Joining the dots

Written By: - Date published: 7:04 am, November 11th, 2015 - 90 comments
Categories: accountability, australian politics, john key, spin - Tags: , , ,

So yesterday Key added another entry to his legacy list – ushering in a “new level of brutality” for debate. (Not that it’s that new of course, following on from throat-slitting and “get some guts”.) Rob Salmond had an interesting take on the incident:

Cold, calculated and cynical

John Key’s strategic supremo is Lynton Crosby, from the Australian firm Crosby/Textor. Crosby has a trick in his bag called the “dead cat strategy.”
…
Today, John Key threw a dead cat into the middle of New Zealand’s Parliament.

John Key knew he was in a weak position today for two reasons. First, his deliberate inaction in the face of disgraceful treatment of expat New Zealanders by Australia is a dereliction of his duty, as his many advisers will be telling him.

Second, his Labour opponents have just completed an annual conference that far outshone expectations, capped by a rousing address from Andrew Little, buoying professionals and activists alike across the New Zealand left.

So Key decided to get rid of all those long-term negative headlines by gifting the media a short-term negative headline instead. That’s the strategic thinking behind Key’s disgraceful performance in Parliament today, when he said any politician looking for humane treatment for detainees on Christmas Island was “backing the rapists” and “putting yourself on the side of sex offenders.”
…
Make no mistake – this was no passionate outburst. It was a coldly calculated tactic, cynically designed to remove stories about Key’s inaction and Labour’s conference from the media.
…
Key doesn’t win just because we all looked at his dead cat. But he does win if we wake up tomorrow having forgotten about the important issues that lead him to throw the dead cat in the first place. We, all of us, cannot allow that.

Is Key running Australian-based Crosby lines? Maybe he isn’t the only one:

Coincidentally, it’s not the first time this week that the suggestion of internationally coordinated PR strategies has been raised. Andrea Vance:

Opinion: Five Eyes spies are swapping PR strategies

As well as swapping secrets, it seems Five Eyes spies are swapping PR strategies.

Over the weekend, British security services published a new list of what they consider the country’s greatest security threats. It came just a few days after the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) and the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) released their own ‘big six’ in a briefing to New Zealand ministers. …

Do PR strategies get shared internationally between likeminded governments and organisations? Probably. Is that the case with Key’s “outburst” yesterday? Possibly. Folks, keep an eye out for examples of common messaging from NZ / Australia / UK governments.

In the mean time let’s also take Salmond’s point and keep the pressure on Key for his willingness to insult and abandon NZ citizens.

This morning:

https://twitter.com/MatthewHootonNZ/status/664129488540708864

90 comments on “Joining the dots ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Paul 1
    11 November 2015 at 7:15 am

    This was a cynical strategy.
    Talk hate radio and media lapdogs will amplify and echo the dog whistle distraction from the real issue.
    Key is the the second worst MP New Zealand has ever had.
    (Massey is number 1)

    • Paul 1.1
      11 November 2015 at 7:32 am

      Key is the the second worst MP New Zealand has ever had.
      Under his tenure, NZ is rapidly becoming an ugly country, where hate-filled selfish neoliberal views dominate the airwaves and the nation. The repulsive ego-centric viewpoints of Henry, Hosking, Christie, Farrar, Glucina, Slater, Veitch, Williams, Ralston et all blare out and we endure the brutal behaviour of employers like Talleys, Bunnings, Masala,Pike River, Ports of Auckland and sectors of the fast food, hospitality,forestry and other low paid industries; these rapacious predators are allowed to run loose by a puppet government led by US merchant banker Key.

      • Srylands 1.1.1
        11 November 2015 at 10:35 am

        John Key never worked in the United States.

        Also the current Government is a socialist one. To describe it as neoliberal is ridiculous.

        • Tricledrown 1.1.1.1
          11 November 2015 at 10:53 am

          Yeah why was he in New York working as head of Merrill Lynch’s currency trading(money laundering) Division then.

        • Sabine 1.1.1.2
          11 November 2015 at 11:00 am

          mate, please try harder. Just a little bit more gusto and enthusiasm. I understand, its a crap day, the material they gave you to work with is shit, and so is probably your pay. But hey, you choose to do what you do, so please try to do a good and proper job.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Key

          He began a career in the foreign exchange market in New Zealand before moving overseas to work for Merrill Lynch, in which he became head of global foreign exchange in 1995, a position he would hold for six years. In 1999 he was appointed a member of the Foreign Exchange Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York until leaving in 2001.

