The right work themselves into a frenzy about Ardern and Curran

Written By: - Date published: 3:52 pm, September 7th, 2018 - 65 comments
Categories: blogs, David Farrar, Dirty Politics, dpf, jacinda ardern, labour - Tags:

The latest right wing beat up is that Jacinda told a porkie this morning to Chris Lynch on Newstalk ZB.

In the interests of balance, as well as reality and fact checking here is the transcript. JA is Ardern and CL is Lynch.

JA – Good morning

CL – Have you spoken to Clare Curran yet?

JA – Yes I have.

CL – About what?

JA – About the past couple of days, just about what’s been going on for her. Yep as you would expect.

…

CL – Have you considered as Prime Minister cutting ties with Clare Curran because some would suggest she is becoming a liability to your Government.

JA – Keep in mind she did not put her appointment in a diary and she lost her position in Cabinet over it.

CL – Are you considering cutting ties with her, firing her?

JA – No, because I think she’s paid her price. I have huge expectations of my ministers and those in the ministry but I also accept that from time to time they will also have bad days. I have to keep in mind that we do want to make sure that we don’t set the bar so high that you can’t have a situation where you show a bit of human frailty and lose your job over it.

Clearly every answer that Jacinda gave was correct. She was not considering firing Curran and Curran jumped rather than was pushed. In both tone and context her answers were correct.

Perhaps she could have volunteered the information that Curran had tendered her resignation but allowing Curran the ability to announce it herself is the sort of thing a compassionate leader would do.

DPF thinks that there is some sort of conspiracy happening because the leader’s office sent him a transcript without the word “cutting ties with her”. What nonsense. Curran remains a member of the caucus. Of course Ardern is not cutting ties with Curran.

This will not stop the usual suspects from asserting otherwise, loudly.

65 comments on “The right work themselves into a frenzy about Ardern and Curran ”

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  1. lprent 1
    7 September 2018 at 4:13 pm

    David Farrar is an idiot troll with the political instincts of a private eye dumpster diver.

    There are few repugnant things that are now below his partisan approach to anything.

    The transcript above pretty clearly shows how far he is willing to lie in the pursuit of his stupidity.

    I guess that being a pollster for an opposition party allows for fewer scruples.

    (see – his kind of sleaze is easy to duplicate.)

    • Stunned Mullet 1.2
      7 September 2018 at 5:03 pm

      • lprent 1.3.1
        7 September 2018 at 10:03 pm

        Yeah it reads just like the last time that Farrar’s polling company Curia called me. The same kind of dumbarse bullshit that kept John Key alive politically as a kind of limp marionette jerked around by issue polling.

        Of course over 9 years, it meant that nothing much was achieved except to make WINS stupidly aggressive wasting money as they attempted to get the poor to live in their cars, oh and I forgot – there was a stupid referendum and a few sporting circuses especially for the idiots who voted National.

        To be frank I couldn’t give a shit about word merchants like Farrar, Key and (unfortunately) Curran and the few other waffling politicians. They don’t do anything substantive and they can’t build anything up apart from their inflated egos. Basically I view them as being largely useless and lacking in any real skills outside of self-promotion.

        But I’ve spent my life building software, companies, and businesses. Unlike those types of useless dipshits, I only have occasional excursions into the political sphere, when I defensively help the few politicians that I think are worth adding support to.

    • dukeofurl 1.4
      7 September 2018 at 6:57 pm

      Yet because of his blog belongs to the NZ Media Council he is able to get transcripts from The PMs department as a media outlet !

    • Ngungukai 1.5
      8 September 2018 at 3:09 pm

      The right wing rats and trolls are having an orgy at Kiwi Blog and Radio NZ over Clare Curran ?

  2. Chuck 2
    7 September 2018 at 4:37 pm

    From DPF: “This just shows again that the political management is so lacking. They’ve turned a story about Curran resigning into a story about the PM.”

    More than “lacking” its terrible management. Ardern had media interviews this morning… the best case was that Ardern had to dance on a head of a pin…Labour need Helen Clark to come back in and sort there shit out 🙂

    Meka is next up…

  3. chris73 3
    7 September 2018 at 4:47 pm

    “Perhaps she could have volunteered the information that Curran had tendered her resignation”

    The thng is though that Jacinda made a quite a big deal about telling lies as a politician during the debates and she didn’t lie today but she also skirted around and played cute with the truth and people are generally tuned into when a politician is lying or dancing on the head of a pin

    If nothing else shes spending her political capital on matters that she shouldn’t need to

    • McFlock 3.1
      7 September 2018 at 4:58 pm

      We saw what happen when Little said publicly that he’d considered resigning. The pack of hounds went berserk.

