the Beehive The new government was being  sworn in, at time of writing , and when Point of Order checked the Beehive website for the latest ministerial statements and re-visit some of the old ones we drew a blank. We found ….  Nowt. Nothing. Zilch. Not a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 days ago

  • MICHAEL BASSETT: A new Ministry – at last
    Michael Bassett writes – Like most people, I was getting heartily sick of all the time being wasted over the coalition negotiations. During the first three weeks Winston grinned like a Cheshire cat, certain he’d be needed; Chris Luxon wasted time in lifting the phone to Winston ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 days ago

  • Luxon's Breakfast.
    The Prime Minister elect had his silver fern badge on. He wore it to remind viewers he was supporting New Zealand, that was his team. Despite the fact it made him look like a concierge, or a welcomer in a Koru lounge. Anna Burns-Francis, the Breakfast presenter, asked if he ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    7 days ago

  • LINDSAY MITCHELL:  Oranga Tamariki faces major upheaval under coalition agreement
     Lindsay Mitchell writes – A hugely significant gain for ACT is somewhat camouflaged by legislative jargon. Under the heading ‘Oranga Tamariki’ ACT’s coalition agreement contains the following item:   Remove Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 According to Oranga Tamariki:     “Section ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 days ago

  • BRIAN EASTON:  Peters as Minister
    A previous column looked at Winston Peters biographically. This one takes a closer look at his record as a minister, especially his policy record. Brian Easton writes – 1990-1991: Minister of Māori Affairs. Few remember Ka Awatea as a major document on the future of Māori policy; there is ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 days ago

  • Cathrine Dyer's guide to watching COP 28 from the bottom of a warming planet
    Is COP28 largely smoke and mirrors and a plan so cunning, you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel? Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: COP28 kicks off on November 30 and up for negotiation are issues like the role of fossil fuels in the energy transition, contributions to ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 days ago

  • Top 10 news links at 10 am for Monday, Nov 27
    PM Elect Christopher Luxon was challenged this morning on whether he would sack Adrian Orr and Andrew Coster.TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am on Monday November 27, including:Signs councils are putting planning and capital spending on hold, given a lack of clear guidance ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the new government’s policies of yesteryear
    This column expands on a Werewolf column published by Scoop on Friday Routinely, Winston Peters is described as the kingmaker who gets to decide when the centre right or the centre-left has a turn at running this country. He also plays a less heralded but equally important role as the ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    7 days ago

  • The New Government’s Agreements
    Last Friday, almost six weeks after election day, National finally came to an agreement with ACT and NZ First to form a government. They also released the agreements between each party and looking through them, here are the things I thought were the most interesting (and often concerning) from the. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    7 days ago

  • How many smokers will die to fund the tax cuts?
    Maori and Pasifika smoking rates are already over twice the ‘all adult’ rate. Now the revenue that generates will be used to fund National’s tax cuts. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The devil is always in the detail and it emerged over the weekend from the guts of the policy agreements National ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 days ago

  • How the culture will change in the Beehive
    Perhaps the biggest change that will come to the Beehive as the new government settles in will be a fundamental culture change. The era of endless consultation will be over. This looks like a government that knows what it wants to do, and that means it knows what outcomes ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    7 days ago

  • No More Winnie Blues.
    So what do you think of the coalition’s decision to cancel Smokefree measures intended to stop young people, including an over representation of Māori, from taking up smoking? Enabling them to use the tax revenue to give other people a tax cut?David Cormack summed it up well:It seems not only ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago

  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #47
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 19, 2023 thru Sat, Nov 25, 2023.  Story of the Week World stands on frontline of disaster at Cop28, says UN climate chief  Exclusive: Simon Stiell says leaders must ‘stop ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Some of it is mad, some of it is bad and some of it is clearly the work of people who are dangerous ...
    On announcement morning my mate texted:Typical of this cut-price, fake-deal government to announce itself on Black Friday.What a deal. We lose Kim Hill, we gain an empty, jargonising prime minister, a belligerent conspiracist, and a heartless Ayn Rand fanboy. One door closes, another gets slammed repeatedly in your face.It seems pretty ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • “Revolution” is the threat as the Māori Party smarts at coalition government’s Treaty directi...
    Buzz from the Beehive Having found no fresh announcements on the government’s official website, Point of Order turned today to Scoop’s Latest Parliament Headlines  for its buzz. This provided us with evidence that the Māori Party has been soured by the the coalition agreement announced yesterday by the new PM. “Soured” ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago

  • The Good, the Bad, and the even Worse.
    Yesterday the trio that will lead our country unveiled their vision for New Zealand.Seymour looking surprisingly statesmanlike, refusing to rise to barbs about his previous comments on Winston Peters. Almost as if they had just been slapstick for the crowd.Winston was mostly focussed on settling scores with the media, making ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago

  • When it Comes to Palestine – Free Speech is Under Threat
    Hi,Thanks for getting amongst Mister Organ on digital — thanks to you, we hit the #1 doc spot on iTunes this week. This response goes a long way to helping us break even.I feel good about that. Other things — not so much.New Zealand finally has a new government, and ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    1 week ago

  • Thank you Captain Luxon. Was that a landing, or were we shot down?
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Also in More Than A FeildingFriday The unboxing And so this is Friday and what have we gone and done to ourselves?In the same way that a Christmas present can look lovely under the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Further humanitarian support for Gaza, the West Bank and Israel
    The Government is contributing a further $5 million to support the response to urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, bringing New Zealand’s total contribution to the humanitarian response so far to $10 million. “New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life and the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

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