Hierarchy of a mistake: Gerry Brownlee

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MikeB4
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#1095396 25-Jul-2014 09:05

Bee: It was too small a thing to cost his job IMHO, but there should be some punishment for it - a cash fine relative to his salary, donated to a worthy charity...
But you can bet this story will go away now - he did the right thing - confess and offer up his job before the media circus got a hold of it, knowing full well John would not fire him and then get on with life...

I ask myself what if it were a staff member at the Transport Ministry that did this, what would Mr Brownlee be calling for ?

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

nate

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#1095397 25-Jul-2014 09:05

It always amazes me the crap that makes the news.

For example, this was the leading item last night on one news. The second was (and in my opinion should've been first) the bodies of those killed on MH17 returning home to the Netherlands.

Investigate, fine him and move on.

BlueShift

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#1095399 25-Jul-2014 09:08

He's just lucky our airport security folks aren't armed. Try that trick in the US and you're asking to be stopped permanently.

heavenlywild

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#1095400 25-Jul-2014 09:09

nate: It always amazes me the crap that makes the news.

For example, this was the leading item last night on one news. The second was (and in my opinion should've been first) the bodies of those killed on MH17 returning home to the Netherlands.

Investigate, fine him and move on.

Stole my thunder nate. Totally agree. There is just so much trash news out there. Give us some real news for goodness sakes.

trig42

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#1095403 25-Jul-2014 09:16

Big storm, little cup.

He should not have done it, he put the security guy in a horrible position.

He offered to resign his portfolio, his boss said no.

Should be the end of it, but the media (and I suppose the opposition) will drag it on and on and on. There are more important things going on in the world.

Bung

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#1095406 25-Jul-2014 09:24

Arriving at the Gate and deciding to try the exit door must have been deliberate. Whoever let him in should have still put him through the process. It would have been interesting to see if the plane left knowing he was there.

If he was going to pull rank why didn't he call the airline and say that he was late but at the airport? I've watched a flight from Hong Kong to China go through "Last Call" for 30 minutes waiting for a group of self importants that they couldn't leave behind.

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Fred99

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#1095407 25-Jul-2014 09:30

joker97: Half the earthquake delay is due to the minister (slow eqc small pace) and the other half is due to Canterbrians dumbness (they've spent tens of millions of dollars arguing about the wrecked cathedral and it remains a wreck. With that money wasted you could have half a suburb developed by now)

I think the cathedral arguments are just a distraction - not particularly significant in the overall scale of things. More money than would have been needed to repair the cathedral was wasted by EQC on their "assessments and scoping" of residential properties, this work carried out by people unqualified to do the work they were tasked to do, and before there were any real guidelines to how repairs could or should be carried out. The result is a pile of toilet paper - which cost hundreds of millions of dollars to produce.
Next was the capitulation of government to the insurers / reinsurers with hardly a squeak, then allowing IAG to gain a near monopoly on the entire NZ market.
Then the disingenuous and continuously repeated lie about the NZ taxpayer contribution to the recovery when:
The overrun on EQC reserves and reinsurance isn't an act of benevolence by (this) government. It's a long-standing obligation under the EQC Act.
The boost in returns from PAYE and GST on money spent (and to be spent) by private insurers (>$30 billion of "windfall activity") is never factored in to the net return. The real government net contribution is round about nil.
National have managed to be consistent with maintaining a perception that they are a unified force without dissent. Easy to do and successful of course when the polls are so much in your favour. If the polls turned, I doubt that Gerry would have many supporters within National - he is seen as a liability. IMO he's an abrasive bully - always has been, since his days as a woodwork teacher at St Bedes. But of course he'll romp home in his seat, and be the hero for probably increasing his majority.

dafman

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#1095410 25-Jul-2014 09:36

geekiegeek: Personally I have more of an issue with the airport security person who let him through. Surely they are trained to not allow people, ANY people, to circumvent security.

Who else has this person let through?

Seriously? This is the Minister of the Crown, our country's senior politician in charge of aviation security, charging through, entourage in tow, making it clear he is in no mood for discussion, and you blame an employee way down the pecking order for not taking the stand of a lifetime? The blame sits with Brownlee - he should know better.

lokhor

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#1095420 25-Jul-2014 09:51

I would be pretty suspicious that he was carrying an IED under that flab

All comments are my own opinion, and not that of my employer unless explicitly stated.

Klathman

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#1095421 25-Jul-2014 09:53

Absolutely agree that he needs to be punished for it. He's admitted he did it so shouldn't take long for the relevant agency to finish an investigation. Then a good sized fine sounds like a reasonable response. It's not like he was doing anything malicious just plain dumb. I'm sure he can afford the maximum fine of $2000 as a serious telling off.

robjg63

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#1095438 25-Jul-2014 10:15

freitasm: He bypassed something that all other citizens have to go through. He is not better than any other citizen, in a hurry or not.

He should not have done it. Even worse, transport comes under his portfolio, so there will always be the suspicion he's done it while using the "Do you know who you are talking to?" line, which would be unacceptable.

Even if he didn't use his position to influence that, it would be unacceptable under current regulations for any citizen - himself included - to bypass security, security being a joke or not.

What is really bad is how many time the PM John Key has just told the nation something on the lines of "I looked at it very seriously and didn't consider it a priority" or simply ignore something until it showed up in the media, or changed his mind. At the end of the day he is the Prime Minister and he constantly forgets or ignores "The buck stops here".

He constantly seem to think the citizenry in general doesn't have to know about things that go at his level, or that he shouldn't be accountable - himself or any of the ministers he nominate.

Disclaimer: I voted for National and I am always disgusted by the way the PM acts.

John Key (aka teflon John) is getting extremely skilled at just dismissing anything he doesnt want to discuss lately.
Strangely the public seems to lap it up.....

Brownlee abused his (assumed) privilege. He certainly should know better.
Jono and Ben ended up going to court over an airport 'prank'. Gerry Brownlee deliberately flouts the security regulations and gets away with it.

The regs are there for a reason. While the scenario might sound a bit over the top - the 'officials' with him might not have been officials at all and could have been using Brownlee as a way of getting onto the plane without going through security for malicious purposes. He should at the very least be prosecuted - he could have been potentially endangering other peoples lives.

On the other hand the aviation security people arent looking too flash either - They should have halted the flight.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

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bazzer

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#1095439 25-Jul-2014 10:15

Feels like a few ad hominems in this thread. Just saying...

Glassboy

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#1095457 25-Jul-2014 10:21

bazzer: Feels like a few ad hominems in this thread. Just saying...

They're probably quite comfortably at home with some of the incorrect assumptions :-)

geekiegeek

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#1095483 25-Jul-2014 10:51

KiwiNZ:
geekiegeek: Personally I have more of an issue with the airport security person who let him through. Surely they are trained to not allow people, ANY people, to circumvent security.

Who else has this person let through?

Remember the policeman who lost his job by doing his job and stopping a speeding Helen Clark? would you stop a high ranking Cabinet Minister? honestly would you?

Pretty sure it was the driver of the car not the cop who clocked them. Also pretty sure that in that case Helen didn't request that they speed and if this is the case then he was in fact breaking the law.

wasabi2k

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#1095484 25-Jul-2014 10:53

what would happen to a member of the public if this happened?

That should happen to the minister.

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