Internet MANA announce free tertiary education & full employment – media ego blocks it

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Internet MANA launch their campaign after an extraordinary road tour and after gaining 4% in the Colmar Brunton Poll, today should have been the start point for a momentous occasion  in progressive political history.

It was, but sadly most won’t know it.

The venue is packed and full. Much talk about Dirty Politics and the astonishment at how Key and Co have managed to get away with so much. The early voting campaign  they are about to launch will be the most sophisticated in NZs political history and I think will ensure them a shot at 5%+.

The energy and the passion is vibrant. There is an air of excitement that rarely seeps into the moribund monolithic larger parties. Change and hope are here.

“We are going to take NZ back from the Americans’ roars Kim Dotcom after he reels off what has become a well worn speech he has given up and down the country over the last few months. He tells the delightful story of hacking NASA (to find out if there are aliens), hacking a bank (to give Greenpeace $20million) and hacking the credit rating of a politician. Hilarious stuff, but I noted how TV3s Brook Sabin stiffened as he heard these stories. I don’t think many of the media there had heard these tales before and suddenly sensed a scoop in connecting Kim to the recent hacking of Slater.

That ugliness comes later. But I remember thinking to myself, ‘he thinks this story is something new’. 

For the record, I don’t think Kim had anything to do with the hacking of Slater’s computer. Nicky Hager is a man of integrity and honour, and if he says the source was not Kim Dotcom, then it was not Kim Dotcom. My own personal theory is that it is activists loosely associated with Anonymous NZ who have taken utu on Slater for his horrifically insensitive comments about a young South Island man who died in a car crash.
Back to the event.

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Internet MANA have just announced full employment as a goal. The place goes nuts. It’s Laila’s turn now. She is one of the great progressive politicians of our generation and watching her gather an army to do battle on the political battlefield is one of the most exciting things in left wing politics right now.  The lofty aim of full employment is tempered by economic plans to use ACC reserves to work for job creation. $1.7b per year to go into community, council and Iwi projects to build jobs.

What Internet MANA are doing here is demanding a different relationship between Government and its people. It’s a realisation of responsibility, that the Government has a responsibility to its people to see full employment as a genuine goal rather than using high unemployment as a means of driving down wages overall.

To put the cherry on that cake, Laila reinforces the free tertiary education policy. For those who would complain that tertiary students shouldn’t get that kind of subsidy, I’d point out that every graduate needing a student loan passes the cost of servicing that loan onto everyone else in the cost of the services they end up providing – the only person who wins from students loans are the bloody banks! Making Gen Y as indebted as Gen X isn’t progress, it’s time to provide for younger generations the way we provide for the older generations.

Huge roar when Laila declares Internet MANA will stop the TPPA.

It was a success. It was clever. It was passionate.

I was looking forward to the headlines. The headlines were a train wreck.

The media thought they had a scoop with Kim’s hacking tales and immediately started a feeding frenzy that Internet MANA weren’t prepared for. The horror at watching an amazing set of policy launches getting boiled down to questions that had nothing to do with those policies prompted a response by Pam that while entertaining, managed to get used to eclipse the entire event.

Free tertiary education and full employment just got knocked off the headlines because media want to do stories about them and their ego. They were told Kim wasn’t giving interviews, they threw a wobbly about that and went into feeding frenzy mode and made the entire story about them and not about free education and  full employment.

At least National had their bullshit housing policy covered before the media got stonewalled trying to ask legitimate questions about actual evidenced behaviour of Key’s staff and Ministers. Internet MANA didn’t get the same curtesy.

Internet MANA might get around 5% this election, and that would be an extraordinary political win, but if the nation gets to hear about free tertiary education and full employment it could be 7%.

It’s a kick in the guts that the nation didn’t get to hear that tonight.

Interesting that the Prime Minister storming out and refusing to answer questions about his Government’s dirty politics is less important than Pam swearing at journalists?