      Ardern was giving Curran an opportunity to sleep on it and reconsider, and talked it over with her mid-morning. Like any good boss whose employee has a bad day at work and considers quitting.

      Maybe that’s what she should have said today. But then the tories would have found something else to whinge about, or simply lied about what was said (again).

      Meh. Curran’s out, Ardern and Peters have had a day or two to talk about immigration in private. Nats shot themselves in the foot whille plucking the low-hanging fruit (Curran would have been there next week, doing something else).

      • Chuck 3.1.1
        7 September 2018 at 5:30 pm

        “Ardern was giving Curran an opportunity to sleep on it and reconsider, and talked it over with her mid-morning.”

        So then according to you, McFlock Ardern is lying when she said this…

        “In a statement this afternoon, Ardern said”, “Clare Curran contacted me last night to confirm her wish to resign as a minister and I accepted that resignation”.

        https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12121235

        You can’t have it both ways…one of the above is false.

        • McFlock 3.1.1.1
          7 September 2018 at 5:41 pm

          Nope.

          Once it’s announced, there’s no takey-backsies.

          Curran asked, Ardern accepted, and let her sleep on it.

    • Ankerrawshark 3.2
      7 September 2018 at 10:08 pm

      Yes but Chris 73 within half a day the public knew of the resignation. Surely when we have big news we can decide when and how it is released. I done that and I would suspect you have too. Think about it……

  4. Enough is Enough 4
    7 September 2018 at 4:56 pm

    For better or worse this is what politics is about Greg. There in no need to be outraged by it.

    As an opposition your one goal is to bring down the government, minister by minister if need be.

    When you knock one off, you rejoice. When you can frame the Prime Minister as being slippery with the truth, you yell it as loud as you can.

    That is what we expect of a good opposition

    • McFlock 4.1
      7 September 2018 at 5:05 pm

      No, it’s what we expect of a corrupt opposition: inventing stories and seeking only to disparage and destry.

      A good opposition will take good government policies and actions and sustain or improve them, while calling bad policies and behaviours to account. So things like improper or excessive use of funds, IT projects turning into gaping sores, yes even lax or misleading answers to the House are all things to be thrust into the spotlight. It encourages governments to do better in all aspects, cancelling the projects rather than going live with broken software, moderating entourage size and expenditures, and taking care to not meld the personal with the parliamentary.

      A corrupt opposition is just about scalps at any price.

    • ianmac 4.2
      7 September 2018 at 5:12 pm

      “As an opposition your one goal is to bring down the government, minister by minister if need be.”
      Really? It certainly looks like that with this Opposition, but I thought that their job was to hold the Government to account on behalf of the people. This means asking the right questions and expecting the right answers. It doesn’t mean persecuting.

      The Right are going for JA and CC right now on RNZ.

  5. Roy cartland 5
    7 September 2018 at 5:05 pm

    Even No Right Turn is at it. If there was ever a time to bray “but her emails!!!!”…

  6. mary_a 6
    7 September 2018 at 5:11 pm

    I have read the Chris Lynch interview with Jacinda Ardern several times and can’t find anything there indicating the PM is lying. Would be very difficult to come to any other conclusion, considering the eventual outcome, with Curran voluntarily resigning her position as minister.

    Now with hindsight of events over the past day or so, how is it possible to not interpret the CL/JA interview correctly? I guess bitterness and vindictiveness clouds the brain somewhat, making rational thought impossible, as seems to be the case here with Natz, along with its one eyed troupe of followers.

    Now how is Natz’s enquiry into itself going? Any finger pointing yet Simon?

    • Ed 6.1
      7 September 2018 at 5:26 pm

      Another piece of evidence to show why the media needs to be reformed.
      When will Labour realise?
      The corporate media is the enemy.

      • Philj 6.1.1
        7 September 2018 at 7:30 pm

        Not just the corporate media. Ironically RNZ, or should I say ‘National’Radio, have been quick to participate in the media frenzy.
        Clare failed on the promise of a quality commercial free TV channel. I asked former Labour broadcasting Minister, Marion Hobbes, for at least one decent TV channel 19 years ago. And we’re still waiting… RNZ are increasingly contracting out content provision to the private sector. How much, I would like to know. RNZ is going the way of TVNZ.

    • Carolyn_Nth 6.2
      7 September 2018 at 5:28 pm

      Jane Patterson of RNZ had a fair analysis of the situation. She said that Ardern worded her ZB response this morning very carefully. She said Ardern did not say Curran’s job was safe, but people may have got that impression from the interview. Patterson said, ultimately, the voters will decide, because there will be different views on the interview.

