Posts Tagged ‘John Key’

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?
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.
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.
Never mind the lost productivity. It’s a rich educational experience
Published on Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

There have been many calculations of the lost productivity arising from the Football World Cup from tiredness due to late night games and time spent on the internet chasing match reports.

Aside from the drama of the games, I believe the educational and cultural insights to be gained from the Event far outweigh the potential downturn in personal and collective productivity.

Take, for example, the editorial in a French newspaper on the ignominy faced by their national team. The sheer prose: “To have the worst soccer team at the World Cup was almost unbearable. To also have the most stupid is intolerable.”

This is Churchillian stuff.

Politics and sport must mix. How otherwise could we gauge the depths of misery being plumbed in France.

After the team’s boycott of practice, and only hours before their game with South Africa, the French Sports Minister, acting on the instruction of her President, rebuked the players and told them: “The government has to intervene as the reputation of France is at stake in this case”.

There are lessons here for Murray McCully and John Key, that should have been applied to Andy Haden.

But there is more. While Phil Goff assesses Chris Carter’s sincerity as he presses ahead with a letterbox drop in his constituency of Te Atatu, the French opposition, are laying responsibility for the players’ behaviour at the feet of President Sarkozy, whom they call the president of Bling Bling for his flashy style.

“It’s all about individualism, egotism, everyone for themselves, and the only way to judge human success is the cheque you get at the end of the month.”

Only sport and war deliver such passion. Let’s enjoy the rest of the World Cup. And go the All Whites.
Has our media diet become unhealthy or are we being fed what we are asking for?
Published on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Is there a disturbing trend towards tabloid style news items taking precedence over the real news? Just a few weeks ago the possibility that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had broken up was in our six pm news bulletins. Don’t get me wrong I have been known to read the odd gossip magazine but a good diet is all about balance, variety and moderation.

Dee Dee Myers’ piece in Vanity Fair discusses trivialisation of news as she examines the Tiger Woods story.

The entire country stops for Tiger yet when President Obama makes more important announcements the country barely pauses for breath. Her article concludes with the fact that finally the National Enquirer has been deemed eligible for a Pulitzer Prize. Now that is real news.

The Tiger Woods saga highlights the potential crisis we are facing in the world of news – that of tabloid style stories stopping the real news stories taking center stage. Rosemary McLeod’s column in the Sunday Star Times was right on the money.

Today’s Toyota story relating to their faulty vehicle accelerators is as important as the collapse of Enron, yet was second or third in the morning news items. The bigger story was a claim that Air New Zealand has a culture of excess drinking despite facts to the contrary being communicated clearly by their CEO. (Declaration of interest here, we do provide PR support to Air New Zealand.)

Given Tiger’s speech and Robin Brooke’s Close Up interview, is Performance Media a new art form? For audiences this is something we can watch and critique more easily than substantive news? In Tiger’s case we seem entirely focused on how he, and his team, is handling this crisis and how genuine the apology is. All know his speech was scripted, rehearsed and stage managed.

If the media and public know this, then who is to blame – why did the media cover it? For the simple reason they knew they could get an audience because it is just the sort of thing we love to watch. In today’s commercially competitive environment what will sell is what will make the news.

How can we make sure our media diet is balanced without it being so boring we simply gorge on junk or become undernourished and miss out on essential news and information that could be more relevant to our lives?
Government showing deft communication touch
Published on Friday, February 12th, 2010

The Government’s handling of the tax changes to be announced in the May budget show a masterly understanding of managing long term communications.

Delegate the task of putting forward ideas to a third party (a commission) and then immediately reject the most controversial (phew, it’s not going to be as bad as it could be!); talk up some of the remaining unpalatable ideas, and then in the first formal statement of the year reject them too (saved again!).

Now we have a pretty clear understanding of what will be in the budget some three months in advance, even if we don’t have the detail. By the time the announcements are made in May all the best emotional and rational condemnations from opponents will be out in the public domain, and Government can fine tune its final decisions to ease back on those that will upset us most.

By the time the changes are finally introduced in October (10 months from raising the issue to their implementation) we will have mentally adjusted, and rather than outrage we will take them in our stride.

It is good strategy, and the Government’s media managers are demonstrating a deft implementation touch.

Cast your mind over some of the other contentious issues – mining in conservation reserves; fundamental economic reform to ‘catch up with Australia’ and even the national standards for primary schools have been on the agenda for months.

When the going started to get tough over national standards, Key & Co showed their ability to up the game aggressively with a ministerial realignment, Key personally entering the confrontation, and outspoken challenges to the teacher’s union and boards of trustees.

Labour will undoubtedly have the skills to win a few skirmishes as we move into the year, but they are going to need to be at the top of their game to outmanoeuvre National.
Knowing the price of everything and value of nothing
Published on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

The Greens fess up to “making a mistake” in the way they used the accommodation subsidy for the benefit of their communal super fund; and Labour colleagues again rush to the defense of fellow MP Chris Carter over the largesse of his and his partner’s travel costs.

Meanwhile Finance Minister Bill English remains battered, bruised and potentially out of pocket over his Ministerial housing accommodation; and PM John Key travels business class to New York with his wife and children in “coach” on the same flight at their own expense.

