We were all stunned when the mainstream media reported Helen Clark as being in favour of the TPPA…
Former PM Clark backs controversial TPPA trade deal
…well it turns out she is being grossly misrepresented.
TPPA activists contacted Helen through social media, and she gives a completely different version of events…
FACEBOOK CONVERSATION WITH HELEN EARLIER TODAY. IT’S SPIN:
Hi Helen, I along with many others believe you were the best Prime Minister we have had in living memory. You fought for the people and the environment. It’s difficult therefore to reconcile your recent supporting comment regarding TPPA. Were you conned or cajoled into doing this or are you too under the influence of corporate interest groups? Surely you must see what will eventuate for ordinary kiwis if big pharma is allowed to function under Tppa deregulation? Surely you realise that Tppa would lead irrevocably to privatization? Have you switched sides? We are suffering here in New Zealand under John Keys neo liberal govt. He’s slashing services and ruthlessly destroying the education sector where I work, laying the ground for privatization. Do you really want to see our beautiful country turn into the United States? It’s not the kind of success I want in my country. Success for a few at the expense of everyone else is not the New Zealand we grew up in Helen. I hope you do what you can to stop TPPA instead of aiding the neo conservative agenda.
Helen Clark 3:52pm
Helen Clark The original TPP was negotiated and signed when I was PM. As PM I welcomed the opening of negotiations in 2008 to extend the agreement. Read what I said carefully: NZ cannot afford to be excluded from trading blocks and must negotiate for the best deal it can get to secure access for its exports. Opening up access for NZ exporters should not be branded as neoconservative. It’s actually rather important to securing NZ’s economic viability. Etc.
Joanne Donovan 4:08pm
Joanne Donovan Yes I understand your comment and your stance on trade. It’s actually common sense and of course the majority would agree with you. However the TPPA is a very different type of agreement than the one you signed up for. The deregulatory elements within it make it very dangerous especially in the pharmaceutical sector. Many doctors oppose it here as it would open the way for the kinds of price gouging of meds common in the U.S. but unheard of here. Helen Tppa represents profiteering at the expense of our most needy citizens. I am also suprised you gave the comment at all considering it’s the first time you have engaged in domestic politics since your last term. Why did you do that? Now John Key is using that remark to tell skeptics that the great Helen Clarke supports TPPA. It’s a bitter blow for those politicians who are trying to protect New Zealand from corporate exploitation.
Helen Clark 4:09pm
Helen Clark I repeat – look carefully at what I said. I am not responsible for the way media or others spin things.
Joanne Donovan 4:10pm
Joanne Donovan Thanks for your reply and go well
…Helen has been purposely misquoted by the mainstream media and her most important comment from the official interview “provided the deal was good” seems to have been ignored completely. Tim Groser’s comments this morning where he sucks up to Labour and forewarns of us having to swallow dead rats highlights how awful the reality of the TPPA will be to our economic and political sovereignty just so the Dairy Industry can sell some more bloody cheese and milk to America. Groser needs Labour on board because those dead rats can’t be swallowed without bi-partisan agreement hence Helen Clark getting misquoted to create the impression of her support…
He said it was clear there was a “massive push” to do the deal.
“It’s got the smell of a situation we occasionally see which is that on the hardest core issues, there are some ugly compromises out there.
“And when we say ugly, we mean ugly from each perspective – it doesn’t mean ‘I’ve got to swallow a dead rat and you’re swallowing foie gras.’ It means both of us are swallowing dead rats on three or four issues to get this deal across the line.”
The outstanding issues are dairy, autos, and IP on pharmaceuticals, especially biologics – medicines made from organisms.
…and what are those dead rats for us? Allowing foreign corporations to dictate domestic policy to us as NZers, allowing American Pharmaceuticals to push up the cost of basic medicines and stopping us from being a sovereign state who can pass our own laws without asking our American Overlords for permission first, and we are going to trade all of this away for a weak dairy deal that Key and Groser will trumpet as a mighty win after they’ve used the media to con us the dairy deal was impossible to get.
