Work life balance

mickysavage
10 years ago
Categories: david cunliffe, john key, workers' rights
Tags: Fairfax, jonathan coleman

So David Cunliffe is now being criticized for having a short break with his family during the school holidays.

David is somewhat unusual for a politician. He is happily married to Karen who he has been with for decades and has two sons. His family life is important to him and he recently did what many kiwi families did and had a short break away. He is the leader of the Labour Party, a party that was formed to protect and enhance workers lives, so trying to get a bit of work life balance should not be thought of as a negative thing.

It is not as if he was the only politician to do this. Amongst many others John Key was in Hawaii and Jonathan Coleman was also away. Their absence meant that they were not able to adequately respond to the incredible disclosure this week that political pressure had been put on the SIS to allow Kim Dotcom to stay in New Zealand but I did not see their absence criticised in the main stream media.

And it is not as if David was not working at all. For instance here is an article about him campaigning with Clutha Southland’s candidate Dr Liz Craig and meeting the Queenstown Lakes District Mayor and Councillors.

To be honest I prefer if David takes the odd break. He has this habit of overworking himself and he is much more effective when he is not overtired.

And I must admit that I am getting tired of the media repeating attack lines rather than reporting the news. The repetition of the line that Labour’s chances would improve if Cunliffe was not leader has been shown to be statistical junk yet they still repeat it. Hell, based on the question asked I would be more inclined to vote National if John Key was not leader although the chances of this occurring would be practically rather than absolutely zero.

And to the unnamed Labour MP in the story the less about you I say the better.

So Fairfax how about you play your part and report on the issues that matter and apply the same rules to both parties. Our country’s future is at stake and we need to have balanced cover and proper consideration of the important issues as well as a system that respects politicians being able to spend time with their kids.