52 COMMENTS

    • How naive for Dotcom to talk about hacking. What on earth was he thinking. At this time in the lead up to the election a deeper understanding on how media works pre election is essential for him and the party. Talk of his hacking should have been left behind. John key is supposed to be the one the media focus on for dishonesty, NOT DOTCOM!. Just when the “left” was looking like stable government in waiting—-the media now look to Dotcom as the bloody hacker!!! Ego overtook common sense. Can the Internet Mana’s election campaign be salvaged???

      Two things need to happen if it has a chance,
      1) Dotcom stops getting on any stages and talking.
      2) Pam Corkery is fired tonight.

      Such behaviour destroys any chance of being part of any stable government when Corkery swears, rants and raves on, and hogs the limelight thus detracting from the fabulous policies of Internet Mana.

      She has demonstrated that she cannot control herself. Corkery has shown she is not up to handling pressure, and this has cost the party its credibility, lost it votes ++ and made the party the laughing stock of what’s on offer.

      • “How naive for Dotcom to talk about hacking. What on earth was he thinking. At this time in the lead up to the election a deeper understanding on how media works pre election is essential for him and the party. Talk of his hacking should have been left behind.”

        I must admit, I have to agree with you.

        Dotcom maybe smart with IT and running his Mega business and so, he maybe good at accessing computers as a “hacker”, which he has at times done in the past at least, but he lacks some political sensitivity and smartness, I fear.

        Indeed, it was not so clever to crack such jokes at the campaign launch meeting. Of course the MSM are always hanging out for such stuff, so they can spin stories, whether there is any slightest bit of truth to them or more likely not.

        The MSM were quite happy attacking, ridiculing and dismantling David Cunliffe and Labour for months, and it was only the sudden revelations in Hager’s book Dirty Politics, that made them realise, hey there is stuff that Key and Nats are implicated in, and behind, we must dig into this a bit.

        Many of us knew all along that such tactics were being used by the Nats. And Judith Collins is no different from one Paula Bennett, that released private information about two sole parent beneficiaries three years ago, to harass them and shut them up.

        But the media did not pay that much attention to past misdeeds by Bennett, Collins and others. Hager proved now, that the media did not do their job, so some MSM journalists must have got a bad conscience and thought, we better respond to this.

        Now though, they seem intent on moving on from Hager’s revelations, and the hacker’s anonymous publications, and try to draw dots leading to Dotcom, which again is an attack on Internet Mana.

        I was concerned about Dotcom whipping up emotion on the Road Show of IMP, where some crowds shouted fJK and so. This is of course all stuff the media love to highlight, and perhaps it is wiser for Kim Dotcom to stay a bit behind the scene, and be careful with his words at times.

        We need to put the scrutiny on the MSM though, who are useless, reporting on gossip and scandals, rather than on policy, and yes, too many are just Nat friendly and respect and love John Key, so much for “balanced reporting”. F*** the MSM I’d say.

  1. I just looked at the front page of the nzherald page and the story mentions policies…. And PC having a go at reporters picking up on a 16 yo story.

    I am very interested to see where Internet Mana end up. I am hoping for an easteregg. 🙂

    Great policy! Would love to see Greens and Mana and Labour getting in and will be great to see what comes out of that

  2. Yeah, but….. I was worried when I saw that Pam Corkery was involved. Don’t get me wrong, I think Laila Harre is great and I am excited about the possibilities of IMP tapping into a forgotten demographic, but Pam does not have the skill and diplomatic tact needed to operate at this level and under the intense scrutiny of an election campaign. You have to have more smarts to deal with the press when they come after you like that. With a single meltdown, she has damaged IMP’s credibility. I wonder how Laila will deal with this. If it was me, I’d be finding Pam some work well out of the public gaze.

      • So a personality attack on a Press secretary by the media is OK now? Please Selwyn, she said he was a shit – which is a hell of a lot politer than I would have said. And calling someone a shit is not news.

        They chose to make a story out of their own sense of self worth. NZ MSM journalist seem to do that a lot lately. What a pathetic little man Sabin proved he is. What a vile excuse for a journalist. What a misogynist little creep.

        See Selwyn I can keep it clean and still abuse him yes, but what I really want to say is – Sabin your a sanctimonious dog *&^%$#@&**(%^.

