Politics

The tatty remnants of Occupy
Published on Thursday, January 26th, 2012

When the messages become so blurred, disparate and even meaningless, surely it’s time to retire the brand. Such is the case with the “Occupy” movement in this country.

There was a time and place for “Occupy” in our civic precincts, but it has now totally lost its legitimacy. The individuals involved in the tatty remnants of “Occupy” are entitled to their views and free to express them, but their encampment is no longer acceptable.

In Auckland, the Council’s limp and long drawn-out treatment of this issue has become a disgrace. John Minto has maintained that the illegal camp in Aotea Square was no more messy than other New Zealand campsites. I don’t know where he’s been, but I’d suggest it’s not to any Council or DOC parks around the Auckland region this summer.

The proper functioning of the city depends on the observance of a whole raft of bylaws, of which the “no camping” in Aotea Square is one. How do you respect a council which is penalising parking breaches on a daily basis, yet vacillating over the illegal presence of a few flimsy tents?

Perhaps Occupy is not the only blurred brand here.
Food for the nation
Published on Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

During the next four weeks New Zealanders’ combined spending on food, beverages and other grocery items is likely to once again break records. Even though purse strings are tighter, people will over-compensate for fear of being caught short.

Budget pressures aside, we forget how fortunate we are to have access to such an impressive choice of products, particularly as our Christmas falls in the summer season. It’s a reminder of the critical role the food and grocery industry plays in NZ on many different levels, domestically and in exports.

These important contributions were recognised at last month’s Food & Grocery Council Annual Conference, opened with a brief televised message from PM John Key. The PM stressed the importance of the food and beverage sector to New Zealand. Now, he would say that wouldn’t he? But in fact the stature of our food industry has been recognised in a special way by the past two governments.

When in office, Labour initiated a food and beverage taskforce chaired by Tony Nowell. Research undertaken by the taskforce started to crystallise for politicians the industry’s importance and opportunities. This has continued under National, no doubt assisted by the foreign earnings’ contributions of food exports that are impossible to ignore in the world’s troubled economic environment.

Our Government has set a target of tripling the country’s food and beverage exports over the next 15 years, meaning that the food and beverage sector will remain the linchpin of the New Zealand economy for many years to come.

In its food industry, New Zealand has an enviable strategic advantage and we should celebrate our food heroes, big and small. In the next month we’ll have every chance to do just that.

What’s on your food and beverage agenda this Christmas?
New iPads for MPs
Published on Thursday, December 1st, 2011

On arriving for their first day at Parliament yesterday, MPs were given a goodie bag with pen and notebook, iPad 2 and iPhone or Blackberry. The iPads were preloaded with key information new members could refer to during their induction programme.

No doubt there will be some of the usual criticisms leveled at our public servants receiving anything more than the basic tools of the trade, but in reality, issuing iPads makes perfect sense and the substantial benefits will be shared by taxpayers in many different ways.

While Danish and German parliaments have already announced their adoption of iPads, our own New Zealand Parliamentary Services are just as forward thinking and these modern tools of the trade have been sitting in Bowen House for some time ready for their new users.

We’ve moved a long way from the desktop computer and mobile phone to a range of items that might include a laptop, smart phone and iPad. Excessive for some, but basic essentials for others. Schools too are making iPads essential, and while many may balk at the cost in comparison to some prior technology innovations, it isn’t as bad as we might think.

Particularly when you bear in mind the cost of the ear-thumping stereo systems or the latest DVD player or flat screen TV – more expensive and probably a lot less essential and multi-purpose. Even so, here’s hoping those prices continue to lower as these almost essential life tools become as commonplace as televisions and telephones.

It’s all about the Personal Communication Mixology; the personal customisation of information, communication and technology tools and techniques we each adopt both consciously and unconsciously. This of course is influenced by individual access and ability combined with their learning and communication style. It’s a complex space that communication specialists like Network are constantly exploring and working in on behalf of clients.