We are being played, Helen Clark is being purposely misrepresented and the media are being used as propaganda tools.
You are being lied to, it’s up to you as citizens to decide how far we are willing to go to stop John Key making us the 51st state of America.
What a load of crap. Labour and Clark started the whole global free trade deal process.
Anyone still denying these people all work for the same Swiss/ Foreign bankers is an insult to intelligence – in my view.
Everyone with a reasoning mind know the media IS a propaganda tool. That doesn’t mean that the UN( HC) doesn’t support the TPP, it does and it supports the effected party(the people) not having any disclosure on it and not being able to negotiate (loosing the right to contract).
The Media spews lies.But Helen Clark did verbally support Key supporting the TPP.
but TPPA is NOT a “global free trade deal”
‘WikiLeaks – The US strategy to create a new global legal and economic system: TPP, TTIP, TISA.’
with John Pilger and Julian Assange
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw7P0RGZQxQ
Anti TPPA help from an unexpected quarter ( link originally posted on the Standard ‘Open Mike’)
http://www.salon.com/2015/09/29/the_unexpected_upshot_of_john_boehners_ouster_the_trans_pacific_partnership_is_in_danger/
Donald Trump opposes the TPPA!?…Helen Clark should be more careful what she says because Trump may be the the next USA President…and we all know that the USA has clout in the UN…and if Helen wants to head the UN?….well …better behave
….”This may be dubious but it’s caught the ear of the 800-pound gorilla in the GOP presidential nomination – Donald Trump. He has built a fair degree of his campaign on opposition to TPP, and recently met with Jeff Sessions, a leading TPP opponent among conservatives, to talk trade. Heck, Trump wants to cancel NAFTA, along with stopping any Obama-negotiated trade agreements. “We need fair trade, not free trade,” Trump told 60 Minutes on Sunday, sounding more like Dick Gephardt than a conservative. But he has the ear of a significant portion of the conservative base.”
I suspect this is just a ploy on the part of Trump’s spindoctors to pull in naturally left-leaning voters who are feeling disillusioned with Obama. Ron Paul pulled the same kind of trick a couple of elections back by focusing on policies that have apppeal to (some) “lefties”; opposition to war in the middle east, and opposition to prohibition and the war on (some) drugs. But scratch the surface, and you find a crypto-fascist in libertarian drag who dreams of a global economy run by a network of corporations in their own elite interests. You don’t even have to scratch Trump’s surface to find a crypto-fascist, surface is all there is.
probably true…i try not to observe him too closely…might catch a virus
Why Bill Moyers and other Americans think the TPPA is death for democracy
http://americablog.com/2013/11/bill-moyers-trans-pacific-partnership-free-trade-agreement-death-democracy.html
…”TPP puts the ruling class (and the corporations they control) in charge of most aspects of our economic and regulatory life. It rewrites the laws of every nation that signs it, all to increase the wealth of our pathological betters…
The TPP deal negotiated when Helen Clark was PM was completely different to one being negotiated now by National. For starers, it didn’t include the Investor State Dispute settlement clause.
No it is not a load of crap. When Labour first joined the initial signing of the deal in 2005, there were only 4 signatories – NZ, Brunei, Chile, and Singapore. The US did not climb on board until 2008. In it’s beginnings, the deal was nothing like what it has become now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership#History
The fact that Labour began negotiations initially with the TPPA doesn’t mean they would have ever accepted in its final form . You would be stupid just to kick it into touch before hearing what the overall deal was. The fact that it’s in secret and more about Corporate rights is new to everyone for a reason. Helen balanced every budget and got our National debt down to 10 billion. .Key hasn’t balanced one and where over $110 billion. I don’t vote Labour but I think Helen deserves more respect than we realize.