The Hon Dr Michael Cullen spat the label of “rich pricks” at National in the early days of the Clark Government. Although on retirement he tried to expunge this jibe, it seems to have found deep roots in the political psyche.

Not only does National not harangue the abuses of others, but by its actions, it is beginning to affirm its wealth.

Apparently it is excusable for the sanctimonious Green’s to rort the system, and a Labour MP to travel on the most tenuous of causes, but the current Government feels it must account to different standard. Hence English foregoes legitimate expenses to keep his family together in Wellington, and the Prime Minister’s wife travels coach to the USA on “government business.”

There is a double standard, and it is that we are in an age when our politicians know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
No nonsence nanoscience
Published on Friday, September 25th, 2009

What a week when we’ve just witnessed the miracle of our very own John Key on Letterman , and a scientist tells us that immortality is only 20 years away.

The 61-year-old American, who’s been right before, says that at the rate our understanding of genes and computer technology is accelerating, new nanotechnologies will be capable of replacing worn out organs inside a couple of decades.

If that’s not tempting enough, nanotechnology is also being attributed with the ability to extend our mental capabilities to such an extent that humans will be capable of superhuman wonders like being able to write whole books in a matter of minutes.

But wait, at a recent liability symposium nanotechnology was highlighted as an emerging risk, despite the fact material and particles on a molecular or atomic scale are already in daily use in consumer products.

So nanotechnology, where small appears to be the new big, heralds in exciting new boons, but also signals some potential and as yet not-even-imagined pitfalls.

For example haven’t we been down this road before is with asbestos. This former wonder product has a fatal legacy and has delivered a hefty bill to the insurance industry because of mesothelia disease. This illness was unknown when the product was released for use.

So while some scientists may look forward to a world where humans have cyborg limbs thanks to nanobots, our suggestion is to tread wearily when claims of immortality are bandied about. Imagine going to hospitals to have a new liver dropped in like some car part….wait there could be something to this.
Organics will prosper – never mind the science
Published on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

There is no reason at all to believe the “organic” brand has been seriously damaged following the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) finding that there is essentially no nutritional difference between organic and conventionally produced foods.

Yes, in the wider market organic foods may have lost some of their lustre, but purchases of “brand organic” or “sub-brand organic” will remain loyal. Brands are about emotion, not science. Devotees of “brand organic” may have lost their nutritional leverage, but actual belief that they’re better for the environment has always been the big trust factor for organics (whether this is true or not). This is why organic purchasers will opt for often wilted produce over fresher conventional. Organic will continue to be an emotional rebellion against general agriculture regardless of how the science stacks up.

Paradoxically in New Zealand at least some of our best fruit and vegetable operators have adopted and adapted the lessons of organic production, so that the margin between the two systems are ever narrower.

The beneficiaries of the FSA research are those who’ve generally resisted the allure of organics, as their scepticism has been rewarded. They now feel less guilty, rather than more virtuous.

The triumph of emotion over science was revisited in the past week by the Prime Minister’s science mentor, Sir Peter Gluckman in the past week in an interview that touched on folate.
He was lamenting that science was the victim in the campaign against folic acid in bread, because the science was sound, and the opponent had undermined the decision by the use of shonky science.

And we continue to hear strident complaints about the importation of food and ingredients from China, when there is no scientific evidence for such complaints.

So, when it comes to food, decisions are closer to the heart than the head.
Not my cup of mea culpa
Published on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

“I’m sorry,” said Auckland Mayor John Banks yesterday, “It was a mistake for me to suggest that up to 40 percent of the city’s staff could lose their jobs.” Oh, he really didn’t mean it that 2700 council employees will be tossed out when the new Auckland super city is formed? It’s possible that the apology goes some way towards erasing this intentional or otherwise slip of tongue, but try as he might Mayor Banks can’t really take it back. This is because true or not the perception that mass redundancies will follow the seven council merger is now firmly on the agenda.

It’s just not that easy to retract words spoken in the media, as Paul Holmes knows only too well. The veteran broadcaster will be haunted by that ‘cheeky darkie’ reference to the United Nations head Kofi Annan until the end of his days. Christine Rankin too is bearing the brunt of the over-disclosure of her personal affairs. The Prime Minister has effectively put her on notice to stick to the issues of families and child abuse – not her private life. “That’s what I want to hear her talking about and nothing else,” Mr Key said at his post-cabinet press conference yesterday. No grey-area there.

Grey-areas further afield are causing the scandalous unravelling of the British parliament. The situation of MP’s spending has reached crisis point with Commons Speaker Michael Martin becoming the figurehead for the rancour. He has been described as the one “who has been dragging his feet on transparency and greater accountability in the way MP’s receive their expenses.” There are calls for Michael Martin to resign over excessive claiming; even the Queen has expressed disquiet. Not since the 17th century has a Speaker of the House of Westminster been forced out. It appears that the institution and the way its MP’s behave inside it has not kept pace with the current demands of accountability.

Our very own expenditure watchdog Rodney Hide would have a field day with the MP who claimed taxpayer’s coin to have the moat around his castle cleaned.

There are lessons to be learnt here, although long-gone are days of ivory towers and of men-only clubs. Westminster it appears is stuck in a time-warp. It needs to wake up, open the books and allow the public the level of scrutiny it demands. Because simply saying sorry no longer cuts the mustard.