        • Adam I appreciate your view, and know what you mean. But Corkery’s job is a liaison between Laila Harre and the very media she unleashed her tirade against. It shows she can’t handle the job. Few can.

          Let’s put it another way, her liaison with media is supposed to be able to accentuate (and professionally articulate) the positives of the party, its policy, its candidates, and to deconstruct any negatives and turn them into wins for the party. It is a tough job and she chose to accept the challenge. She’s failed.

          After today, do you really think she can satisfy an appraisal of those above requirements? I don’t.

            • I believe Pam Corkery spoke the truth, but I also agree with Selwyn. I have a lot of time for Pam and if she was just an individual venting her spleen – it’d be all power to her. Except… she isn’t. She’s IMP’s press secretary and has different responsibilities.

          • I’ve had a sleep on it, and I think what happened was more dirty tricks than ever.

            I think your view is right Selwyn, in a truly functioning democracy. But, we have slipped down the rabbit hole. The media in this country have become so use to being a propaganda unit for neo-liberalism, they can’t but think and act in any other way.

            I respect you and others for wanting to hold journalism up, alongside the role of press secretary – but the rot is deep, the lies they tell themselves so ingrained – it’s a nightmare.

            Mind you that said, the left need to realise that the right will use the corporate media to attack them at every turn. Again, to Selwyn, and all the others who write here – your a blessing in a very gloomy world.

        • It wasn’t just Sabin it was both channels leading with her tirade of abuse, she abused them generally, I was there I saw it all, it was disgraceful and she should go. A huge loss to the IMP that nothing about the launch or the numbers or the great policy led IMP on the news last evening.

      • I don’t agree with you Selwyn. What Pam said was the utter truth! All those progressive polices and the media were only interested in a story about themselves. a true media’s job is to deliver the news not create it!!
        We have a right wing media in this country and not a very good one at that!!!
        Good on you Pam for saying it as it is!!!!

        • Just because Corkery was right (and she was) about the creeps who staff our media, doesn’t mean she was right to say it to their faces at this time. A Press Secretary’s job is not to give vent to their personal feelings, but to reflect their party in the best possible light to the media.

          There are now two contrary options – half measures would be disastrous:

          1/ Manning’s solution; “if I were Laila Harre I would sack Corkery immediately”.

          2/ Total support of Corkery with an unflinching assault on the MSM bias.

          While I’d personally prefer option 2, we are a month out from election day. Option 1 has a lot to recommend it, if IMP HQ can find someone else to take the job on.

          This is a political struggle for the future of Aotearoa, not a university lounge debate about the nature of truth.

          • Absolutely, IMP can’t afford to have Pam Corkery involved, whatever one thinks of the MSM Corkery’s outburst is really really unhelpful.

        • Gotta say Kim should not have mentioned anything about his past in the first place, in that forum. He himself said on the way in that he didn’t want to give interviews so that the focus would be on policy. Pam was put in a bad situation and her reaction was even worse unfortunately.

      • Yes, I agree, Selwyn, I could not believe how Pam behaved herself there. A good media advisor would avoid with all means to insult and attack the very media she is meant to deal with, and advise Laila Harre on. There are other ways to express criticism, without swearing and so.

        Seeing the footage on the news (top story, I am afraid), it was immensely damaging. Sadly most in the public still rely on the TV and radio news, and print media for their news intake. The “message” that many poorly informed will get is that Internet Mana are a party somewhat “out of control”, or full of crazies that swear and do whatever is negative.

        I may be wrong, but Pam looked a bit stressed and as if she may have had a bit too much to drink the night before, but that was just my impression.

        She can no way continue in her job as if nothing happened, yes it may be best for her to go.