How exactly has she been misquoted? That quote is almost letter for letter what I read in the Herald.
I feel you’re grasping at straws here.
Nigtform:
“Former PM Clark backs controversial TPPA trade deal
TRACY WATKINS IN NEW YORK
Last updated 18:16, October 1 2015”
Thats the headline, copied and pasted from the Stuff website.
Now tell me that this is not a MSM MISQUOTE.
Do you really believe everything you read in the Herald?!
I’d be in favour of the TPPA too, if it was just the four original members – us, Brunei, Chile and Singapore. We get it working for OUR benefit, and bring in the others only when we’re good and ready, on OUR terms and as we see fit. Maybe that’s what Helen meant. Being bullied around by the mega-economies was always going to ruin us.
Exactly.
It’s all how it is presented and the headline above it that creates the impression she approves of the TPPA as it stands.
If you read her comments again from another angle you sure get the impression of misquoting.
“Look carefully at what I said” – she should come out and say it clearly and unequivocally, why the convoluted political weasel words? Why do we need a cryptologist to read between the lines? She stood up with Key and convinced 90% of the population that she supports the TPPA. That is a fact, if she didn’t make herself clear enough then she needs to. Especially if she truly doesn’t think it is a good idea.
Oh come on Martyn, you can’t defend Clark on this. She’s a deft, seasoned politician. She had her photo’ taken with Key at this crucial stage of negotiations – shaking hands and both smiling at the camera. Sure, she predicated her comment on, “provided the deal was good” but it’s a dead cert that this one won’t be. Furthermore, her responses to Joanne are superbly evasive. The media can say what they want but a skillful politician can make it harder for them. Only a rank amateur would allow themselves to get used in such a way as Clark has been and she is no rank amateur. Lets not get all gooey-eyed and rewrite history. Clark was an okay PM in context, but she was Third Way, neoliberal Labour, moving to the centre which subsequently keeps moving to the right.
I agree and I think that if the Herald had misquoted her, she’s not the kind of gal that would sit back and say nothing.She’d be demanding a retraction rather than softly back pedalling via FB messaging.
Her quote was in quotation marks – if it was incorrect then she’s got a big apology owed to her.
I could say that you said “I agree” and my use of quotation marks for your opening words would be technically correct, despite it omitting the rest of your sentence. So could Clark’s quote also be technically correct despite her caveat being omitted. Her quote was not incorrect, but it was incomplete, which still results in mis-contextualization, which she addressed in her response. I’m pretty sure she’s far too busy to sit and correct all of the Herald’s bullshit – That would be a full time job in itself.
Well said sir, according the political compass website, Labour are actually right of centre.
And as we know what is portrayed as “centrist” in the media is well to the right, and never fails support the current fraudulent monetary paradigm.
Ray Ince:
Depends a bit on whether or not Clarke wants Key’s support in a possible bid for the UN Secretary Generalship. This interesting possibility has been raised elsewhere in the bloggosphere.
Actually, its Obama’s support that she would need, more than Key’s pathetic little vote. That said, Obama has made no secret of his wish to see the “un-free trade” negotiations concluded during his presidency.
“provided the deal was good”
Define “good”. “Good” for whom exactly and, more importantly, at what cost. This statement is completely rhetorical, and typical political BS.
My thoughts exactly. “Good” for Key and the 1% is completely different to the good for the most impoverished people in our society.
Here’s what Stuff had to say on Thursday (with accompanying video):
“What always haunts one as the New Zealand Prime Minister is ‘will there be a series of trade blocs you’re not part of?’. Because that’s unthinkable for New Zealand, an exporter and small trading nation. So of course New Zealand has to be in on the action with the TPP and go for the very best deal it can.”
As Ray Ince and others have mentioned above, she was clear in her comments. I suggest you should follow Clark’s advice: look carefully at what she said.
Bullshit. I repeat – “Look carefully at what I said” – she should come out and say it clearly and unequivocally, why the convoluted political weasel words? Why do we need a cryptologist to read between the lines?