For MPs, where the volume of reports and information around the house could probably keep a convoy of paper trucks busy, the ability to share and access information on a small device is an opportunity we would be mad to miss.

But we know that the opportunity is far more than this. It would therefore be fascinating to study the use of those two items provided in the goodie bags for each MP. Perhaps someone will do this. Meanwhile I love my iPad, iPhone and Macbook Pro which I liberally interchange depending on circumstances. But I am also rarely without a pen and paper.
Lessons from a “private conversation”
Published on Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

The best outcome we could hope from the “cuppa” saga would be that editors and their charges realign their news senses with the public’s expectations.

While there will always be legitimate stories with which the public, or at least sectors of it, will be uncomfortable, the consensus seems to be that our media lost its way in its treatment of this “private conversation”.

For much of last week, this story became an excuse for journalist hectoring, and the opportunity for some to build their careers on rudeness and intrusion behaviours in the so-called public good.

Before the polls showed people’s tiresomeness of this subject, surely on the basis of their professional antennae in-touch editors would have called time of this subject. Or is it that editorial judgement is now also determined by the polls?
Elections aren’t the only time to exercise democratic power
Published on Friday, November 18th, 2011

As the election campaigns unfold, the ‘lolly scramble’ of policy has been in full swing (as has the obligatory media distraction from the real issues at-hand). Political parties, and their people are interacting with their publics like there is no tomorrow… because for some there won’t be, at least not in Parliament.

The candidates and parties are doing almost anything they can to increase their name recognition and relevance to you. But it is also an ideal time for you to turn the tables and engage with your local MP or party spokespeople to state your issues of concern.

Of course, you are likely to have far more success if you have had previous and sustained connection with that key person or group. It’s vitally important that we keep in regular contact with our representatives, not just when they come knocking on your door every three years.

A common problem for many is knowing how best to contact public officials and what the appropriate protocols and procedures are for this. Granted, there are some unique considerations, but once understood, the opportunities are tremendous.

Network’s own work in Government Relations spans many years and many governments. In producing the New Zealand Government Directory we have cause to interact with nearly every single representative, department and organisation.

We know their pet peeves, such as spelling a name wrong or the incorrect salutation. And did you know that you do not need to put a stamp on an envelope to parliament?

One of the significant components of the New Zealand Government Directory is a comprehensive guide to contacting relevant people or government organisations. This essential guidance includes full biographical details and key contact numbers and emails. There’s also a searchable database at your fingertips to group relevant contacts and cross-reference with protocol guides on how to effectively target your concerns to the right people or entities.

We encourage you to check it out here and exercise your democratic right – not just once every three years!
Never mind policy, what’s on the tape?
Published on Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

It is hard not to feel that that the 2011 General Election has descended into farce. We’re now ten days out from the Election, and for nigh on three days our politicians aided and abetted by the national media have given us a diet of irrelevancy about a tape of a private conversation.

The PM raised a matter of principle about being secretly recorded in conversation over a cup of tea with the aspiring MP for Epsom, but before long our media are excusing the blatancy of this illegality and claiming the PM has something to hide if he’s not prepared to reveal what’s on the tape. In climbing into this matter, two of the other main parties, while tut-tutting at the secret recording, have been lavishly proffering public relations advice about what the PM should do because it “doesn’t look good” to have a private conversation and keep it that way.

It is a sign that politicians are now more interested in doing what “looks good” than explaining the social and economic measures that will advance our wellbeing over the next years. Is this because they judge us to be totally facile? Are they right, and is this what we want? Is it also a sign of the media is more interested in feeding us a diet of gossip and innuendo because they understand people are so disinterested in policy unless it is to directly affect them?

Surely it’s time to drop this nonsense of the tape and get back to debating the issues that matter so that we can have some substance on which to cast our votes. This goes for the lot of them.
A Time for Self Reflection
Published on Friday, September 23rd, 2011

With Parliament set to rise in a couple of weeks ahead of November’s general election we are about to head into the valedictory speech season. The last ‘hurrah’ for those MPs that have decided not to stand for re-election. This time around there will be 14 of them starting on 27th September with Green MP Sue Kedgley and finishing on October 5th with Simon Power.

