So the claim Tamatha Paul caused sewage leak by voting for cycle lanes is one giant lie?

Wait, WHAT?

Look.

I’m a busy bloke, I only have time for shit that is real, not some fever dream from some rabid right wing hate troll.

So when I saw the claim in my feed that Tamatha Paul was responsible for the meltdown at Moa Point because of some cycle way, I rolled my eyes and simply assumed it was a satirical piece or some stupid toxic garbage that the algorithm throws out to clickbait you I knew it was false because the true failure in Wellington has nothing to do with bloody cycle ways and is a symptom of the hollowed out public services we now have that are managed by the cheapest operator who milks monopoly rentals at the detriment of the asset.

Turns out to my genuine surprise that people actually believed Tamatha Paul had caused the Moa Point fiasco, AI Bryce was scathing…

The most prominent political figure drawn into the sewage debate so far is Tamatha Paul, the former Green councillor and now Wellington Central MP. Peter Bassett’s widely-shared blog post accused Paul of moving a 2021 Long-Term Plan (LTP) amendment that nearly doubled the cycleway budget to $226 million while the most ambitious wastewater renewal option was passed over. Paul’s amendment, seconded by Jill Day (now Labour Party president), passed 9-5, with every Labour and Green councillor voting in favour.

…wait, wait, wait.

Who?

Who said this?

Peter Bassett? From Breaking Views?

Breaking Views the far right Christian social morality hate blog?

That Breaking Views?

Why are toxic right wing revenge fantasies making headline news now?

Why are the tiny mainstream news rooms in NZ becoming influenced by right wing hate troll content?

Why is AI Bryce giving credence to what a far right Christian hate blog has to say?

Hilariously we don’t even have to ask those questions, because it turns out the whole blog was a fake.

That’s right…

Wellington’s mysterious blogger: Would the real Peter Bassett please stand up?

He is the man who divided Wellington at a crucial moment, but nobody knows who Peter Bassett is. Or if he exists at all.

It comes after a man named Peter Bassett penned a blog, first published on Breakingviews.co.nz – run by the New Zealand Centre for Political Research (NZCPR) – claiming there was a 2021 Wellington City Council vote led by then-councillor Tamatha Paul that prioritised increased cycle lane funding over pipes.

Minutes from the meeting and those there, on the left and right of council, have confirmed the vote never happened. But the blog took on an unchecked life of its own.

The Post

…so AI Bryce and the rest of the alt-right hive mind all screamed and shouted over bullshit?

It was easier to believe Tamatha Paul diverted funding from a failed and tragically underfunded neoliberal experiment in water away ti cycle lanes and caused the disaster than the truth of the hollow management structure?

Isn’t it funny that as soon as another example of flawed neoliberalism falls over, or the predictable impacts of climate change are laid bare that the Right Wing Hate Trolls need to find some mythical woke aspect they can pretend caused the problem rather than the actual problem itself!

Bloody Cameron Slater was trying to blame the Mt Maunganui tragedy on co-governance FFS!

Can we please stop pretending these right wing hate trolls are good faith journalists.