      She also said Key and Clark would have been more decisive and dismissed Curran. However, JP thinks it’s possible that Ardern will be a different kind of PM, because, ultimately, she was careful to allow Curran to make her own decision. And, also that it would be up to voters whether they like Ardern’s style.

      Bronwyn Hayward on twitter warned that rural South Dunedin may not be happy about Curran losing her ministerial positions, and this might indicate why Ardern was careful to let Curran make her own decision and be seen to do so. Hayward, said:

      South Dunedin is a very large electorate- both urban and rural-ironically there are no purely rural electorates left in the Otago region & having the voice of a Minister added status. So the emphasis will now need to be on Curran’s renewed focus on wider electorate needs. #nzpol

      Worth all #nzpol parties thinking about how disenfranchised rural communities like Otago feel with loss of electorate representation & how hard regional communities are working to stay afloat-finding new creative ways to hold conversations that bridge divides can enrich everyone

    • Chuck 6.3
      8 September 2018 at 9:02 am

      Make sure you read the full transcript of the ZB interview.

      In the ZB interview, Ardern was asked if she had considered cutting ties. Saying no to that exposes the lie.

      As Ardern had accepted Curran resignation the night before (or as some here suggest Ardern told Curran to sleep on it). Ardern had at the very least considered cutting ties. That is the lie.

      • Ross 6.3.1
        8 September 2018 at 3:00 pm

        In the ZB interview, Ardern was asked if she had considered cutting ties. Saying no to that exposes the lie.

        Only in your fevered imagination.

        By the way, what do you think were the worst of Key’s lies?

        • Chuck 6.3.1.1
          8 September 2018 at 5:10 pm

          “Only in your fevered imagination.”

          Ha, not just my imagination Ross.

          John Key has been and gone, as has Helen Clark etc.

          The media (and nonpartisan voters) will now treat Ardern with a little sideways look from this point onward. A tonne of political capital has just been spent by one J. Ardern.

        • terry 6.3.1.2
          9 September 2018 at 12:40 am

          not talking about key,she lied,simple.

  7. Booker 7
    7 September 2018 at 5:41 pm

    Considering the outright lies and extremely slippery use of language by John Key and Bill English when they were PMs, this is the most transparent PM we’ve had in a decade. That’s the real problem for Farrar – whenever he tries to say Ardern is misleading, it would have to be extreme to meet the usual behavior of the people he supports.

    • Chris T 7.1
      7 September 2018 at 6:06 pm

      They are no longer the govt

      Flogging the “What about them?” tends to just look a bit desperate after nearly a year

    • dukeofurl 7.2
      7 September 2018 at 6:59 pm

      Farrar seems to think Barclay ‘just made a little mistake’

      Forgets he lied through his teeth for more than year about a (small) crime and the whole thing was covered up by the Deputy PM.

  8. Chris T 8
    7 September 2018 at 6:04 pm

    How hard would it have been for Ardern to say something like Curran was “Concerned with the situation and assessing her position”

    Or some other PR crap

    Instead of looking dodgy as she does now (either justifiably or not)

    • nordy 8.1
      7 September 2018 at 6:18 pm

      Duh……you haven’t got the memo yet? The PM isn’t into ‘PR crap’, that was the last government you are thinking of.

      There is nothing dodgy about simple, plain speaking.

      Get used to it, it’s going to be round for quite a while.

      • Chris T 8.1.1
        7 September 2018 at 6:23 pm

        Oh right. She is the epitome of open govt

        I’d forgotten when her open govt minister got ditched for dishonesty

        Im not all the media calling the honesty of her comments into question.

        Which is what the punters pick up on.

        But good luck with that

      • terry 8.1.2
        9 September 2018 at 12:42 am

        So Lying is ok by your opinion.

        [lprent: You appear to be astroturfing assertions again. Lets nip that in the bud shall we. Banned for 3 weeks for lying by omitting any supporting arguments for your assertions (yes there is humour in that sentence) and for being a simply stupid troll. ]

    • McFlock 8.2
      7 September 2018 at 7:04 pm

      Because you’d still say “but she’d already resigned, Ardern told a LIE”.

      And you’d [edit-might have me chrisses mixed up soz] still smell blood so pour on the pressure over the next week.

      Whereas there was always the possibility that Curran would have a sleep, a think, a cup of tea, realise it’s all just penny-ante bullshit, come out reinvigorated and simply take more care about the details. Or formally decide to resign and make a prepared announcement in the morning.