          • alwyn 1.1.1.2.1
            11 November 2015 at 2:13 pm

            You are exaggerating the position on the FXC at the Federal Reserve. This is a committee of people who work for major companies that are involved in the Foreign Exchange market. They meet every month or 2 months from about 4.00pm on one day till about midday the following day. It is an advisory group for the Fed.
            Key was asked to be a member because of his job with Merrill Lynch where he worked in LONDON. He did not live in the US.
            He would have flown to New York one day and flown back the next. He would have left the committee because he ceased to be the London -based head of their Foreign Exchange dealings.

            • McFlock 1.1.1.2.1.1
              11 November 2015 at 4:10 pm

              lol

              He’s still a US stooge who worked for a US criminal organisation and still maintains at least one home in the US. That should be more than enough for the Australians to turn him away at the border.

          • Tricledrown 1.1.1.2.2
            11 November 2015 at 11:56 pm

            Every company Key has worked for has gone bankrupt through fraudulent corrupt illegal business.
            Elders finance bankrupt owed billions corrupt
            BT investments bankrupt corrupt
            Merrill Lynch bankrupt corrupt.

        • Tricledrown 1.1.1.3
          11 November 2015 at 11:28 am

          Spylands so he didn’t go to a Boston university while being an advisor on the NY stock exchange.
          I thought you being his favourite groupie would know all about him.
          Mind you he could have lied to you.
          And you being so gullible would be understandable.

          • Draco T Bastard 1.1.1.3.1
            11 November 2015 at 1:20 pm

            I thought you being his favourite groupie would know all about him.

            He does. All that information has been public for years and discussed with sryLands on here before thus he is simply following John Key’s example and lying.

            • alwyn 1.1.1.3.1.1
              11 November 2015 at 3:46 pm

              Do you mean information that Key worked in New York?
              Do you have any evidence at all that he worked in NY.
              Representing your firm with a position on the FXC committee of the NY Fed doesn’t count if you are doing it from London.
              Where is such a piece of information ‘Public” as you appear to be saying.

              • Draco T Bastard …
                11 November 2015 at 4:04 pm

                Book extract: John Key, Portrait of a Prime Minister

                Key became a frequent transatlantic commuter, often taking the 6.40pm flight out of Heathrow on a Monday night after a day’s work in London, arriving in New York around 1.30am, going to a hotel, taking sleeping tablets “or you just couldn’t do it”, then waking in time to do a day’s work there on Tuesday.

                He would sometimes stay three days in New York then repeat the overnight commute, taking a Thursday night flight from JFK, landing at Heathrow at 6am, showering and shaving and working Friday in London.

                Sounds remarkably like working in NYC to me and I know that srylands was going to buy the book.

                • alwyn …
                  11 November 2015 at 9:00 pm

                  Yes, I would have to agree that counts as working in London, although it isn’t what I had been thinking about.
                  I had thought of it as living in the place, not going over there for a day or two at a time. I suppose that if he was in charge of the world-wide operations he would certainly have to visit the outlying offices and NY would certainly count as a major one.
                  Thinking about the way it is defined I suppose I would have to say I had worked in about 20 different cities in the world as I visited that many on various occasions and at varying frequencies. I had only really thought of myself as having worked in 2 countries but by this measure it would be far more.

        • Murray Simmonds 1.1.1.4
          11 November 2015 at 7:41 pm

          Dream on Srylands.

          When you wake up try doing a course in reality. You could begin by learning how to use Google and/or Wikipedia to inform yourself before indulging in your fantasy trips on this website.

