Our PM Jacinda Ardern (and the government)

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#2684944 31-Mar-2021 17:51

GV27:
A re-announcement of Light Rail today, with no added detail or priority for the North West part of Auckland.

What a farce.

The north west corridor hasn't been part of the light rail project for 2 years. Why would you expect something that was not in scope to be part of the announcement?

GV27

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#2684954 31-Mar-2021 18:01

Handle9:
The north west corridor hasn't been part of the light rail project for 2 years. Why would you expect something that was not in scope to be part of the announcement?

It was in the 2017 policy announcement. It was then slated to be done after CC2M. it was never formally ruled out or discounted from the project.

Then an FYI request turned up that literally nothing had been done on it at all - and the entire project became obsessed with airport travel times and a possible light metro system.

The fact they just stopped talking about rapid transit in the North West after promising it shouldn't be some get out of jail free card.

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#2685246 1-Apr-2021 11:12

GV27:
A re-announcement of Light Rail today, with no added detail or priority for the North West part of Auckland.

What a farce.

Short term memory of the average kiwi I reckon lasts about 2 years 6 months

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#2718915 6-Jun-2021 11:10

Interesting opinion piece on the state of information flow.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/125352433/this-government-promised-to-be-open-and-transparent-but-it-is-an-artfullycrafted-mirage

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Fred99

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#2718948 6-Jun-2021 14:17

Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi opted instead to call a short-notice press conference – to which I was deliberately not invited. They didn’t like the questions, and wanted to get ahead of Stuff’s story, to shape the narrative.

Well that's a big claim - without being backed up with a shred of evidence I call BS, sour grapes, whatever.

Many of my colleagues say the same

Argumentum ab auctoritate - she should know better. That's a favourite line of conspiracy theorists. Think Trump - "many people are saying - abcxyz".

She should put up or shut up.

The OIA has been broken for a very long time (IMO). Political hit journalism disguised as an "opinion piece" isn't the way to fix it.

Handle9

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#2718955 6-Jun-2021 15:01

The piece is pretty reasonable.

Much more pressure should be applied, especially as the government has kicked the can on OIA reform. It's hardly unique for an opposition to make lots of complaints about being open then deciding not to be once in power. It's in their best interests to delay it.

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Fred99

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#2718964 6-Jun-2021 15:30

Handle9: The piece is pretty reasonable.

Much more pressure should be applied, especially as the government has kicked the can on OIA reform. It's hardly unique for an opposition to make lots of complaints about being open then deciding not to be once in power. It's in their best interests to delay it.

In that things haven't improved against claims made that they would. Sure.

In the things I criticised - nope.

Add in this:

Take the last week. Two senior Stuff journalists attempted to interview Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta, at a time when the China-Australia-New-Zealand relationship is under intense international scrutiny.

It didn’t happen. Not because of any geo-political sensitivities. Nor something as trivial as a diary clash. The paranoid and hyper-sensitive minister objected to taking questions from two journalists at once.

"Not because of any geopolitical sensitivities"? She must be living under a rock. This was going on:

"China has slammed “gross interference” from New Zealand and Australia after the two countries issued a joint statement expressing concern about Xinjiang and Hong Kong."

Handle9

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#2718976 6-Jun-2021 16:39

Fred99:

Take the last week. Two senior Stuff journalists attempted to interview Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta, at a time when the China-Australia-New-Zealand relationship is under intense international scrutiny.

It didn’t happen. Not because of any geo-political sensitivities. Nor something as trivial as a diary clash. The paranoid and hyper-sensitive minister objected to taking questions from two journalists at once.

"Not because of any geopolitical sensitivities"? She must be living under a rock. This was going on:

"China has slammed “gross interference” from New Zealand and Australia after the two countries issued a joint statement expressing concern about Xinjiang and Hong Kong."

So you are saying the ministers staff lied when they refused the interview on that basis?

Fred99

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#2718979 6-Jun-2021 17:00

Handle9:

So ~~you are~~ are you saying the ministers staff lied when they refused the interview on that basis?

No. (fixed your question for you)

Is there any evidence the journalist is telling the truth?

Should there be an expectation that a minister grant an interview to each and every journalist who requests one?

Given that Five Eyes was an integral part of the geopolitical "differences" and that was being played for something it wasn't - by an extremely disingenuous muck-raking campaign from a certain Australian media network (not part of the Murdoch empire for a change), then regurgitated in UK tabloids etc, I don't blame her for being extremely cautious with interviews.

Handle9

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#2718981 6-Jun-2021 17:07

There's an expectation that they would give a reason for declining an interview with Vance, who is generally a pretty effective journalist. If they lie then that's on them - I certainly find Vance far more credible than the governments PR people.

Fred99

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#2718985 6-Jun-2021 17:37

Handle9:

There's an expectation that they would give a reason for declining an interview with Vance, who is generally a pretty effective journalist. If they lie then that's on them - I certainly find Vance far more credible than the governments PR people.

Is telling her that they're only granting one interview, and that's to another journalist and not several at one time "lying"?

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Handle9

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#2718988 6-Jun-2021 17:50

Fred99:

Handle9:

There's an expectation that they would give a reason for declining an interview with Vance, who is generally a pretty effective journalist. If they lie then that's on them - I certainly find Vance far more credible than the governments PR people.

Is telling her that they're only granting one interview, and that's to another journalist and not several at one time "lying"?

You tell me - you insinuated there was more to declining the interview than the reason stated.

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#2718993 6-Jun-2021 18:11

Handle9:

You tell me - you insinuated there was more to declining the interview than the reason stated.

Vance claimed that there were "no geo-political sensitivities".

The "more to" I added was she'd have to be living under a rock to have that opinion. I'm trying to think of a topical issue for NZ that is even close to as geo-politically sensitive" than the China / Aus/ NZ situation. One misinterpreted statement could have massive consequences.

Even "Scotty from Marketing" seemed to get it, shut things down very quickly.

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#2720023 6-Jun-2021 21:49

Fred, did you read the article? Vance did not claim there were no geo-political sensitivities, but instead said this wasnt a reason used not to give the interview.

The reason given for the Foreign Minister to not do the interview was beause she didn't want to front two journalists at once. The way I read it she could have uses any excuse inludng the geo-political one but she didn't.

One of my take outs was that in spite of the Prime Minister making the claim that this government would be open and transparent, it is anything but, especially in comparision to previous governments. They decide who they talk to and when.

I was staggered by the increase in the number of press secretaries employed by the PM and her Ministers. Same goes for many of the ministries. The increase in the numbers of PR people is out of this world. Our taxes are being used to BS us instead of the money being spent productively.

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Handle9

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#2720025 6-Jun-2021 22:11

Technofreak:

One of my take outs was that in spite of the Prime Minister making the claim that this government would be open and transparent, it is anything but, especially in comparision to previous governments. They decide who they talk to and when.

I was staggered by the increase in the number of press secretaries employed by the PM and her Ministers. Same goes for many of the ministries. The increase in the numbers of PR people is out of this world. Our taxes are being used to BS us instead of the money being spent productively.

This was pioneered by the Key government. They effectively stopped answering to the media more than 10 years ago.

They also consistently abused the OIA and the "no surprises" policy. The Ardern government is just more of the same. Social media has given them even less reason to talk to the media.

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