She stood up with Key and convinced 90% of the population that she supports the TPPA. That is a fact, if she didn’t make herself clear enough then she needs to. Especially if she truly doesn’t think it is a good idea. If she thinks she has been misrepresented then she needs to come out and clarify it, she’s no shrinking violet.
Nothing Clark says will convince the 95% who deeply oppose that secret shonkey corporate takeover. Helen Clark is long out of NZ politics and her opinion is just that, her opinion, which btw, included the proviso “if the deal is good” and Key and Groser’s narrative of a secret bad dairy deal and secret dead rats have shown that it is not, and will not sway anyone lest of all Andrew Little who said
“But the reality is, from what we know about TPPA, and that’s very little about the content of it, we certainly know where some of the risk areas are and I maintain my view that it’s something we have to approach with considerable caution.”
She means, take whatever is offered and be grateful its something at least,
but hey, swallowing dead rats, nice future aye, at least the kids wont be hungry.
Viva Le Revolution, democracy needs to be reborn,
Again more distractions, alternative media distractions from the fact we the people of NZ have no disclosure.
If the document gives up our sovereignty its treason.
Who here doesn’t know the media(and alternative media sites) don’t function as propaganda and spin?
The media would have people loving the Fabian society’s Jane Kelseys of the world .Controlled opposition is always loved until people find out it was a trick to direct and distract opposition to fruitless PR words.
Yeah the corporation is using “controlled opposition” to control the opposition. The people who believe that corporate puppets like Kelsey are working for them, they cannot seem to question media memes and so are very easily manipulated . It doesn’t look like they will get it or understand they have a right to contract as the effected party therefore the non disclosure of the TPP agreement legally voids it.
I’m sorry, did you just call Jane Kelsey a “corporate puppet”?!? I can think of very few people who’ve worked as hard and as consistently to uphold the sovereignty of Aotearoa and other countries, and against corporate globalization (Murray Horton would be one of that few). Please justify this personal attack, or apologise and withdraw it.
+100
Glad you mentioned Murray Horton – he’s been TIRELESS also.
“Hi Helen, I along with many others believe you were the best Prime Minister we have had in living memory” – you must be very young then
That’s a bit petty, shallow and completely irrelevant. It’s equivalent to you being called a coward because you haven’t published your full name and disregarding the substance (if there had been any) of your comment.
Agree with you on this, Martyn. While I am not exactly a fan of Helen Clark, I refused to vote for her govt, as they were far too much in the centre for my liking, and I only switched my support back to Labour last year when Cunliffe became leader, it does seem obvious that the media has misreported Helen on this issue, and that Groser is cunningly misrepresenting the position of the Labour Party on the TTP.
It also annoys me to see so many lefties attacking the Labour Party over this and many other issues, when the real enemy is Key and his cronies. By doing that, we are playing right into Key’s hands. Of course, Labour is not perfect, but compared to Key….
+100…”Groser is cunningly misrepresenting the position of the Labour Party on the TTP”.
….The jonkey nacts are absolutely desperate NOT to be seen out on a limb on this one !
( just as they were over the vulgar wasteful $26 million changing the NZ flag …and the inclusion of the Red Peak corporate popularity manipulated second hand corporate logo )
…on the TPP the jonkey nacts want to spread their risk and NOT appear undemocratic..they have a very thin majority in Parliament ( that is if you accept the Election was democratic)…and if they can get opposition parties’ support they will feel vindicated and exonerated… and that they can get away with violating New Zealander’s wishes , rights and democracy
Labour better NOT fall in behind jonkey as the Greens did over the flag fiasco
A very disingenuous post Peter.
The real lefties are attacking the Labour Party on this and many other issues because we can see and are prepared to state publicly that Labour under Clark moved way off course and is now more off course than ever.
That is simple fact.