        • Teresa Irving 1.1.1.5
          12 November 2015 at 10:38 pm

          What planet are you from Srylands

      • Korero Pono 1.1.2
        11 November 2015 at 8:03 pm

        Paul + 100

    • Saarbo 1.2
      11 November 2015 at 8:14 am

      This from Dim Post… some interesting points about the “press gallery”. Personally I reckon that Key’s press gallery support is why he/Nats maintain 47% support. He can get away with anything.

      https://dimpost.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/notes-on-the-politics-around-australias-deportation-policy/

      • tracey 1.2.1
        11 November 2015 at 8:20 am

        “…Mid-way through Key’s performance he yelled ‘Labour can back child molesterers (sic) and murderers, I’m backing New Zealanders.’ The line doesn’t make any sense in the context of the debate, because – as Key has pointed out – the detainees on Christmas Island are New Zealand citizens who can come back to New Zealand whenever they want, and Labour are arguing for their right to stay in Australia. But the line was great theatre so it made the news on both TV stations where it no doubt sounded pretty good to the majority of viewers who don’t know the details of the issue. The only reason Key said something so non-nonsensical is because he knew the gallery TV journalists would play the line without analysing its non-sensicality…”

        and tellingly, Gower looks like a total fool… unless he was simply doing as he was told… then he is a complicit fool

        “Things aren’t all bad though. TV3’s Patrick Gower read from a list supplied to him by Key’s office numerating the number of murderers and child molesters, etc, that they claim are on Christmas Island. The list didn’t stack up for an instant and my twitter feed became a flood of outrage. TVNZ was almost certainly given the list too – their audience is many times larger than TV3’s – but they didn’t cover it, presumably because they knew they were being played. So there is some judgement going on, sometimes.

        • maui 1.2.1.1
          11 November 2015 at 10:13 am

          Although TVNZ still played their part in our authoritarian state by not finding out how many rapists are on the island. A healthy democracy new zealand is not.

          • tracey 1.2.1.1.1
            11 November 2015 at 10:29 am

            Given the information was readily available there can be no other explanation than

            1. they were told not to use it (having found it)
            2. Didn’t want to use it

        • Steve 1.2.1.2
          11 November 2015 at 4:50 pm

          I think the point might have been that Labour was advocating for the rights of criminals, including rapists murderers and child molesters, while he/national had better things to worry about.

          If that was the point, it does seem to be accurate.

          If some members of Labour found the observation outrageous, I’d agree, but they might be better to direct their outrage at Mr Davis and Mr Little as it is they who are so worried about the rights of the perpetrators.

          • Tracey 1.2.1.2.1
            11 November 2015 at 6:59 pm

            Everything you wrote after

            “I think” appears to make a lie of those 2 words.

            And now Key is faced with what he already knew, that there are NO murderers or rapists amongst the kiwis on Christmas Island. Still a lying PM would seem to sit well with your own ethos

  2. Anne 2
    11 November 2015 at 8:02 am

    Andrew Geddis over on Pundit has it perfectly summed up:

    http://www.pundit.co.nz/content/australia-purging-the-convict-stain

    Penultimate paragraph:

    So knowing that he will never be able to deliver what Labour (and others) are calling for, Key has been forced to take the opposite tack. He’s had to decry those wanting to moderate Australia’s approach – a group that last month, remember, included himself – as being a bunch of soft-on-criminals, coddlers of sex offenders and worse. Rob Salmond has had a stopped clock moment on this one; Key’s thrown a dead cat on the table (or, rather, a “rapist supporter” tag-line in the House) because he really needs people to talk about something other than what he isn’t doing, because he cannot do it.

    • tracey 2.1
      11 November 2015 at 8:17 am

      and has Ms Adams working all hours to bring in new legislation to dealw ith the hoarde of barbarians coming from Christmas Island?

    • Sabine 2.2
      11 November 2015 at 8:35 am

      so essentially Dear Leader is fucked if he does -cause OZ won’t care what he wants, and he is fucked if he does not, cause then he is the one that brought ‘criminals’ in to the country.

      i can see why he squeals like a cut pig.

  3. Ad 3
    11 November 2015 at 8:04 am

    Why dog whistle when you can bark?

    It’s stronger than the iwi/kiwi billboards.

  4. Mark 4
    11 November 2015 at 8:09 am

    Keys outburst was clearly tactical. There is no political gain for him with his right wing supporters to address this issue in any meaningful way with the Australians, in fact quite the opposite, he has been seen as weak even raising it in the first instance. For Prime Minister Key the welfare of detained NZrs on Christmas islands falls a distant second to the loss or gain of political capital from this issue and the right wing tea leaves are clearly in the camp of “let them rot” no matter what the humanitarian consequences may be.