I strongly encourage you to catch as many of these speeches as you can. All will be streaming live on the Parliament website or on Sky TV.

They will offer personal insights from our national leaders that we rarely see, regrettably due to the nature of the political game.

Based on a very quick estimate there is more than 200 years of collective parliamentary service departing over the next few weeks. In anyone’s book that represents a phenomenal amount of parliament experience and insight into the machineries of government.

There is no standard format for a valedictory speech other than conformance with the House standing orders. MPs are therefore free to dwell on their successes or otherwise and their musings on public life. Many with experience in the government benches reminisce about legislative triumphs, others who have spent their whole parliamentary career in the opposition benches will reflect on how they have tried to make New Zealand a better place. Some like to leave with a bang while others prefer to slip out quietly.

The topics and tone, the highlights and lowlights will be fascinating to observe over the coming weeks.
Tail Wagging the Dog?
Published on Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

Two high profile political polls have been released recently that have shown a significant gap between the two leading parties in New Zealand looking to form a government post 26th November. For the party strategists there is a risk that such large gaps can lead to a sense of panic on one side and complacency on the other. I do wonder sometimes however whether public opinion is driving poll results or polling results are actually driving public opinion. Is this a case of the ‘tail wagging the dog?’

Polling is generally undertaken by research companies directly phoning constituents at home at those inconvenient times of the day to gather their data. It is widely acknowledged however that home phoning does not capture a true cross section of society. Groups not to be represented in such sampling include the elderly (in rest homes and other institutions), the poor that do not have home phones and the younger mobile phone driven generation to name a few, but all of whom are clearly eligible to vote. Without trying to make sweeping generalisations, political polls tend to under represent the left and center-left parties for this reason.

The other factor is that widespread communication of polling results, particularly via the media, send strong messages that undoubtedly influence some voting patterns – particularly around strategic voting where constituents are hesitant about giving too much political power to one party. The end result is probably that those parties that are under-represented in the initial polling could be adversely affected by the polling methodology rather than actual public sentiment. It could be somewhat of a double whammy.

As Annette King recently said “bugger the polls”! She might be right.
Concern and outrage – time to chill
Published on Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011

Excuse me if I’ve said this before, but it’s sad when price is the only message of certain communication initiatives, and value is left unconsidered.

I for one welcomed the “glossy flyer” that came through the mail box from Auckland Council, inclusive of a “letter from Len”. While this may have contained nothing new for the bureaucratic who expressed “concern” and the councillor who found it “outrageous”, I found its content of interest.

We have reached the stage in our little country when concern and outrage are trotted out every time information is gained under the Official Information Act. Last week we had one of RNZ’s senior reporters wanting to know whether the Treasury got a better interest rate from the banks because they had lunch or dinner with their senior executives. It appears she sees no value whatsoever in business relationships.

It is time to cool it, in merely reporting the cost of everything without any effort to measure value.

As regard the glossy flyer, some say there were “cheaper and more effective ways to communicate”. OK, let’s hear them.
Social media and rule of the mob
Published on Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

Writing his opinion piece in the Dominion Post today under the descriptor “curmudgeon”, columnist Karl du Fresne says it is hard to recall a time when the tone of public discourse was more vicious and abusive. He cites the attacks on former EMA boss Alasdair Thompson and ACT leader Don Brash, saying little attempt was made to address the substance of the issues they raised. “Far easier to shout them down with epithets”.

The veteran journalist is in my view conservative when he says the level rancour in public debate has been cracked up tenfold by the internet, and puerile abuse trumps civilised discourse every time.

Du Fresne says that anonymity gives courage to cowards, and newspapers learned decades ago that they attracted a higher standard of letter by having people sign their own names rather than hide behind pseudonyms. Unfortunately I don’t think we will ever achieve the same level of maturity with social media. For all its positive attributes, it’s a tailor-made tool for those with a mob mentality.