      That was the opportunity she had with Ardern’s approach.

  9. pete 9
    7 September 2018 at 6:12 pm

    It’ time The PM cut back on media interviews. This being all over everything every day was started I think by Helen Clark. It means the PM is feeding into the Right wing media stories constantly ie giving them something to twist around for their own agenda. when there is a hot issue stay out of the media unless you have something to say to deflate the opposition. By constantly doing interview the PM is helping drive the issue.
    And people in the PM’s office should be more aware of being in the bubble. Out here among the masses no one knows who Clare Curran is, and certainly no one can figure what she did so wrong.

  10. Observer Tokoroa 10
    7 September 2018 at 6:25 pm

    The Pitiful Nats

    The people who flock around the unfortunate Simon Bridges, never explain why Simon is such a misfit.

    Surely, somebody in National could release to the public of New Zealand why they put an embarrassing and struggling non entity in charge of themselves.

    Too many skeletons in the Key/ English/ Bennett/ Collins cupboard ? Cupboards they don’t want opened.

    In the mean time, Simon is trying to wreck the whole of the East Coast. Does not want roads or rail fixed – or anything else. But then a misfit is a misfit – and always will be.

    He calls Gisborne a slush fund ! Brilliant.

    • Frankie and Benjie 10.1
      8 September 2018 at 8:35 am

      I think they have stuck with Britches because they like the willingness of their leader to say and do anything for power. And they at least see this ability in him. When some politicians leave they are acknowledged as having some honorable values by many sides. I struggle to see any sign of the Hon. quality in the Nats I’ve heard of. Maybe there are some lurking further down the list (hopefully looking on in horror).
      For example; Soimon no, Paula hell no, Brownlee pfrrt, Judith arrgggg, Mark Mitchell eek, and others I heard of don’t change the trend…

  11. Ankerrawshark 11
    7 September 2018 at 7:21 pm

    I think it is reasonable that the PM didn’t announce the news on the AM shows timing.

    She had the interview. She answered the questions. She wasn’t asked if Clare had offered her resignation. Clare may have wanted time to let her staff, friends and family know before it was made public. The PM may also have wanted to confirm kris F was willing and able to take over Clare’s port folio before the announcement was made, so that the process was stream lined.

    There is an attempt at the moment to develop the meme that Jacinda is a weak leader. That’s bull shit. She’s a fair and compassionate leader and there has been action taken on two ministers who have or may have messed up. I think the action has been appropriate. Btw I was in the house yesterday and all the coalition members who spoke came across really well. Very sharp and onto it. Opposition looked weak. Congratulations to Phil Twyford re the job he is doing with housing. Collins asked him about empty state houses. In 9 months it’s gone from one on twenty to one in fifty. Well done labour. Let’s talk about the real issues

  12. R.P Mcmurphy 12
    7 September 2018 at 7:39 pm

    Clare Curran is still an MP and has an electorate to service. The nationals party might crow about knocking her off her perch but the sun will still be shining on monday morning and simon dallow has had a let off before he finally gets fired.

  13. Lucy 13
    7 September 2018 at 7:51 pm

    I would say that no one has asked who in Clare Curran’s office is feeding stories to Melissa Lee.

  14. Labour_Voter 14
    7 September 2018 at 9:37 pm

    It would have been much better if the PM said, I am in communications with Ms Curran and leave it at that. Now however, you may spin, there is a perception that Ms Ardern was not accurate with her statements. In politics perception is everything. While I am not happy that this is a huge distraction with the policy programme of this government, no doubt this could have been managed much much better. No denying that.

  15. Ankerrawshark 15
    7 September 2018 at 10:15 pm

    Ok labour-voter…… keep looking for a very polished delivery. I am more concerned with the overall sense that the govt will be honest, will discipline problematic behavior and have our best interests at heart. On that score I give jacinda 10 out of 10

  16. Marg 16
    7 September 2018 at 10:44 pm

    Goodness me the trolls are out in force across social media and with such glee as well. It is almost as if Clare’s unfortunate errors are the first of their kind. There have been regular and similar goings-on in all Governments as long as I remember, that is 60+ years. Social media’s appalling responses are tantamount to bullying at its worst. It all seems totally over the top.

    What concerns me are the bully verbal tactics used by the Opposition, starting with the urgent debate Wednesday last, on Clare’s removal from her two portfolios. The screaming fits of SB and PB and others is quite ridiculous, one doesn’t have to scream to get ones point across If these bullying verbal and harassment tactics occurred in a ‘normal’ work place heads would roll- the employment court would be busy.