  5. tracey 5
    11 November 2015 at 8:14 am

    Neither Stuff nor Herald online were condemning anything at 7am this morning.

    I couldn’t bring myself to watch Key on Brekkie show after 7am… assume crawlin christie let him off?

    John Armstrong, if you are readng this, watching this, make a DIFFERENCE and call this for what it is. Shameful and Cold and Calculated. Let this be your legacy

  6. tc 6
    11 November 2015 at 8:17 am

    Its pretty obvious what he is doing but can the opposition consume it and keep the focus on his inaction and keep the real issues in focus.

    Just add this outburst into the ‘we’ve come to expect this from a PM big on rhetoric and missing in action again…’ throw in the malaysian diplomat, pike river etc and the inevitable prominent kiwi fallout and jk is akshully digging himself quite a hole.

  7. Ad 7
    11 November 2015 at 8:41 am

    Good call by Little to front to the Canberra Select Committee on this issue.

    It will severely undercut Key.

    It will also give the story legs for quite some weeks, and in Labour’s favour.

    • McGrath 7.1
      11 November 2015 at 2:05 pm

      This has “Lose” all over it. It will further cement Labour as the party for “rapists, murders and child molesters”, which was Key’s plan all along.

      The average voter does not care for these criminals on Christmas Island, nor I suspect your average Labour voter.

      Labour needs to stop this disconnect and focus back on things that matter. Hugging criminals is not one of them.

      • vaughan little 7.1.1
        11 November 2015 at 4:39 pm

        I care, and I’m pretty average.

        what’s happening in these detention centres is pretty damn extreme. we have to stand up to australia on this.

      • coge 7.1.2
        11 November 2015 at 5:02 pm

        The coming opinion polls will confirm your view. I don’t think there is any real doubt about that. Labour needs to learn to choose their battles more wisely.

      • Colonial Viper 7.1.3
        11 November 2015 at 7:05 pm

        Labour needs to stop this disconnect and focus back on things that matter. Hugging criminals is not one of them

        Looks like you want to make a NZ citizenship to be worthless.

        This is a warning to us all – the moment we start abrogating the rights of some out of favour group in society – all of us are damaged, all of us are exposed to danger.

      • Gabby 7.1.4
        11 November 2015 at 7:09 pm

        If you don’t know someone in Australia whom you’d just as rather stayed there, you’re not the average voter.

        • Colonial Viper 7.1.4.1
          11 November 2015 at 7:36 pm

          why don’t you head over there and increase the IQ of both countries.

        • miravox 7.1.4.2
          11 November 2015 at 8:56 pm

          “If you don’t know someone in Australia whom you’d just as rather stayed there…”

          You do realise that is exactly what Labour is advocating for? The right for these people to remain in the country they may have lived in for decades?. To remain at home with their families and friends in Australia?

          I guess the average voter should be able to work that out.

  8. ianmac 8
    11 November 2015 at 9:55 am

    A set up for Dead Cat Throwing? Note the smug look on the Speaker’s face instead of anger at loosing control. Note the look of admiration on English’s face before the outburst and during the outburst. Preplanned. Yep.

  9. savenz 9
    11 November 2015 at 10:20 am

    +100 – Disgusting and outrageous!

    “Opinion: Five Eyes spies are swapping PR strategies”

    As well as swapping secrets, it seems Five Eyes spies are swapping PR strategies.

    As for Christmas Island – Maybe the opposition should start wearing T-Shirts with

    “I don’t have the figures – they may or may not be New Zealanders”

    What a straight talker – NOT!

  10. repateet 10
    11 November 2015 at 11:13 am

    Another part of the strategy has kicked in. David Farrar posts his up port for John Key and tries to paint labour in a bad light then makes two more anti-Labour posts .
    There will undoubtedly be more today.

    Visions of the analogies and metaphors. He is like slime on a weasel, and the image of those competing for a place in the nether regions, Hosking and Henry, while at the same time it’s that little dog humping McCaw’s leg.

  11. Mrs Brillo 11
    11 November 2015 at 11:19 am

    The Herald is at it again.

