Key’s challenge to Deep Sea Oil Drilling Protesters

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NZ is prepared for an oil spill

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Key has made a challenge to Deep Sea Oil Drilling Protesters,

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"The comments I made in rebuttle were to the leader look, come to Wellington, spend a week with my ministers and their ministries. If at the end of that week you're proved to be right in the assertions you're making, I'll join your protest. "But if you're proved to be wrong, go out there and tell the protesters, because many of the things he was saying were just simply and utterly not correct. And that's why those people are protesting - because they've effectively got misinformation."

“The comments I made in rebuttle were to the leader look, come to Wellington, spend a week with my ministers and their ministries. If at the end of that week you’re proved to be right in the assertions you’re making, I’ll join your protest.

“But if you’re proved to be wrong, go out there and tell the protesters, because many of the things he was saying were just simply and utterly not correct. And that’s why those people are protesting – because they’ve effectively got misinformation.”

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That’s quite a challenge.

However, issuing such a challenge is ultimately futile. For a challenge to be accepted, there has to be a measure of trust on both sides.

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Quite simply, the days of trusting our current Prime Minister – with all his broken promises; bending the truth; lying by omission;  ducking responsibility; shifting blame onto others; telling only half the truth (or less); and outright lies – is long gone.

As just one example. Let’s not forget that when Greenpeace first released their modelling of a deep-sea oil blow-out, it was dismissed as “scare-mongering” by the Prime Minister,

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PM dismisses Greenpeace oil spill report

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Two months later, and documents released by Maritime New Zealand (prompted by an Official Information Act request for Anadarko’s discharge management plan) revealed even more disturbing news – Greenpeace had actually under-estimated the effects of a deep-sea oil blowout!!!

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Oil leak numbers far worse than assumed

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So Key’s dismissal of Greenpeace’s report had been wrong.  Greenpeace’s modelling was not only shown to be correct, but actually under-estimated any disaster scenario.

Did Key admit that his initial assessment of Greenpeace’s report was premature and wrong?

Did Key apologise?

Did the Anadarko report prompt Key to review his support for deep sea oil drilling?

Did Key announce “I’ll join your protest!”?

The answer to each of those four questions is a flat out; “No”.

So this blogger wonders; why should any protestor  take up Key’s challenge when our Prime Minister has already demonstrated he is not to be trusted?

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References

Radio NZ: PM dismisses Greenpeace oil spill report

Fairfax media: Oil leak numbers far worse than assumed

Radio NZ:  PM says deep sea protesters misled

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deep sea oil drilling new zealand

Above image acknowledgment: Francis Owen

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= fs =

5 COMMENTS

  1. “Ahem, come on, I always wipe up after any ejaculated “spill”, do you doubt I or my contracted explorers will not do the same?” JK

  2. I found his statement disturbing for two reasons. The first is that it is almost exactly the same as the Tag Oil boss used in his TV interview which proves the Govt and the Companies are closely aligned in their tactical PR approach.

    Secondly their strategy is to falsely quote individual Iwi members or Iwi generically to give some kind of weight to their statements and to undermine protest.

    Today Iwi in Taranaki have confirmed they do not approve of oil drilling and they say as there are ten Iwi in Taranaki they’d like to know which he’s quoting.

    The Tag Oil boss Drew Cadenhead said on national TV an individual with much respect here had watched him draw figures on the whiteboard and now agrees with his company drilling (you have to watch that clip to believe it) I now know that this was a complete lie on his behalf.

    I am concerned if the media doesn’t catch up with this tactic and check the sources quoted before reporting then National and Corporates and Oil companies will get a lot of political mileage from misrepresentation and outright lies in their media coverage.

    Its not so hard. If an Iwi is quoted than ask which ones and for their spokespeople’s names if an individual is quoted likewise pick up the phone and check the facts. If this can’t be done then Journalists shouldn’t report it.

    Its news not PR surely? In an election year we should be able to trust media much more than we currently can to report accurately.

    This tactic is going to be used over and over by the talking heads.

  3. Umm… didn’t Cunliffe say Labour was in favour deep sea oil drilling, regurgitating exactly the same kind of “international safety standards” bullshit that Key is using?

    Enjoy the kaimoana, it could be your last, unless we all punch ourselves in the head with our left hand, so there’s more of us than the one’s punching themselves in the head with their right hand.

  4. David Cunliffe’s support for Deep Sea Oil looks sicker every day.

    Labour is looking at the Norwegian model for regulating the oil and gas industry, including stronger environmental safeguards and steeper taxes.

    Leader David Cunliffe yesterday said Labour supported deep sea oil and gas exploration “in principle” but would pass laws to toughen environmental protection.
    Adam Bennett New Zealand Herald Thursday, Jan 23, 2014

    Who would have guessed?

    After 8,400 Gallon Oil Spill, Safety Standards On Norwegian Offshore Rigs Questioned

    Approximately 32 cubic meters, or 8,400 gallons, of oil spilled into the sea early Sunday morning following a leak at a Statoil-owned rig off the coast of Norway, according to media reports and a company statement….

    Though weather was not indicated as the cause, Statoil confirmed that harsh conditions and high waves were preventing emergency response teams from adequately observing the area immediately following the spill, and that it would inspect the area from the air.

    Emily Atkin Climate Progress January 27, 2014

    Would these be the same sort of harsh conditions (or worse) that are experienced in the Southern Ocean, that would also prevent any “emergency response”?

    Safety on Norway’s offshore rigs, however, has been an issue for some in the country. Just one day after Sunday’s spill, four unions that represented Norwegian offshore oil rig workers decided to withdraw from an industry-sponsored safety group, saying the offshore rig industry was ignoring critical safety standards.

    The group, called the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association’s Network for Safety and Emergency Response Training (NSOB), was originally established in the wake of a 1980 platform disaster that killed 123 people. But now, the four unions — Fellesforbundet, Industri Energi, Lederne and SAFE — said NSOB had recently made “a number of changes that impair safety and emergency training on the Norwegian continental shelf.”

    “For us, it appears that cost savings and superficiality have taken precedence at the expense of safety and emergency response,” Fellesforbundet Secretary Mohammed Afzal said in a statement to UPI news.
    Emily Atkin Climate Progress January 27, 2014

    Is 123 lives in 3 decades and now the recent spill an acceptable level of death and destruction for the Labour Party?

    And what if after Labour approve all this, National get in again and “cost savings” take precedence over safety and emergency response, as is currently happening in Norway even under a Labour Government?

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