“… the real enemy is Key and his cronies.”
Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!
The real enemy is the middle class bourgoisie, just as it has always been. Key and his cronies are merely the manifestation of bourgois thinking.
As always the bourgois are the collaborators of capitalism.
I feel for you Peter . I come from a family which had Labour in our DNA .
However I’m not going to EVER vote for the post 1990’s version of Labour – “National Lite ” and i’m not going to let Labour off the hook – they seem to be of the mind that if they sit by quietly and say bugger all about everything and send out a few groovy Facebook Memes then they’ll be safe .
Well FUCK IT ! I want the old Labour Party back and I refuse to vote for these treacherous imposters .
Thank you for following up and posting this Martyn. Oh my goodness I can’t believe the comments on this post. They can’t see the wood for the trees and are testament to the success of mainstream media’s ability to indoctrinate the sheeple with lies and propaganda. Can’t they see the difference between what Helen wrote and the media’s claim? There is an enormous anachronism in Helen’s affiliation with trade and the suggestion that this is unchanged with the evolution of the current trade deal, which is completely lost in their previous convictions carefully crafted by mainstream media and the National Party.
Helen spoke for herself already and did not mince her words.
“What always haunts one as the New Zealand Prime Minister is ‘will there be a series of trade blocs you’re not part of?’. Because that’s unthinkable for New Zealand, an exporter and small trading nation. So of course New Zealand has to be in on the action with the TPP and go for the very best deal it can.”
How is publishing the above quote by Clark ‘lies and propaganda’, Stephanie?
You are simply in denial if you don’t think that Clark meant to put herself forward as being in support of TPP.
‘Going for the best deal’ and being ‘part of negotiations’ is not the same thing as supporting the deal as it stands. She has been taken out of context and promoted as supporting the TPP as it stands. Her facebook message explains the deal she agreed to in the past, and therefore she supports trade negotiations. But with the current deal, agreement should only be “provided the deal was good”. It is a lie that she supports the TPPA and that has been used as propaganda to convince the public our former Labour leader supports John Key. I’m no fan of Helen but I despise misrepresentation. I also think Helen has been clumsy over this but it is unrealistic she’d chase the Herald over misrepresentation and she is probably enough out of touch with reality not to see the powerful consequences and damage of that misrepresention
+100 Stephanie Fisher
Does Clark even write her own posts ?
How she must have chuckled when she saw the mis-spelling of her name ( apparently she hates it when the ‘e’ is added )
But really, she was quoted word for word , Jane Kelsey hasn’t been facebooking her checking whether she said it or not – she’s just PISSED OFF with her .
I give this as much credence as I give the whole ” Due Authority ” contagion .
And didn’t John Key cling to that misrepresentation and milk it for all it was worth. I knew something was wrong with him cashing in her credibility and what she was supposed to have said at that point.
he always calls her name in if he thinks it can support him in a hole….Labour should be very wary of this and call him out
What I find curious is that Clark – a veteran politician with decades of experience behind her – could allow herself to be drawn into the issue and prompted to comment, whilst being photographed with John Key.
Whether Ms Clark supports the TPPA as it currently stands (according to leaked documents) is almost irrelevant.
What is relevant is the public perception.
And the perception is one of solidarity with Key and his government.
I am at a loss to understand why she permitted herself to be manipulated this way.
She probably burned her clothes afterwards no doubt!
lol…nasty catching viruses
the Labour Party should ask for clarification from Helen Clark …. and make it public
if Clark is NOT in accordance with the Labour Party TPPA bottom lines and stand …then Labour MUST make a public dissociation from Clark
Ditto. While not on her side of the political fence, I nevertheless have a huge admiration for Helen Clarks’ political prowess. It is even more surprising given that the TPPA being negotiated now seems to be a long way from the deal Clark originally supported.