    Audrey’s Young’s column on this issue drew 60 comments in a few hours, but by 11am the Comments were closed and the Like button was not working. Guess Key (and Carter) were getting too much of a drubbing in them for the Herald’s liking.

    Hope it’s a temporary closure, Herald. We’re watching.

    • Anne 11.1
      11 November 2015 at 11:49 am

      Talking of ‘closed’ comments, once in a blue moon I felt compelled to respond to something on the TV3 website. My comments were polite but my left-wing bias undoubtedly showed through. The last time was during the [then] imminent demise of Campbell Live, when I criticised the modus operandi of Julie Christie and Mark Weldon. Since then I appear to have been blocked from the comment section – can’t even read them. Have no probs. reading comments on any other media site.

      An indication how puerile and despotic TV3 has become under the Christie/Weldon partnership?

  12. her 12
    11 November 2015 at 11:41 am

    He only looked a little bit drunk.
    What’s a molesterer?

  13. ianmac 13
    11 November 2015 at 11:51 am

    Will be interesting if today they pursue the Dead Cat or return to the Government inaction including Key’s about face from previously working hard to get NZers returned to now condemning them as rapists etc..
    Question 2 and 4:

    ANDREW LITTLE to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all his statements regarding New Zealand-born Australian detainees?

    METIRIA TUREI to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by his statement, “Well, you back the rapists…”?

  14. Magisterium 14
    11 November 2015 at 11:56 am

    And if there’s anyone who knows cynical calculated political strategy, it’s Rob “CHINESE ARE BUYING ALL OUR HOUSES” Salmond.

    • vaughan little 14.1
      11 November 2015 at 4:41 pm

      hot money out of china is hot money out of china. spade’s a spade. it ain’t anything so vague as investment money from asia.

  15. Daniel Cale 15
    11 November 2015 at 12:33 pm

    Not sure if Key’s reaction was tactical or a response to Davis outburst outside the chamber. Either way, Key is right. Labour is more concerned with the rights of felons than law abiding citizens in this country.

    • McFlock 15.1
      11 November 2015 at 12:47 pm

      you obviously haven’t heard about the NZ veteran with no criminal convictions being detained in maximum security. A law-abiding NZ citizen being detained without trial in Australia.

      Where’s your concern for law-abiding New Zealanders now?

      • Daniel Cale 15.1.1
        11 November 2015 at 1:03 pm

        I’ve just posted on that above. Rutene is a member of a banned gang in Australia, which has resulted in his Visa being revoked. I don’t support detaining people without trial except in the most extreme of situations. But I do not buy into the hysteria Labour are trying to whip up with this. Many of the detainees have serious criminal backgrounds, and Labour are more concerned about those people ‘rights’ than protecting NZ’ers from them.

        • McFlock 15.1.1.1
          11 November 2015 at 1:32 pm

          “many”.
          Not all.

          You’re happy for innocent people to be abused as long as “many” people with serious criminal backgrounds.

          Whereas a normal person would want to ensure that nobody is abused at all.

        • Magisterium 15.1.1.2
          11 November 2015 at 1:57 pm

          Looks like NZ deports Rebels bikie gang members back to Australia as well.

          “At the same time an Australian Rebels member trying to get into New Zealand was turned around upon arrival at Auckland International Airport and sent back to where he came from.”

          http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4596128/Whanganui-debates-ban-on-outlaw-gang-patches/

          • Sabine 15.1.1.2.1
            11 November 2015 at 2:46 pm

            you mean they did not send him to some island somewhere?

            Dang, why don’t we get to do cool shit like the Ozzies.

        • ilicit 15.1.1.3
          11 November 2015 at 2:23 pm

          Catch up Daniel, his gang is not outlawed in the state he lives/lived in. That means he has not committed any crime.

          Further more, two thirds of them have not committed a serious crime, even though “most” have committed a crime, as lowly as shoplifting………

          Do you research before blurting !!!

          • Magisterium 15.1.1.3.1
            11 November 2015 at 3:21 pm

            Catch up Daniel, his gang is not outlawed in the state he lives/lived in. That means he has not committed any crime

            It doesn’t need to be and he doesn’t need to have. He just has to have associated with a group or organisation that has been involved in criminal activity. And this is the case.

            • McFlock 15.1.1.3.1.1
              11 November 2015 at 3:41 pm

              Imprisonment by association.

