NZ Herald: Disgrace to democracy

karol
10 years ago
Categories: accountability, auckland supercity, class war, making shit up, newspapers, spin
Tags: len brown, nz herald

So, once again the NZ Herald editors show their right wing leanings. The front page of the hard copy today is pure partisan propaganda:

The problem with Auckland City is in the undemocratic structure with in which the mayor operates. Until this is fixed, playing mayoral musical chairs will change little – except of course it provides the right with an opportunity to get someone even more accepting of their elitist, corporate-supporting, “neoliberal” agenda at the PR helm of the supercity.

The NZ Herald is trying to preempt and manipulate the outcome of tomorrow’s public meeting. Their front page is pure propaganda and (pre) electioneering.

Shame on them!

To get a more balanced analysis of Mayor Brown’s fall from grace and mis-deeds, see Russell Brown:

Brown won’t resign and the only way he could be made to is if he was convicted of a criminal office, which has not even been alleged. Were he a Minister of the Crown, serving at the pleasure of the Prime Minister, he would probably by now have put his hand up for some temporary time in the ministerial sin-bin, if only to make the story go away. That happens frequently enough in Parliamentary politics, but it can’t happen in this instance.

Complicating the matter for his councillors is the fact that even if they were to shame the mayor into stepping down, that would not necessarily be in the city’s interests. Brown’s first term was notable for his ability to get disparate groups on the council working together. By contrast, the centre-right can’t even work with each other. The shambles that led to a hopeless (and, as we now know, deeply compromised) newbie like John Palino carrying their flag this year is an indication of that bloc’s coherence.

See also, Chris Trotter:

The new Auckland “super city” was intended to be something else entirely. Its principal political architect, former local government minister Rodney Hide, wanted a city that could get things done swiftly and efficiently. That ruled out the parliamentary model of the UK and Australia which, being dominated by local political parties, was prone to pork-barrelling and horse-trading. Not being a conspicuous fan of either pork-barrelling or horse-trading, Hide opted instead for a lean, mean governance machine presided over by a mayor equipped with unprecedented executive powers.

No doubt the sort of figure Hide had in mind as the first mayor of his new super-city was a charismatic business tycoon; someone who could transform the Office of the Mayor into the workplace of a tough-minded, no-nonsense political CEO.

[…]

So eager was Hide to set up his new and streamlined governance structure for the super-sized Auckland City that he neglected to include in its constitutional design any mechanisms for bringing a wayward super mayor to heel.

Under Hide’s monstrously undemocratic supercity structure the CCO’s and predatorial corporates, like Sky City, have too much power; the elected councillors and board members have too little. The councillors are the ones that should represent all Aucklanders on crucial matters, in consultation with their local boards. Let’s wait to see what they have to say at tomorrow’s public meeting of the governing body.

The right wing NZ Herald editors, have misused their position in the news mediascape to produce some shameless, highly partisan and manipulative propaganda. They who do not have the interest of all Aucklanders at heart.