Hierarchy of a mistake: Gerry Brownlee

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Batman

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#150511 25-Jul-2014 06:43

Everybody makes mistakes. Sometimes you resign, sometimes other people sack you, most of the time life goes on.

Helen Clarke speeds, police officer loses job
Maurice Williamson talks to police, he resigns
David Cunliffe talks to police, life goes on
Winston Peters lies to 4 million people, life goes on
Shane xxx watches porn on our money, life goes on

Surely walking thru the wrong door is tickadyboo?

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#1095349 25-Jul-2014 07:00

I’d prefer if politicians focused their time and energy on improving things for New Zealanders and the greater good in general. Yes, all sides make mistakes and do stupid things. Deal with it (discipline if appropriate) and move on. Continuous bickering and nitpicking does nothing to solve poor living conditions in South Auckland or to shorten hospital waiting lists. Media sensationalism doesn’t help.

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MikeB4

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#1095350 25-Jul-2014 07:29

If it were a genuine mistake then no one is infallible end of story, if he was using his political position to arrogantly circumvent airport security and regulations then he should go.

SaltyNZ

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#1095351 25-Jul-2014 07:48

Airport security is a joke. I have to stand in line for hours geting X-rayed, metal-detected, having to put my 2x100mL bottles of liquid in a plastic bag because that's somehow perfectly safe while a single 200mL bottle not in a plastic bag could bring down the airplane, prove my laptop is a laptop and not a bomb, get sometimes randomly selected for an explosives swab... etc. To be fair, the Auckland airport security people are really nice and professional and perfectly well aware there's zero chance anyone around here is a terrorist. But still: as a normal person I have to put up will all that bulls***. Gerry Brownlee is in a hurry and so he just walks through a security door, and that's OK.

I expect politicians to be arrogant twats, but that really annoys me, and I don't even fly that often anymore. Personally I think he should have been treated exactly the same as any normal person who tried that stunt. Detained, thoroughly searched, questioned, and made to miss his flight, before being released, with his phone and laptop confiscated as evidence for further investigation.

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MikeB4

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#1095353 25-Jul-2014 07:57

Remember the Fluffy Ads?

give him to the pilot and he can throw him out the window. Hang we're talking Jerry Brownlee, hmmm fly him by a RNZAF C130 they can give him to the cargo hander and he can throw him out the cargo ramp/door.

freitasm

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#1095371 25-Jul-2014 08:19

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.

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#1095373 25-Jul-2014 08:21

Given the present pace of earthquake recovery in Canterbury and the state of NZ roads, I'm surprised that the Minister responsible for not achieving anything quickly at all could have been in such a hurry to get anywhere. He lives close to the airport - it's not as if he has an excuse for checking in late. If he'd successfully resigned from either of his portfolios, it's hard to imagine that the impact would have been anything but positive.

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#1095381 25-Jul-2014 08:39

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?

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#1095382 25-Jul-2014 08:41

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)

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#1095383 25-Jul-2014 08:43

As a comparison the Japanese tsunami happened around the same time and within 3 months every piece of rubble had vanished, within 12 months it had all been rebuilt

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#1095384 25-Jul-2014 08:44

SaltyNZ: Airport security is a joke. I have to stand in line for hours geting X-rayed, metal-detected, having to put my 2x100mL bottles of liquid in a plastic bag because that's somehow perfectly safe while a single 200mL bottle not in a plastic bag could bring down the airplane, prove my laptop is a laptop and not a bomb, get sometimes randomly selected for an explosives swab... etc. To be fair, the Auckland airport security people are really nice and professional and perfectly well aware there's zero chance anyone around here is a terrorist. But still: as a normal person I have to put up will all that bulls***. Gerry Brownlee is in a hurry and so he just walks through a security door, and that's OK.

I expect politicians to be arrogant twats, but that really annoys me, and I don't even fly that often anymore. Personally I think he should have been treated exactly the same as any normal person who tried that stunt. Detained, thoroughly searched, questioned, and made to miss his flight, before being released, with his phone and laptop confiscated as evidence for further investigation.

It's definitely not ok. No one says it's ok. But I think w should let the investigation run it's course and then deliver the punishment. He's offered to resign, what more can he do? Flog himself with a whip?

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#1095388 25-Jul-2014 08:52

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?

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#1095389 25-Jul-2014 08:55

joker97:
It's definitely not ok. No one says it's ok. But I think w should let the investigation run it's course and then deliver the punishment. He's offered to resign, what more can he do? Flog himself with a whip?

I'm not saying he should resign. I'm saying he should have been treated the same as anyone else would have been under the circumstances. Clearly he was not, because he's Gerry Brownlee. The security is there to protect people. Breaching it is either a serious offence that puts lives in danger or it isn't. It shouldn't matter who breached it.

Personally, I would lean towards treating any breach as an honest mistake unless obvious that it wasn't, because the reality is that you're more likely to be killed driving to the airport than in a plane crash - let alone a plane crash caused by a terrorist. But if we insist that the world of scheming terrorists outnumbers the common or garden tired, fed-up air passenger, then Gerry Brownlee should have been treated like any other potential terrorist. That is what annoys me.

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heavenlywild

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#1095390 25-Jul-2014 08:56

Storm in a tea cup.

Enough said.

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MikeB4

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#1095391 25-Jul-2014 08:58

heavenlywild: Storm in a tea cup.

Enough said.

It would have to be a big tea cup

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#1095392 25-Jul-2014 08:58

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...

Doing your best is much more important than being the best.

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