              Why are you defending it?

              • Magisterium …
                11 November 2015 at 4:01 pm

                I’m not defending it, I’m explaining it. Former Lance Corporal Haapu hasn’t been imprisoned for associating with anyone. He’s been sent to a detention centre prior to deportation for being in Australia without a valid visa. He hasn’t got a valid visa because his NZ Special Category Visa was cancelled by the Department of Immigration because of his association with an organisation known to be involved with criminal activity.

                It doesn’t matter what the Rebels’ legal status is in Western Australia.

                • McFlock …
                  11 November 2015 at 4:17 pm

                  He’s been sent to a detention centre prior to deportation for being in Australia without a valid visa.

                  from the article about him linked above:

                  Rutene, 34, was taken into custody over a week ago and is currently being held at the Casuarina maximum-security prison in Perth.

                  My italics.

                  Detained in a prison because the minister suspected he had “associated with a group or organisation that has been involved in criminal activity”. But apparently that’s not “imprisoned for associating”.

                  Keep dancing on that pinhead.

                  • Magisterium …
                    11 November 2015 at 5:17 pm

                    Mea culpa, I thought he had already been transferred to Christmas Island. But that doesn’t change the reason for his arrest – it’s for being in Australia without a visa.

                    • McFlock …
                      11 November 2015 at 5:45 pm

                      No, he had a visa. It was cancelled by the minister, even though the guy had not done anything illegal at all, let alone whatever John Key fantasises about..

                    • Magisterium …
                      11 November 2015 at 6:51 pm

                      Yes, and the moment the Minister revoked his visa Rutene became someone in Australia without a visa and so got arrested for it.

                    • McFlock …
                      11 November 2015 at 10:48 pm

                      Indeed.

                      The minister signed a paper and a New Zealand citizen with no convictions, who served this country in a warzone as part of a QRF, was imprisoned without trial.

                      And our prime minister lumps him in with rapists and does nothing to help him.

                      Fuck this government.

  16. RedBaronCV 16
    11 November 2015 at 12:36 pm

    So why doesn’t Key get an agreement with the aussies to let NZ know asap about those that are being rounded up long after they have left prison or are guilty of nothing so that travel docs can be arranged pronto plus a commercial flight.

    Those that are currently serving a jail sentence for a serious offence will have a release date known in advance and this can planned around, Non of this is rocket science

  17. Sabine 17
    11 November 2015 at 12:43 pm

    bwhahahahahaha

    http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/newsworthy/famous-quotes-reimagined-in-the-style-of-john-key-talking-to-malcolm-turnbull-2015111017#.VkGgpmMwER4.facebook

    “Dog whistling aside, the most forceful take on the situation may have come from that quote-spitting firebrand Peter Dunne, who called our foreign policy “craven” and urged National to abandon its “chin-dripping subservience”.

    Key would argue his go-lightly approach is actually more effective in the long run. But is that true? To test the theory, we reimagined some famous quotes in the style of Key talking to Malcolm Turnbull.

    “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
    – Winston Churchill

    “Well look, it’s not the first time our nations have had points of contention, but I will certainly be having a reasonably direct conversation on the matter with Mr Hitler at our upcoming meeting.”

    “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
    – Ronald Reagan

    “It’s important we don’t box Mr Gorbachev into a corner. We can’t badger him. We can’t force him to change policy.”

    • ianmac 17.1
      11 November 2015 at 1:55 pm

      Wow Sabine. That is the most explicit criticism of Key – ever by a MSMedia esp TV3. And so true. Paddy will be furious after scrambling to defend Key. Do we need a sociable grinning wisecracking PM or do we need one with principles and willingness to speak up for NZers.

  18. Ennui 18
    11 November 2015 at 1:18 pm

    There is something more shameful about Key and Nationals outburst: it demonstrates (once more) a contempt for the principles of the law, for democratic process and for the people.

    Key might be right about the “criminal” label of those detained, but remember they have also served their sentences. Yet these people are being retrospectively held under no charges for past offenses. Habeus corpus suspended. Held in a detention centre run by a private multinational for profit.

    We slip slowly deeper and deeper into a festering corporatist dictatorship.