  3. I dont believe that the media had not heard Kim Dotcom’s story before. IMP took their road show all over NZ. That story has been repeated at almost every meeting in their itinery. I saw that speech at their meeting in Dunedin recently.
    More to the point, it was seen by Dene Mackenzie, the Otago Daily Times main political reporter. His article in the following day’s ODT, was highly favourable. At no time did he mention the jokes about hacking; obviously he thought them to be not newsworthy. Now the right wing media is reacting as if it was devastating news. Where were they over the last month when that spiel was being repeated all over NZ? This is just a stitch up and shows how corrupt they are.
    I doubt if IMP will be the loser if they keep their cool. Their main supporters have nothing but contempt for the right wing press and tonight’s performance will merely confirm their beliefs. The good policies that they have announced must get a hearing eventually and then people will see that they have been duped by the press. They will get their 5%.

    • Dennis – yes, but different environment previously. No hacked Whaleoil stories.

      The Wellington event on 4 August had KDC giving the same speech, but the sole Radio NZ journo either missed it or dismissed it as irrelevent.

      But not now; “hacking” is a key-word that’ll prick up the ears of any journo within 50 metres.

      Best thing for KDC is to change that part of his speech.

  4. As someone who was actually there, I can say the event was awesome and the audience was genuinely inspired by the vision of a future beyond the current broken world-view. As for Pam Corkery, who could blame her for getting annoyed at a media frenzy over a story that DotCom has already told in every town and city nationwide.

  5. The media’s owners don’t want the public to be aware of the issues.
    They will do anything to distract.
    Sabin was shown up as a puppet of Slater’s in Mediawatch this morning.
    Now add Michael Parkin to the list of media puppets.
    TVNZ is not an impartial observer or reporter.

    • It is not a secret that Brook Sabin is the son of a National MP, nor is it any sort of crime. But what bugs me is that he shows his obvious bias and is indulged by the rest of the MSM – as does Hosking and the other right-wingers. The trivialisation of important issues and significant policy announcements is both pathetic and a massive disservice to NZ.

      But not coincidentally, it is one of the key ways in which neo-liberal parties fool the populace into thinking that voting for them is in their own best interests.

      It is up to the likes of Bomber to keep fighting the good fight, to overcome the systemic biases in the media. Kia kaha Martyn and TDB!

  6. Put it on Facebook, Bomber, and get it out on Twitter in small bites ……
    and into whatever other sources the young people use. I don’t know how
    to do that – I’m sure you do. Don’t let that message be lost by what those
    MSM idiots are doing.

  7. This is a disaster on all fronts. The policy will be forgotten, the media won’t focus on the policy they will write of KDC for the next week.

    I think the IMP ship has just hit a German iceberg?

    One question… on a day of policy release, why the hell was KDC even on the stage. It is like PC said. He is not a candidate. How will IMP rein in his ego?

    • @ DAVID HALLMORE ( and a few more besides )… …..Hang on a minute mate ,……yeah we all know that due to the ‘ Dirty Politics ‘ book , talk on hacking is a dirty word at this current time.

      Yeah we all know the slug Slater was tryin to pin that on KDC…and we all know that fell like a lead balloon.

      But let me remind you of a few salient points :

      1) Internet Mana NEVER did have a reputation for being some namy pamby , mealy mouthed bunch of shrinking violets to mince words ,walk on eggs and pontificate about the finer points of linguistics !

      Has Minto , Hawera, Harre, and Corkery EVER been known for being weak kneed fork tongued slimy little backstabbers? NO !!!!…….

      And the very thing besides their policies that drew people to them was the refreshing lack of guile and pretense in the first place !! ….They are the nearest thing we get these days to the old time union hall , down -to -earth , no compromise stance of old time New Zealanders – in a modern setting.

      Raw honesty…that would do a West Coast mining union meeting proud.

      Maybe we should have political meetings that more resemble a 1930’s mines union meeting…sure be a hell of a lot more honest !!

      Either that or were all so bloody urbane and sickeningly over-sensitive these days we cant focus on a message cos somebody bloody swore…Saints preserve us all !!

      2) Your’e worried about KDC talking about his youthful hacking days?….I got news for you !!! – he’s gonna be talkin ‘ about a whole lot worse when him and Glen Greenwald talk about what the National parties been up to for the last 6 years on 15th Sept at the Auckland town hall….you all better hang onto your’e hats !!!…..

