So John Key was caught out today saying a little porkie. In a big blow of the old racist dog whistle he said that Governor General Jerry Mateparae has been jostled while walking onto Te Tii Marae at Waitangi .
Key had claimed:
He is the Queen’s representative here in New Zealand, he’s our head of state, and he deserves to be treated with respect when he goes actually to Waitangi to effectively be the Crown’s representative as part of the signing of the treaty. Having a couple of protesters or radicals effectively jostling the governor-general is undignified, it’s unwarranted and outright wrong,”
The Governor General denied however that he had been jostled. In a tweet he said:
My being jostled at Waitangi is news to me. I’m enjoying the scenery, the people and the day so far! Visiting HMNZS Wellington tonight.
Key replied to this rather unfortunate development by claiming that it was all the media’s fault. According to a spokesperson and reported at stuff:
Prime Minister John Key says media reports are to blame for his claim that “protesters or radicals” had been “effectively jostling” the governor-general at Waitangi today.
“The prime minister made his comments based on media reports and direct assertions from media, that the governor-general had been jostled on the marae,” a spokeswoman said in a statement.
“It’s obvious from media reports some kind of situation occurred and regardless of what happened exactly, it’s unfortunate the governor-general’s arrival was overshadowed by this.”
It is a shame that Key did not verify the accuracy of the allegation before getting the dog whistle out, presuming that he was actually told this. I wonder if we will now see a TV3 article calling Key dishonest?
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