How can you believe that Helen Clark has been manipulated? She is a neo-liberal; she believes every word that she has said. She cant be dumb enough to fail to see that she has destroyed the entire TPPA campaign and lost thousands of Labour voters. Wait for the next opinion poll.
Why did she allow herself to be photographed with Key? Well, she probably figured it was safe, not having a ponytail.
*snort!* 😀
I can’t see what’s so important about whether Helen Clark does or does not agree with the TPPA – all the posturing and hand shaking isn’t going to influence or change the fact the agreement will be signed and its going to be hell in this country thereafter. John Key will go down in our political history as the puppet of the corporates who sold us down the toilet. What a shallow stupid little man he is.
I offer three comments on this post.
1. Helen Clark is perhaps the country’s most experienced and savvy politician. She knew exactly how what she said, standing next to John Key, would be spun at home and how the Nats would use it.
2. She blurred her role as former NZ PM and head of UNDP when speaking at the UN, not in a private meeting, and failed to balance her endorsement of NZ’s participation in the agreement with the issues of principal concern to UN advisers and experts, and the WHO, esp but not only on access to medicines.
3. Helen has a long record of supporting free trade and investment agreements and of attacking critics. After the failure of the Cancun WTO ministerial meeting she let loose on the critics in a speech in the House, calling them ‘wreckers and haters’.
To Frank Macskasy – Helen has not ”allowed herself to be manipulated in this way”. She has no control over media reporting. The National Party are in a position to influence media – she isn’t. Her response to Barbara on social media makes that clear. It also makes clear in her words, that she did not say she supported the TPPA and the trade she referred to was from a previous decade. It is clear that she has been misrepresented and misquoted by the media. One does not ‘allow’ oneself to be misquoted.
To me, the potential lack of sovereignty is possible the biggest thing about this deal. That is the one thing we cannot afford to cede above all else.
My feeling is that this thing has become a charter for corporations and wonder if we little countries are better off to stick together so that one does not swallow another whole, as this looks very much like what will happen to us, if it isn’t already happening.
re “we little countries are better off to stick together” …yes NZ could have forged a new market and sold a lot of dairy to Russia…. after the USA/European trade boycotts of Russia caused a retaliatory boycott by Russia on European dairy and agriculture…
Jonkey advised Fonterra NOT to take advantage of the market gap and trade with Russia, as has done Brazil and Central and South American countries…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11359580
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/71277159/fonterra-plants-can-send-milk-products-to-russia
In other words New Zealand does not need the TPPA for dairy trade
Great work there Chooky as usual. Why do we even need a regulatory regime now such as TPPA is????
“Fonterra exports to Russia to resume.”
I don’t agree Helen ‘knew exactly’ how media would spin something quite straight forward with a photo. How can you claim to ‘know’ what she ‘knows’. Agreed: she has a long history of supporting trade – but no previous deal has been like the current TPPA. That her support with previous trade ideas leads to necessary support with the current TPPA however it has evolved, is almost analogous to suggesting that someone who might have believed in god therefore still believes in god, or someone who once doubted climate change, still necessarily doubts climate change. It is shameful and somewhat over simplistic to judge people assuming they fundamentalist mindsets with rigid convictions.
I don’t agree Helen ‘knew exactly’ how media would spin something quite straight forward with a photo. How can you claim to ‘know’ what she ‘knows’.
She knows the routine. She knows how the media game is played. She knows when to be cautious and when not to cautious.
She chose to comment on a contentious highly charged domestic political topic.
“Go figure” is the usual figure of speech.
well Helen Clark should be asked to clarify what her position is on the existing secret TPPA (irony in “secret” )
…her position is equivocal at the moment ….and subject to interpretation
there is a lot at stake for New Zealand here
We’re not talking about God, or even about people changing their minds.
We’re talking about neo-liberals and the glue that binds them all together irrespective of their chosen political parties.
Do you call yourself a neo-liberal? You’re quick to defend them…
Do you understand analogies? Either you don’t or you’re deliberately missing the point.