      And lets not forget WHY ……. KDC will feature in talking about the GSCB – and thats part of IMP policies, if youv’e forgotten. As is the TPPA and TSA…..

      Your’e worried if the message and policies failed to get across?…hells bells and little teeth- I read that article in the herald and it came across loud and clear about the policies,..so stop worrying.

  8. *sigh*

    Two mistakes were made;

    1. KDC making comments about hacking – when he was 19 for god’s sakes! Hell, I reported it myself here, on 10 August; https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/08/10/mana-internet-roadshow-hits-wellington/

    But that was well; before Nicky Hager’s book came out.

    Now, that same speech he made has different connotations, and the media are desperate for a new angle now that Key is succeeding in closing down the issue.

    One thing we all need to understand, for the MSM, if it’s a choice between covering policy or reporting someone made an off-colour remark – the latter wins every time. Sensational headlines = selling more advertising space.

    2. Pam. I have a great deal of time for Pam, but she let those journos get under her skin.

    But would I have acted differently? Or would I have used a more more expletives – some from my parents’ homeland which I will not repeat here.

    To be charitable, each party is allowed one fuck-up during an election campaign. Unfortunately, IMP’s was their campaign launch.

    All I can hope is that Laila and KDC can salvage something from it, and turn it into a positive.

    Eg; KDC challenging Key to a debate with John Campbell, Rachel Smalley, or Lisa Owen.

    It’s a shame Whale Dump didn’t have anything to release today. Something linking Key to Slater directly would have been a diabetically-dangerous icing-on-the-cake…

    • No Frank NO! Don’t play the blame game. This is a personality attack plan and simple. Who cares if she said shit. My 98 year old grandmother calls her caregiver a shit -it’s a non-story.

      Repeat three times – Propaganda attack lie. Propaganda attack lie. Personality attacks, same shit, different faces.

      The left need to stop being reactionary. Just stop dam it. These turds on the right attack all the time, it’s what they do. Move on, Next topic, we are better than them.

  9. Immediately below this article in my RSS feed reader was the Stuff article “Dotcom tells of hacking skill”. Classic.

  10. My partner and I attended the launch today , it was an enjoyable afternoon with good speakers, good atmosphere and some great performances.

    To see it overshadowed by one persons brief outburst is very disappointing.

    Pam Corkery has been around long enough to know how the media works. After Kim Dotcom mentioned the hacking it was natural to assume the MSM would pick up on it.

    She should have been prepared for those questions and have had answers ready for the media. To swear and carry on in front of Tv cameras, on the day of the campaign launch indicates a worrying lack of awareness.

    IMP is trying to create a new style of politics that brings in people that have felt alienated from the current system, these types of antics do not help the cause.

  11. I disagree with everyone above who says that Pam Corkery must be sacked and that KDC must stop telling his hacking stories, although of course it is up to the IMP party as to who their staff is and what they say on stage. Remember the media derailment of the 2012 Labour conference, that saw David Cunliffe banished to the backbenches! These people need to be challenged in their assumption that it is their holy duty to control the narrative.

    This government and its flunkies have enjoyed enormous license, bypassing the rule of law when it has suited them, and filtering news through a man who calls victims of tragedy “scum, “feral” and worse – a man who shrieks with joy when a target’s life is ruined.

    The IMP is a party that rebels against all that cant and hypocrisy, and is under no obligation to kowtow to it. It is a shame that the party’s policies did not get a fair hearing on the MSM, but a fair hearing was far from the media’s intention, which is why they were hassling Pam Corkery in the first place.

    • It is a shame that the party’s policies did not get a fair hearing on the MSM, but a fair hearing was far from the media’s intention

      Indeed, there were journos looking for any pretext to disrupt the IMP campaign launch; that is why it was vitally important to have a Press Secretary who could control the narrative. I thought it was going to be hounding Harawira about his recent car accident, but he stood aside to let Sykes take the limelight (which by the few accounts that have made it through, seems to have been a very successful strategy).