    • ilicit 18.1
      11 November 2015 at 2:26 pm

      +100

    • Jane 18.2
      11 November 2015 at 4:28 pm

      I couldn’t agree more Ennui – it is all about the process, but John Key can’t seem to see that, or more likely, doesn’t want to.

      Anyone who watches Parliament can see that Key is bored by having to actually be held accountable for the actions (or inaction) of his government. He would rather be photographed with royalty or the All Blacks than acquaint himself with the truth of any situation it seems to me.

      • whateva next? 18.2.1
        11 November 2015 at 7:01 pm

        “…..Key is bored…” /he is only happy when he is trying to win something, like a flag debate. Trouble is winning an election akshully means he has to govern, which is boring for the 15 yr old mentality he has.

  19. Sabine 19
    11 November 2015 at 2:22 pm

    and protests

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11543718

    ” Protestor Sunny Sehgal said it was about speaking up.

    “The reason for us taking part is to show solidarity for all the refugees on Christmas Island. To give the message you’re not alone.

    “We want to put some pressure on our prone minister so he can wake up and do something about it.”

    Another protestor taking part, who wanted to be known only as Keith, said it was almost history repeating.

    “Basically we are here for the same reason as New Zealand troops who went to war in two world wars – to fight oppression.

    “So much for the Anzac spirit.”

  20. 3of9 20
    11 November 2015 at 3:36 pm

    FFS, Andrew Little has missed a golden opportunity to ask:

    “In the light of the PM’s statement in Parliament yesterday that “We are not on the side of sex offenders”, please can he advise the House how many NZ-born detainees were convicted of assaulting young women by obsessively pulling their hair, or of sexually assaulting young girls?

    Of this number, how many are former National Party MPs?”

  21. repateet 21
    11 November 2015 at 4:25 pm

    Chester Borrows said the matters of privilege were significant because they accused bias against the Speaker.
    But the Speaker being biased is not significant?

  23. TTD 23
    11 November 2015 at 6:27 pm

    Fantastic James Share widely

  24. 3of9 24
    11 November 2015 at 7:03 pm

    Goodness, whatever can Mark Mitchell be on about when he seems to be linking the former Nat MP for Northland, Mike Sabin, [RL: Deleted. No need for this.]

    Beats me….

  25. Nathan 25
    11 November 2015 at 7:05 pm

    John Key’s attack on Labour was entirely successful. It opened the door to sharing with the public the extent of criminality that will be shipped back to New Zealand, and showed Labour backing the wrong horse (an aggressive herd of bitter, rioting, dark horses). Why on earth would Labour think that standing up for the rights of criminals would go done well with New Zealanders? New Zealanders don’t want those detained crims back. And then, Labour whimped out and left the chamber. Pathetic.

    • Colonial Viper 25.1
      11 November 2015 at 7:10 pm

      Hey dickhead,

      Those are NZ citizens being fucked over by Australia. Does that mean nothing to you?

      We know that it means nothing to John Key.

      John Key has fucked himself, this thing is going to blow up in his face.

    • 3of9 25.2
      11 November 2015 at 9:06 pm

      Nathan, John Key backs [RL: If you are going to make this as a statement of fact you will need a citation.]; how well do you think that will go down with NZers?

    • Observer (Tokoroa) 25.3
      11 November 2015 at 9:16 pm

      Hi Nathan

      It is good of you to support the extraordinarily aggressive man whom you adore, John Key. It is charming that you enjoy his stream of lies and support them with all your strength of character. The distorted numbers he slurred out yesterday were incorrect of course. You would have enjoyed his bumblingly deliberate distortion.

      Do you also lie a lot Nathan? Birds of a feather eh….

      Do you harass waitresses in Middle class restaurants Nathan ? Good sexy fun huh …

      I certainly hope you have nice connections with that great servant and very close friend of John Key. The low life, sewer raking Cameron Slater.

      Do you have any connections at all with nice decent New Zealanders? Or do you prefer the shady company of the Princess Parties organisers, and the destroyers of upright people employed constantly by your idol John Key ?

      You seem to lack the sort of qualities that people expect in a man. Pity.

  26. Craig H 26
    11 November 2015 at 8:27 pm

    If nothing else, most of them are in there because of a law change which is being applied retroactively, not because of recent offences. It’s not literally a bill of attainder, but it’s generally not the done thing in English Common Law countries.