Who is defending neo liberalism?
While Helen Clark’s remarks on the TPP are clumsy, she has been misrepresented for the advantage of National Party agenda.
I am not defending Helen Clark’s position. I am arguing that her position has been misrepresented and manipulated for the benefit of National Party interests by their mainstream media. I don’t personally agree with what I believe is Helen Clark’s position, that trade is fundamentally good, and we should be involved in current negotiations but only sign provided the deal is good. Now read carefully. I do not agree that we should be involved in ‘free trade deals’ including any TPPA.
Finally, I am not defending any person, let alone neo liberalism. I am defending honest representation. YOu say ‘We’re talking about neo-liberals and the glue that binds them all together irrespective of their chosen political parties.’ Actually this article is about Helen Clark’s comments being misrepresented. I agree they’re all neo liberals.
Helen Clark does not stand next to John Key and act clumsily .
She knows exactly what she is saying.
What she said was NOT misrepresented
She’s not worth the angst – she’s our version of Hilary – she’s Neo-Liberal and ambitious.
She’s not who a lot of people on the Left want her to be- she’s not a Jeremy Corbyn who slipped through our fingers.
She’s done her time in NZ and she now has bigger fish to fry.
Read again: I am not defending Helen Clark. I am defending honest representation. Her words have been taken out of context and misrepresented to strengthen John Key’s support and attack the TPP critics. This is a quote I heard from TV1 ‘Helen Clark clearly said we can’t afford not to be part of any deal.’ The omission is crucial.
It is very confusing reading the article and comments. If Helen clark supports free trade good on her. If she supports the erosion of NZ’s sovereignty and the consequent strengthening of corporate power over the rights of the NZ people then she can get fucked
Key has milked it as best he can!!!
Oh, PLEASE Stephanie ! I can’t work out whether you’re blindly naive or blindly loyal. The last minute of TPPA negotiations. Key is getting hammered left right and centre at home, totally outplayed by a well organized and united anti TPPA movement that has managed to get tens of thousands of protesters on the streets, and one-off TPPA actions whenever and wherever Key or Groser go.
Helen, who had made NIL mention of the TPPA until now. allows herself to get photographed, smiling, shaking Key’s hand and saying quite clearly that NZ needs to be at the TPPA table. If you really think that its drawing a long bow to suggest that she didn’t know how that would be construed, I would have to question your impartiality !
The best way for her not to get misquoted, misconstrued, misunderstood, taken out of context would have been to NOT present Key with this blatant opportunity. Helen is a very strong and intelligent woman. Somehow I can’t see her being forced or conned in to this situation / predicament.
Yours, just another really disappointed (but realistic and honest) Helen fan !
Well said Tim.
I’d also suggest “wilfully blind”. If Stephanie were “blindly loyal”, she would be in favour of TPP, just like Helen Clark!
I despise misrepresentation. NO fan of Helen. Are you? She’s a bully like you.
Tim O’Shea. Key is getting hammered so he milks Clark’s support of trade negotiations for all he can get. No I’m no fan of Clark. I despise misrepresentation. She supports trade deal negotiations but she has not supported this deal. She has stipulated the largely ignored ‘provided it is good’. Clark disappointed me when she sent troops to Afghanistan and negotiated the first P-4 deal years ago. I learned how she had deceived us and Lange before had too. She has been a strong leader but now is far more out of touch with reality and arrogant than she’s ever been. She has failed to see the consequences of misrepresentation here. Why don’t you direct your personal attacks at the author of this post with whom I agree. And by the way I don’t believe in human heros. They’re doomed to disappoint didn’t you know. I’m a fan of my cat. :-p.
Thanks Martyn for this post.
I join in acknowledging the Honorable Helen Clark as the best PM New Zealand has seen in living memory.
