Articles published in September, 2010

1. Who Cares?

   Published on Thursday, September 30th, 2010
   As at today there are 9 days left until the postal ballots close for local body elections throughout the country.

   As with previous years the percentage of eligible voters actually casting a vote is expected to be embarrassingly low. In 2007, when we last went to the ballot to elect our local leaders, only around 40% percent of eligible voters bothered to undertake the task of ticking selected candidates from an alphabetical list, putting their selection in a freepost envelope and posting it off before the closing date.

   Hardly an arduous task – so why the great disconnect?

   One reason might be the sheer number of positions that are required to be filled and the numbers of people that we are required to choose from. It is all a bit overwhelming. In most regions elections are open for at least a mayor, council (usually around 10 councillors) and a district health board. Some regions also have the added responsibilities of electing Community Boards and a Licensing Trust. That can mean upwards of 30 names on one ballot paper!

   Trend analysis of local body elections show that historically turnover in councils and local boards are very low. Once name recognition has been established with local constituents it is likely that voters will return a familiar name and/or face rather than elect someone that they haven’t heard of. This is of course if they decide to vote at all.

   Voting becomes much more of a ‘comfort’ thing – better the devil you know (or at least know slightly more about).

   Another reason for the voter disconnect could be that we just don’t care. There is a perception that policies don’t seem to matter as much in local government. Nothing however could be further from the truth.

   The policies set by District/City Councils, for example, determine the provision of local infrastructure – such as roading, water, sewerage and stormwater; buildings and land use; recreational facilities; environmental safety – district emergency management, civil defence preparedness and public health inspections. Regional Councils’ responsibilities include – management of freshwater, land, air and coastal waters; mitigating soil erosion and flood control; regional land transport planning and passenger services and harbour navigation. 

   Admittedly none of this is particularly sexy stuff but no one can argue that the policy decisions made by local authorities are not fundamental to our public wellbeing.

   Whatever the reason – 60% of us don’t feel motivated enough to vote in local elections.

   Do you care?

   Posted in Politics, PR Matters

2. Finding fairness for all victims is what will define us

   Published on Friday, September 24th, 2010
   Though of a similar magnitude, the contrast between the initial human impact of the Christchurch and Haiti earthquakes could not have been more stark.  No doubt this was a factor that prompted former Prime Minister Helen Clark to promote New Zealand as an example to the world of earthquake preparedness.

   While the initial response phases of the Christchurch quake appear to be behind us, the shock and the basic clean-up, the most difficult period for the victims is still ahead. There have been many stories of good and bad fortune, but unlike Haiti where the human impact was immediate and huge, returning to life “the way we were” is well into the future, if at all. The frustrations and anger vented in recent days by a group of Avonside residents are a portent of things to come. While local councils, the EQC and insurance companies scramble to meet the expectations of their customers, lasting solutions are many months away. No matter how hard those in positions of responsibility work – whether it is government, councils or insurance companies, their effort will undoubtedly fall short of expectations.

   What of those people who are not customers of insurance companies and the EQC? What is their plight and who will pay for the necessary rebuilding and/or repairs to their homes?  So far there have been mainly vague and oblique references to the effect that those in the most need will be “looked after”.

   A solution will have to be found for the estimated 5% uninsured – around 5000 people – and there will need to be a measure of fairness in the way these folk are dealt with versus the insured.  For example, would it be fair if the uninsured received preferential access to the all-purpose fund that is attracting public and private donations?

   The plight of both the insured and the uninsured will attract the media’s attention in the months ahead, and we can expect the uninsured to become the real causes célèbres, our “Haitians”, because that’s what happens. 

   There must be fairness for all victims, and I believe it will be the responses to these issues that will define us, perhaps better than Helen Clark’s spotlight on our preparedness.

   Posted in PR Matters

3. Three countries, three voting systems, same end result

   Published on Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
   Prime Minister John Key has voiced concerns that the Act Party’s ‘debacle’ is likely to turn the public off MMP.

   He is quoted as saying “I think it will increase the likelihood that people will vote MMP out”.

   What he doesn’t make clear is whether he thinks that in voting out MMP the electorate will turn back to first past the post or to some other form of proportional representation

   Based on the recent elections in Britain, Australia and in New Zealand, perhaps the answer doesn’t matter.

   In Britain the voting system is ‘first past the post’, and in their most recent election the British ended up with a coalition government.

   In Australia they have AV (alternative vote) where preference voting is used until a candidate emerges as the winner, and in their recent election they too ended up with a coalition government.

   So in three different administrations, three different systems produced the same result – no one party having sufficient votes to govern by themselves.

   One positive is that in all three countries the party that had the highest number of votes attracted enough support from smaller parties to become the leader of the government, so there is some legitimacy to the claim they govern ‘by the will of the people’.

   The challenges facing parliamentary democracy go far deeper than the voting system employed.

   Society has changed. Less of us are prepared to give unequivocal, life-long allegiance to any cause or institution, whether its politics, religion, sport or brands. We are more questioning, privately and publicly, and we have greater access to a variety of opinions and information from global sources.

   When we do get the chance to vote for a method of electing our MPs let’s hope we end up with a clear winner – a close result would really cause consternation.

   Posted in Politics, PR Matters

4. Radio Stands Tall When Canterbury Earthquake Hits

   Published on Wednesday, September 8th, 2010
   While TVNZ proudly proclaimed that 2 million Kiwis tuned in to its coverage of the Canterbury earthquake, the run-away winner story-teller in the first hours of the disaster was radio.

   By 7am on Saturday morning National Radio and Newstalk ZB were bringing us eye witness descriptions from people – professionals and the public – who painted images of the devastation for us with their verbal accounts.

   On ZB anchor man Larry Williams was superb – seamlessly ensuring listeners understood the big picture, bringing us the personal tragedies while sending out a steady stream of civil emergency messages to those that needed vital information.

   It was compelling, and radio at its very best.

   Compare that to TV1 and TV3 at 7am. What earthquake! We were being served up reruns of ‘entertainment’ programmes. Not even an on screen caption mentioning our largest ever recorded earthquake had occurred.

   Naturally BBC and CNN were telling the world about it. What an indictment of our own television news services that we had to go overseas to find out what was happening in our own country.

   Some time after 8am TV1 finally woke from its slumber and started to bring us excellent coverage, and we were able to ‘see’ what ZB had been describing brilliantly for an hour. TV3 had roused itself to putting up an onscreen caption under its entertainment programmes telling us it would bring us news of the earthquake from 11am. ‘News’ – by then it was ‘history’.

   Social media also found the going tough as a communication medium through a combination of overloading, civil defence requesting people to restrict cell phone use to reserve capacity for emergency services, and the battery back up to power cell sites running low.

   The other standout was Mayor Bob Parker. It was a case of cometh the hour, cometh the man. Authoritative and calm, he exuded all that you want from the person in control when disaster strikes.

   Posted in Crisis Communications, Journalism, Media landscape, PR Matters