This Government keeps getting caught out lying and NZ MSM aren’t calling them out

By
Martyn Bradbury
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57
1214

Cutting through the spin – or not

The associate justice minister was put through a tough examination on TVNZ’s Q+A last weekend over past and present statements on guns laws.

But not every minister’s recent announcements on policy plans have has been as rigorously fact-checked before ending up in the news.

Jack Tame arrived armed with a high-capacity magazine of facts to interview associate justice minister Nicole McKee about a potential loosening of our gun laws last Sunday.

After she talked about $350 million the Labour government spent on arms control, he asked how much the gun registry – which she opposes – has cost so far. 

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When the minister demurred, he told her not to worry.

“I’ve checked it out. It’s public information. It’s cost $10m to establish a firearms registry. And they estimate it’ll cost $8.5m to continue operating. Seems like good value for money really,” Tame told the minster. 

That statistical bait-and-switch has become a signature move for the Q+A presenter.

He used the same tactic while interviewing aspiring finance minister Nicola Willis, Act leader David Seymour and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters last year.

But McKee’s interview also included two on-the-spot fact checks.

When she said she had lobbied to close a loophole which allowed the Christchurch mosque shooter to modify a legally bought gun into a military-style assault rifle, Tame had trawled Facebook and found McKee telling members of her firearms lobby group COLFO she was working to defeat a recommendation that may have done just that.

McKee insisted she did campaign against the loophole in her role as a firearms safety expert hired as an adviser – and that she believed the proposals at the time could unduly restrict legal and responsible gun owners.

But it was definitely a bruising encounter. 

Afterward she retreated into a safe space: Leah Panapa’s show on The Platform.

“To let the minister finish her questions and explain a few issues, please welcome associate justice minister Nicole McKee,” she began.

“Thank you for the opportunity to have a grown-up discussion,” replied McKee.

That grown-up discussion was followed by Panapa encouraging her listeners to complain to the Broadcasting Standards Authority about Q+A. She reckoned Tame had been unfair to McKee.

Others have called him biased, but that would be more convincing if Tame didn’t regularly harvest the political hides of left-wing MPs as well.

It’s not bias Tame exhibits but a severe allergy to obfuscation, evasion, and spin. That’s probably a good condition to have as a journalist.

Not everyone seems to have it.

Almost every news media outlet reported a recent road safety announcement from transport minister Simeon Brown as a “crackdown” on drink and drug driving.

Headlines about the government's crackdown on drink and drug driving.

Headlines about the government’s crackdown on drink and drug driving. Photo: Google

Money has indeed been assigned to combat impaired driving. But dig a little deeper than the media release, and it emerges that the overall road policing budget today has been cut over the last three years.

That’s partly because the responsibility for operating speed cameras has been taken away from police and given to NZTA.

But people may have assumed the funding for targeting impaired drivers represented a large increase in road policing investment over and above what was previously in place – and that’s not really the case.

It’s not the first time announcements from Brown have distracted our news organisations by dangling a ring-fenced pot of money in front of headline writers. 

Earlier this year, he announced what many outlets described as a $500m pothole repair fund.

On the face of it, that was accurate too. But the cash for the new pothole fund came from zeroing the oldroad maintenance fund which was used in large part for fixing potholes.

The actual budget increase overall for fixing the roads was marginal.

For all our news organisations’ talk about cutting through the spin, the blade has sometimes been a little bit blunt.

One outlet didn’t report it with a crackdown-infused headline on impaired drivers.

I’ve pointed out all the above deceits and Colin Peacock is 100% right about the constant falsehoods.

I’ve noticed since Newshub was killed off that the level of outright deceit this Government now musters daily has lept to dizzying levels.

This Government was always very deceptive.