    • Gabby 26.1
      11 November 2015 at 8:32 pm

      That bit doesn’t seem to have been discussed much. It’s a bit rich to bang on about breaking the laws when the laws didn’t exist.

  27. Mike the Savage One 27
    11 November 2015 at 9:29 pm

    Key has just dug his political grave, I reckon, he is done and dusted, as PM, he has committed the ultimate political sin:

    http://www.radiolive.co.nz/How-can-they-lock-up-my-partner-Hes-done-nothing-wrong/tabid/506/articleID/107657/Default.aspx

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/73901020/kiwi-war-hero-detained-by-australian-government-after-visa-revoked

    http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11543381

    Tonight it was mentioned on either Seven Sharp or The Story on TV3 that he was one of the personnel protecting John Key during a visit to Kiwi soldiers in Afghanistan. Key has thrown him into the same drawer as rapists, murderers and so forth.

    Only for having joined a bikie gang was the ex soldier deemed undesirable in Australia, while he has apparently not committed any crime and has not been convicted.

    So hey, John Key, your David Farrar mercenary is trying hard to ignore the facts and also to present false data on his stupid Kiwiblog, but he will not rescue now. Hey, you are done and dusted, Key, you have treated one of the countrys best soldiers with contempt and insulted him and many others, who are on Christmas Island, many not even with serious or any convictions. So much for your friendship and trust in your Aussie PM mate, the one that stabbed Abbot in the back, who brought all these stupid law changes in there.

    Stuff you, John, RESIGN NOW TO SAVE YOUR FACE, AND APOLOGISE TO WOMEN HAVING BEEN RAPED, or harassed and inappropriately treated, LIKE SOME OF THE WOMEN MPS THAT WALKED OUT OF PARLIAMENT TODAY.

    • Observer (Tokoroa) 27.1
      11 November 2015 at 10:02 pm

      Hi Mike

      It was amazing how simply the Speaker of The House walked his neck into Key’s dirty noose ! A smug smile on his face … Carter walked willingly into Key’s trap.

      A child would have been more alert.

      The Speaker failed to make Key withdraw and apologise for saying the Oppostion supports “Murderers, rapists etc…”

      The whole Opposition. No less.

      The Governor General and The Queen of New Zealand may not be well amused by the Speaker of the House accusing half the House of Parliament of aiding and abetting the most wicked of sexual violaters and murderers.

      Were I Carter I would be wishing I could take the smug smile off my face. The fool of a man debasing parliament. Key is a disease that degrades the weak.

      • Mike the Savage One 27.1.1
        11 November 2015 at 11:38 pm

        The present Speaker is NOT fit for Office, he has shown it so many times, it is not funny. And I know of a complaint about the Office of Ombudsmen, that was presented to the Speaker, as a last resort to complain to, and he simply threw the complaint out, that challenged the funding, deficiencies and failures of the Ombudsmen, all dependent on government funding.

        We know that the Key led government has intentionally underfunded all the Officers of Parliament, so complaints are accruing, are not dealt with, or dealt with totally late, and not addressed appropriately. That in itself is a perversion of the course of justice, a denial of justice, it is undermining the democracy that this country is supposed to have. There is some ammo we have, I and some associates, it will soon be fired, and the Speaker can say good night, if he will not resign sooner. He is NOT fit for Office.

        • Mike the Savage One 27.1.1.1
          11 November 2015 at 11:56 pm

          We have OIA complaints going well over two years now, and still NO final decision by the Ombudsman, other complaints seem to take endless time to even get a first response letter, and many get thrown out under dubious, questionable reasons all the time, “no investigation needed” is the bizarre answer so often, where even compelling evidence should tell the Ombudsmen that some investigation is compellingly necessary.

          MSD have habitually been withholding info or not even answered to OIAs I have read, so hiding failures of welfare reforms is part of the agenda of an effectively corrupt government.

          What a screwed shit “democracy” has such standards, I thought this may only happen in places like Zimbabwe, but we are well there by now, a ridiculous defacto “banana republic” of sorts.

          Thank you John Key and your planted “Speaker” of unworthiness. That is MY opinion, a humble one, I wish to mention (based on personal experience).

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