    I’m very much aware that the Oppositions role is to keep the Government responsible but personal attacks to demean, belittle to the point demonising with the intent to break someone is surely not acceptable in this day and age; in fact it is a form of violence. Is there any need for the parliamentary rhetorical space to be so confrontational and adversarial?

    Of course it is a place of rhetorical performance too, but the current performance is surely an example of very poor performance. Somehow society’s expectations as displayed in the current social media spat is that our Parliamentary rhetorical and performance space continue to be measured by male values of authoritativeness in decision making, and confrontational performance. Parliamentary rhetorical space has been built on centuries of male-loaded power so it will hard to break down. The Speaker should have a role to play in correcting this dismal performance?

  17. Delia 17
    8 September 2018 at 1:53 am

    Apart from looking for a leaker, what else has the Opposition got to do? I mean it is never about the good of NZ with them, is it?

  18. Ngungukai 18
    8 September 2018 at 11:13 am

    The National Party Opposition is in disarray and currently picking at the low hanging fruit, most NZ’ers do not give a rats arse about this trivial nonsense being promoted by MSM. The maturity and credibility of MSM in NZ is virtually zero on a scale of 1 to 10 ?

    • Kat 18.1
      8 September 2018 at 3:18 pm

      And David Farrar is hastily reworking his polling right at this “Clare” moment to leverage any “dissatisfaction” with the govt. Still, the Nat faithful believe they will be the govt in 2020. I guess for them living in hope is better than the despair of reality. Just how anyone with a minuscule of grey matter could seriously think that Bridges and Bennett will lead a National govt in 2020 is beyond any hope though.

      • Ffloyd 18.1.1
        8 September 2018 at 4:56 pm

        Now that you mention Bennet I would like to know how she got the position she has?

        • Kat 18.1.1.1
          8 September 2018 at 6:00 pm

          Sacrificial position, and if leader of the opposition is the worst job in politics then what does that say for being deputy leader of the opposition…….most likely explains her constantly moving facial expressions, raising of eyebrows, looking fervently about and arm waving in parliament.

  19. Venezia 19
    8 September 2018 at 11:17 am

    The government now needs to sort out the public broadcasting issues. Firstly Radio NZ national needs to have a name change. Secondly whoever writes the RNZ National news broadcasts needs to be fired. There is disproportionate time given to Soiman’s opinions as news, and that of National Party spokepersons in general. It is a disgrace. Thirdly, with a few exceptions, I have had enough of the low quality programming like Jim Mora and his mates infection of the airwaves.
    Next, NZ television in general is such low quality I never go there, and neither does anyone I know. So taxpayer funding is servicing the needs of advertisers and those who are semi-comatose or are in Rest Homes.
    Please, Please, – review, overhaul, find a new model for both Radio and TV. Please.

  20. Darien Fenton 20
    8 September 2018 at 12:28 pm

    OK all ; the righties have had their spew. For me, today Im just trying to imagine the awfulness and personal hurt for Clare Curran. And for all of you who tried to do a job on her in the past. Shame on you. Yes, theres work to do, but please lets not join in with this scalp hunting.

  21. Ed 21
    8 September 2018 at 5:27 pm

    The good.

    What a hero.

    “A vegan cafe owner who was issued an ultimatum to serve cow’s milk has generated 14,000 signatures of support, but will still close shop to walk the length of New Zealand barefoot in protest.

    Morgan Redfern-Hardisty roused controversy last week after he revealed the community trust that controls his Cool Beans Cafe in Mangawhai insisted he serve dairy options on the menu.

    Redfern-Hardisty had altered his menu on July 27 to exclusively plant-based products, including homemade oat milk for coffee, in an effort to reduce his environmental impact.”

  22. Dennis Frank 22
    9 September 2018 at 7:18 am

    There seems to be a valid reason for Jacinda being economical with the truth: the protocols around ministerial resignations. “I hadn’t received her resignation at that point,” said Ardern. “I hadn’t moved the warrants on. I hadn’t called or even spoke to the ministers who needed to take over the job. I hadn’t informed the cabinet office and so that would have been absolutely premature. Once all that was in place I was in a position to make clear what she had decided to do.”
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12121235

    Given that she was busy in Gisborne at the time, organising a major regional development announcement with Shane Jones, any fair-minded person can see that the delay in announcing the resignation is understandable.

    “Opposition Leader Simon Bridges said Ardern must explain why she “misled New Zealanders this morning by saying Ms Curran’s job was safe”.” Unless he can provide evidence that she did say that, Bridges is lying. I’ve seen no such evidence so far!