They claimed $250 per fortnight tax cuts without explaining barely anyone would get that, and since gaining power they just lie openly now…

PM Christopher Luxon’s second fumble on benefit numbers

    • The prime minister has mixed up his numbers in a TV interview about the government’s welfare changes
    • It marks the second misstep this week after Luxon was earlier unable to say how much a Jobseeker benefit was
    • Labour says it proves the prime minister is “removed from the reality” of those in poverty

…how can Luxon get away with bare faced lies and not get challenged on it?

National say one thing but always mean another and when they get caught out, they just shrug.

How much must NZ hate Jacinda for saving 20 000 lives during Covid for this Government of deceit to be the preference?

57 COMMENTS

  1. The media are so biased and just plain fucken lazy and most should be on the list at MSD looking for another job.Just because you have a qualifcation it does not mean you are excellent in that field .There are very few reporters who take the time to research the story ,just get it out now and grab the next headline .Fewer well researched stories would be far better than the current load of shit we now get .We get a massive leading headline ,then what follows is a load of nothing leaving you wondering if there was ever a need for the headline in the first place

  2. Yes…a very accurate analysis….and deeply disturbing.

    And chicken Luxon is also running away from further questioning by scarpering out the back door of the foyer interviews to avoid the media scrum, and, has limited the amount of media standup scrutiny to a bare minimum.

    The media on the other hand are either, just not quick enough on their feet , or, choose not to be….it’s a real concern.

    Luxon, Seymour and Peters are all getting away with blue murder.

    You find yourself screaming at the t.v. over the lack of scrutinous questions being asked.

    Some, not all, of the journalists seem compromised . Not willing to go where they should be going, or , almost making a joke about something serious to dilute the obvious clusterfuck.

    That is simply not good enough!
    That is extremely unprofessional!!!

  3. Mainstream media’s role has changed, when this change occurred, hard to say, hardly matters, but MSM has moved from holding power to account to advancing the interests of the powerful. In short, they do what they accuse all other news sources of doing – mis/dis so on and so on – and thanks to their reach and ties, now, to Govt (ties that MSM are loath to break, hence their softly, softly approach to most govt matters) their reporting is taken as gospel by the majority of the populace. Tis why genocide can take place in today’s world with little push back from most world govt’s. Worst of all, of course, is the fact that we believe, we believe in govt and in their MSM mouthpieces, we believe in both like we have never believed in them ever before. They have done quite the job on us…..

  8. Yes, jay11 we are in a fucken mess and people won’t be able to afford to drive to work soon with tolls and congestion charges especially if you’re on the minimum wage.
    And I wonder when Nationals big 5 goals health plan is going to kick in if it ever does and by the time it does many NZers will be dead perhaps that is their plan cull a few first.

    • You’ll love what’s heading down the road, when they get rid of fuel taxes (not that you will notice any real difference in price at the pump) and move all vehicles to Road User Charges (RUCs). Since fuel tax is built into the price of petrol, you can help but pay the tax. With the RUC current system, you have to pay for your RUCs in 1000km blocks in advance and stick the card in your windscreen.

      However since traffic enforcement is light, it is likely that no one will ever look at that card to check it is valid. Add in that many people in NZ drive vehicles that don’t meet WOF standards, thus can’t get a WOF, which means that they can’t register their vehicle, compliance with RUCs will be low in certain sectors of the community.

      But in good news, an update to the RUC system involving a vehicle mounted, electronic system that will track (you) the kilometres driven, tolls & congestion charges incurred so you can be billed accordingly. This will be billed as a convenience and public safety feature, since in tracking you, you can receive updates on accidents, traffic congestion or send out alerts to emergency services if you crash. Isn’t that great? As a bonus, you’ll probably get to pay for the tracking device yourself. Welcome to the future.

      https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/526491/petrol-cars-could-be-hit-with-road-user-charges-from-2027

      • Yes and who wants to pay 2k to put the tracker in ya car which will feed directly into the police system so they wont need hiway patrols because they will be able to track you from a control room and send you tickets on the internet .

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