Funny when the Herald first published their misleading article, it had a photo of Key with Helen and saying he took for her 2 bottles of wine (yeah right, pretending to be nice). The timing would have been the middle of the night in NZ. Shortly afterwards, they kept the same article and replaced the photo with one of Key and the infamous Rupert Murdoch who was implicated in media scandals amongst others.
This is the Herald! No further comment.
Fellow Kiwis, beware of the current media manipulation. Be smart!
Don’t let them continue to insult our intelligence.
Sorry Martyn but I do not buy your line of thought at all.
The evidence I have seen with my own eyes and experiences of Helen Clark and her government and style of governance do not support your argument one bit.
She was/is neo-liberal in substance and outlook and is represented in our media exactly the way she deserves to be represented.
This is so odd. All they’ve done here is wheel out Malcolm X. She clearly says NZ can’t afford to be excluded. Then when pressed she says “read it carefully”. Was there a puff of smoke with that? I know she was accused of running the ‘nanny state’ but this is infantile. Time to wake up NZ and climb out of your cots. And yes mum also signed us up to the FTR with China. The only country in the world to do so. Silence on that particular hypocrisy is deafening and weird. We should be ashamed of that based on the human rights issues alone, let alone the economic ones.
it is one thing to sign a trade agreement …and it is another thing for the jonkey Nact government to ALLOW China to rort and abuse that agreement …and New Zealanders rights and sovereignty …and sell off the farms, countryside and its precious housing stocks over the heads of New Zealanders , especially when China protects its own country and does NOT allow this…(and China is now going to build a huge dairy farm on Russian land and sell dairy to the Russians based on New Zealand stock and expertise!…Russia should be our dairy market)
Jonkey nact has/ is betraying New Zealand and its future , especially young New Zealanders
You cant blame Helen Clark for what jonkey Nact has done subsequently
The Nationalphile MSM have an agenda to suck up to National. The misquoting of Helen Clarke is another example of deliberate spin doctoring, little different to how David Cunliffe was misquoted when he made a speech about male violence in New Zealand. What he said, in particularly the context in which he said it, was quite different from how it was reported in our MSM.
Nothing much has changed there eh?
There used to be an old saying when I was child that you never believe what you read. That is so true in New Zealand 2015.
I’m for the TPPA. But before we sign off on it we need to make sure that overall it benefits the country. If it doesn’t then we hold off signing until it does.
And this is pretty much what I think Helen Clarke’s position is.
80 Million in beef tarrifs, thats all Groser can put on the table, so how do you like dead rats served.
Grasshoppas ,The CHCH press reported 2 days ago that Helen was happy to have John Keys backing for Sec general of the UN and John Key was happy for Helens support on the TPP.Very tidy indeed .
In the words of Bob Dylan , ” You don’t have to be weather man to know which way the wind blows ”.
Helen is too shrewd to be used by Key , and could have avoided any comment or meeting to maintain diplomatic neutrality.
Clearly doing a deal with John Key to support his project means his support is strategically useful in helping her get the top UN job in a stellar political career.
Seems Helen’s personal ambition is more important than the fate of her country.Ten years of admiration , was demolished in 15 secs.
Trump ,for all his bombastic verbage really loves his country .He hates the TPPA , he wants real jobs staying in America ,he wants to get the tax from real jobs ,to balance the countries books and make America great again.He has his own money so most of the 1% have little power over what he wants to do to repair Americana .Go the Don.
If Helen has betrayed us and it takes a Republican to defeat , stop or reverse the TPPA then so be it. .
This deal is now any access at all costs, and the costs are staggering.
It’l be a Pyrrhic victory for National, their regional support base will wither on the vine as dairy farms are plundered by Aussie mortagee foreclosers as they go under. Dairy farms are 35 Billion in debt, +50 Billion to the rest of the sector. Groser dead rat will be swallowed by the National Party.
This deal removes foreign ownership restrictions, by by to a brighter future. Remember what New Zealand is in Star Trek, a prison.
I might retire to the Philippines.
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