Key interview – facts don’t matter

Written By: - Date published: 8:36 am, November 27th, 2016 - 25 comments
Categories: accountability, john key, journalism, spin, uncategorized - Tags: , , , , ,

Lisa Owen interviewed Key on The Nation yesterday. It’s not often that Key allows a real interview, and Owen does an excellent job. Among other topics she explores the dismal predictions in the recent Treasury report. See the video here.

https://twitter.com/DavidCunliffeMP/status/802378260046901248

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25 comments on “Key interview – facts don’t matter ”

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    • r0b 1.1
      27 November 2016 at 9:04 am

      Thanks for that!

      • Murray Simmonds 1.1.1
        28 November 2016 at 11:56 am

        Thanks Sacha, A totally fascinating read. . . . . Well, at least until I started throwing up at the total bullshit smeared all over the place by Key.

        Couldn’t bring myself to watch the actual video. (Its easier just to scroll past the bullshit answers and just read the interviewer’s questions in the written version . . . )

        What a total fraudster. No wonder he doesn’t agree to interviews very often!

    • ianmac 1.2
      27 November 2016 at 9:29 am

      Yes thanks Sacha. Transcripts show just how expert Key is with weasel words. A Master in Deception. His immense confidence no matter what the challenge, leaves the average viewer with the belief that here is a “leader” who is on top of everything.
      Have we ever seen Key unsettled?

    • mosa 1.3
      27 November 2016 at 10:54 pm

      “Bullshittery”

      Brilliant summed up perfectly Sacha.

  2. Thinkerr 2
    27 November 2016 at 9:38 am

    So:

    Treasury can’t get things right in 44 days let alone 44 years, and they’re constantly wrong.

    Then:

    On what basis is Bill English confidently able to start forecasting the idea of tax cuts in 2017 when the figures being quoted make the margins tight?

    Come on, opposition parties, start calling the government out when they put their feet in their mouth.

  3. red-blooded 3
    27 November 2016 at 11:19 am

    That was a great interview. Duncan Garner didn’t score hits like that with English on Q+A, but he did point out that they’re shifting the talk of tax cuts to more targeted support through Working for Families, and:
    1) When it was brought in, Key called it “communism by stealth”, and
    2) It’s an admission that workers in NZ don’t get paid enough.

  4. Draco T Bastard 4
    27 November 2016 at 11:35 am

    Remember the decade of deficits?
    Well, this government has put us on path to a century of deficits, the eventual collapse of our society and they’re promising even more tax cuts.

    I suppose it’s not surprising that the corrupt group that is our government are vehemently denying reality.

  5. Nick 5
    27 November 2016 at 11:38 am

    Such a Bullshit Master ….. he’s cynically laughing at NZ people, behind his smug face…. A complete prime minister asshole

  6. save nz 6
    27 November 2016 at 12:26 pm

    Key eliminates the F out of FACT to leave him his true ideology ACT

  7. Drowsy M. Kram 7
    27 November 2016 at 12:28 pm

    Just don’t begrudge Honest John and ‘higher standards, brighter future’ National their popularity – self-interested habitual liars make superb con-artists, spin doctors and snake oil salesmen.

  8. Mrs Brillo 8
    27 November 2016 at 2:22 pm

    Lisa is really on top of her game right now, but I was also glad to see that she and PGower ripped into Key’s credibility after the interview and did some serious unpicking.
    More of this, thanks guys.
    But not at quite such a gallop.

    • mosa 8.1
      27 November 2016 at 10:48 pm

      ” Lisa on top of her game”

      It was not that long ago they were kicking the hell out of any left wing MP who dared to accept an invitation for an interrogation.

      I dont watch the programme but if they are ripping into Key ( i find that hard to believe) then its about time.

      I also dont watch or listen to anything Key says because its all utter tripe and crap.

      And the fact that he still gets away with his deceptions and is not challenged is a sad indictment on our dismal media landscape and an insult to our intelligence.

      Here is a campaign slogan
      Its sad when i dont have a PM that i can trust.

      Always being prided as the non politician John Key has sure learned to lie like one and unlike the others……get away with it.

  9. Treetop 9
    27 November 2016 at 2:27 pm

    I can hardly wait to see how right Treasury is.

  10. tomorrow&tomorrow 10
    27 November 2016 at 3:23 pm

    The item on families caring for their special needs adult children is not as simple as it seems. While for a few disabled people, living with a parent is appropriate, for others they would be better served living in a supported, well run residential home with 4 or 5 others and with opportunities to be involved in their local community. From what I saw of the disabled adults on the programme, they would have been more likely to reach their potential and develop independence in all areas of everyday living than is possible when they live with a parent. There is a tendency for parents to ‘baby’ the young adult, stifle social interaction and limit the opportunities to learn from mistakes, so vital to the development of anyone, whether disabled or not.
    While no-one denies that some parents to a sterling job, as an ex-social worker, I know from experience that it is seldom in the best interests of the disabled person. They are usually far more capable than the parent acknowledges.
    And for an adult disabled son or daughter who has always lived with a parent in a sheltered environment, moving into a residential home when the parent dies, is a deeply traumatic experience. I do stress, the residential home must be well run and resourced with excellent support staff – and most are.

  11. Brendon 11
    27 November 2016 at 4:36 pm

    On my area of interest -housing affordability. I can say that what John Key was saying is full of holes.

    In my opinion John Key is desperate to put out the fire of Generation Rent versus Generation Own narrative. On The Nation, he was telling a nice story about housing construction picking up -that there is a wall of housing coming on stream and the lag effect will eventually sort out the housing market…..that the growing economy will easily cope with the Kaikoura earthquake and a combination of tax cuts and grants for low income families are coming soon to fairly divvy up the gains from a growing economy….

    Of course, John Key’s story is half true and half spin. For instance -Canterbury has had a residential building boom far exceeding any previous boom and that combined with section prices being under $200k in places like Rolleston and Rangiora put a lid on all house price rises in Greater Christchurch. The Auckland residential boom has yet to ramp up to the size of the early 2000’s building boom under Clark and Cullen and that building boom was inadequate to contain house price rises back then, so why would a smaller building boom now contain prices? On the price side of the equation, land banking is far greater in Auckland and section prices are 50 to 100% greater than Canterbury and they are still rising. So I doubt John Key’s lag effect story.

    As to whether the property ‘haves’ can compensate the ‘have-not’s’ with tax cuts and grants -again Clark and Cullen tried that with Working for Families and it didn’t work. House prices and rents have increased much, much faster than incomes since 2008 and the compensating tax cuts or grants would need to be massive.

    What is need is a structural reforms to even up the playing field between Generation Rent and Generation Own. In my opinion if reforms are not provided then the risk of some sort of revolution down the track could rise to dangerous levels.

    I wrote a bit more about this here. https://medium.com/@brendon_harre/housing-affordability-learning-from-experience-247a7247b408#.wlubdgk9i

  12. Guerilla Surgeon 12
    28 November 2016 at 7:32 am

    Not very often I agree with John Key, but treasuries predictions have been so far off over the years that I think they’re probably about as much use as teats on a bull. I’ve often suggested that they be disbanded – simply as revenge for their suggestions about disbanding other departments. 🙂 But even so – fun.

  13. Macro 13
    28 November 2016 at 9:53 am

    As Lady Susan Vernon says, “Facts are such horrid things”.

  15. Murray Simmonds 15
    28 November 2016 at 12:47 pm

    it amazes me that a couple of good interviewers can ask about a hundred intelligent and incisive questions on a variety of important topics, and yet get precisely the same response to all of them.

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