      I think that Corkery does need to resign her position (or be sacked if necessary). At least until after the election, when I’d love to see her let loose on the creepy sockpuppets who have colonised our 4th estate. Dotcom is such a large part of the IP brand, that it would be foolish to muzzle him.

      The MSM is not on our side, but we can’t maximize the IMP party vote without them. But then, if it was a perfect world we wouldn’t need political parties at all.

  12. There are 2 politicians leading IMP. Kim supplied the money and the machinery to get this going and he did a good job. 24 hours ago he should have gone back to his mansion and left them to it.
    For gods sake Dear John doesn’t have the chief donors of his party up on the stage.
    As for Pam…Aaaaaargh!

  13. Bummer – cub reporter too thick to report on a political campaign opening so has to make himself being called out by a cynical old hand the centre of the story. Sadly for him, the UK Guardian sorted out his conspiracy line days ago so the pathetic Sabin exercise is only world famous among the uninformed in NZ.

  14. I think that the reporter responsible (Sabin?) needs some training.

    It was based on a smear – there is no evidence whatsoever of KDC’s involvement in hacking Slater.
    KDC is not a public official with a duty to transparency, unlike Key.
    His sabotage revealed nothing – in news terms it was a failure. Only as attack politics was it a success – and that breaks media responsibility of fairness.

    Next time that reporter comes within 50 metres of KDC his security should move him along. If he cares more for his political affiliation than the public interest he’s in the wrong job.

  15. I have been thrilled by Sabins tenacity when questioning Collins. As I was when he did the same thing around the Katie Bradford debacle.
    I also realise I can’t have it both ways.
    PC lost her temper. The side affect is that instead of framing the story, she has now become the story.

  16. 1. Dotcom has to realise it’s not all about him, he’s played his role and he should go back to Call of Duty. And he should stay off Twitter.

    2. Pam Corkery should be encouraged to find a new role in the campaign, one with no public appearances. Who had enough rocks in their head to make her press secretary?

    OK, everyone knew about the hacking and the press are bastards anyway. So what? Things were going well. We shouldn’t be ruining it for ourselves.

  17. I agree PC lost it and IMP lost any opportunity they had to get their policies airtime, but I wonder if Pam’s outburst and sheer bloody pissedoffness might strike a chord with the disenfranchised turned-off politics non-voters out there. They are the ones I hope IMP galvanises to vote, as that will increase the left, not just cannibalise it. Maybe it will work to the party’s advantage. Am disappointed at the lack of exposure for Laila though – between KDC and PC, the most experienced and impressive politician is being sidelined.

  18. Frankly I dont care how her mannerism came across today there policies are whats eye catching and for a mum like myself who would like to aspire to be a doctor so that i can give my family a better start to life. I will make my vote count with IM as long as National sits in parliament there will be no better future for me or my children or any one else s thats just being straight up. You dont have to be a political genius to figure out whats good and whats bad. 🙂 Have a good night all. GO INTERNET MANA!!!!

  19. H’mmm… interesting. You know, KDC might not have been quite so … ingenuous as he seemed. After all, his hacking exploits are old news – very old news – not something that is usually grist to the MSM’s mill. So what he said, to a discerning listener, was establish a species of credibility to his denial of hacking Cameron ‘Slug’ Slater’s machine.

    I believe KDC, but even if he did hack the Slug’s machine, what on God’s green earth has Cameron ‘Slug’ Slater got to whinge about? He not above hacking – or receiving the details hacked by others – and using the info to further his own programme.

    Personally, I went right off Pam Corkery several years ago. But her outburst has gone a long way to rehabilitating her to my mind. For one thing she shows she is human, and, at least compared with the National Party, its blogger mates and the MSM, she ain’t no hypocrite, neither. Relatively speaking, not even close.

    I seriously doubt that anyone watching that who was serious about voting MANA will not have had their minds changed by what they saw. Those merely toying with the idea – who knows which way they might go?

    Me, absent a MANA candidate in my electorate, will be giving MANA the
    party vote OK.

    As for the puffed up pieces of ordure that disgrace the profession of journalism in this country (in common with just about every Western country you can think of), they can start earning their corn and do some real reporting for a change.

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