Unsurprisingly the same media who blacked out the fact Labour lead National in the latest Talbot poll also covered up Kieran's magnificent speech in parliament where he articulated everything wrong with the "Kāinga Ora is not financially viable" narrative media had communicated to the public from Chris Bishop and Christopher Luxon.
Many G News readers expressed how "media are in this game" of promoting the "hand that feeds them" - and lamented the good old days when we once had journalists with courage, purpose and a duty to serve the democratic functions of their trade.
To be fair - not all media are tarnished by this brush like the good guys at NewsRoom and some at Stuff and the SpinOff - but in this case nobody sounded out Kieran's major points in headlines on political pages or in lead stories - and so it's a full house of shame.
Shame on NZ media for not ringing a bell louder about the Kāinga Ora debt path which would have shown a future debt of $9 Billion and Assets worth $200 Billion.
There's also no coverage about the way Kāinga Ora said - they only had to sell 10,000 houses because National stopped funding them after 2025 - while Luxon accuses Labour of this - and Willis commissioned the advice.
The media have failed to get to the bottom of these matters and making them clear to the voting public.
Over at the NZ Herald this morning Audrey has devoted some time to informing us who the core influencers are - around David Seymour and to many of us this makes unsurprising reading.
It's no surprise that Richard Prebble ( NZ Herald columnist ) has the most influence on Seymour, followed by Mont Pelerin Society member and Atlas Network champion - Ruth Richardson.
Seymour likes Ruth Richardson's "clarity of thought" and goes on to mention who he admires - notably Frederick Hayek - the founding economist behind Neoliberal ideology ranks highly.
The most juicy tidbit from Audrey's scoop is that the KC Oliver Sean Plunket has been championing and cheerleading for - over at the Platform cos he complained about lawyers having to learn tikanga - is - get this - married to Seymour's aunty.
Yes Gary Judd KC is family to Seymour - who knew?
Along with the inside oil on Judd - Catherine Issac ( Atlas Network NZ Initiative ) and former Act President gets a mention too.
It's good to see this sort of detail emerge but it's also true that Seymour is influenced strongly by Andrew Ketels - Jenna Lynch's husband. Family ties aye, reminds me of Audrey herself.
Speaking of Jenna Lynch she has raced to report on how the God of Wind, Pumpkin Head Jones let secrets spill from his torn sack mouth that the Government will scrap $60 Million in First Home buyer Grants - while at the same time gifting Landlords with $2.9 Billion in tax cuts...wow what a sell this Budget will be.
The sales pitch will be oh - First Home Buyers come second to the most needy via "Social Housing" - but truth is this is about tilting the playing field for property speculators - who drive up house prices and rents.
Notably this is all under the watch of the flapping founder, Habsburg jaw Chris Bishop - who is right in the centre of matters be it Kāinga Ora deceptions, alleged Fast Track Consenting corruption, and new bullshit about how long it takes to consent a wind farm.
As you already know - we have about 2000 MegaWatts of consented renewable energy projects ( wind farms and solar ) lying around waiting to be built as the clock ticks on those consents that have already been granted - and at the same time Luxon is spouting how it takes eight years to consent a wind farm.
In fact Luxon on 8 May 2024 referred to Wellington's West Wind windfarm taking 10 years - 8 years to consent and 2 years to build - and this is why we need fast track consenting.
Truth is Meridian lodged the application on 1 July 2005 and it was consented on 20 July 2007 ( just over two years ) and you can see Helen's Clark's words on the Beehive website on 28 September 2007 where she says :
"During the RMA consenting stage, West Wind attracted a great deal of attention. Well over 4000 submissions were received, of which over 3000 supported the project. The Wellington City Council and Greater Wellington did a commendable job in processing the application and making a timely decision. I am sure they were relieved that the Environment Court confirmed the councils’ original decisions." - Helen Clark.
Bishop's latest machination is to include the time it takes to prepare an application for a consent - rather than just the consent time itself.
So Bishop now reckons preparation work for the consent began in 1999. But that did not wash neither. The average consent time to consent a wind farm is under two years for once it has been applied for and we've got loads of them just waiting to be built.
The problem is market demand not the consenting framework - so once again Luxon is bullshitting NZ - Bishop scrapped the streamlined RMA 2.0 and now look at the mess he, Slytherin Brown and Pumpkin Head have created - with 27,000 submissions on fast track consenting.
Yesterday Newsroom published a good article where they noted what the Environment Ministry had to say about Bishop's fast track Bill :
"...the current version of the fast track bill could diminish local voices, violate Treaty of Waitangi commitments, significantly impact human and environmental health, open legal risks for the ministers involved, provide an unprecedented backdoor for prohibited projects, and erode the value of conservation land - all at the cost of future generations".
Ah yes that sounds like the Bishop who worked for Big Tobacco - you know that guy who really cares lol.
The underlying theme where this Government sells you a pitch that does not stand up, a half truth, a double down, and a fallback to anecdote - while rejecting all the expert advice - now has become like household furniture and increasingly Kiwis are sick of it while large sections of our media look the other way.
Karen Chhour looked lonely in parliament yesterday as she rejected all the expert advice and reaction to her determination to repeal 7AA - putting herself above the Waitangi Tribunal and thumbing her nose at the Supreme Court - all based on her own personal experience and anecdote...while beside her Seymour sprang up and down like a jack in the Atlas Network box.
Unsurprisingly the same media who blacked out the fact Labour lead National in the latest Talbot poll also covered up Kieran's magnificent speech in parliament, the wind farm exchange, Karen's weak responses under pressure - but I think Kiwis are getting the message and are not as stupid and uninformed as Luxon, Willis, Seymour and Bishop continue to treat them.
Whether it's repealing 7AA for bad reasons, or pretending Kāinga Ora is financially unviable, or trying to sell Luxon's 10 years to build a wind farm myth ...just to justify all those prohibited projects and granting themselves gateway powers for the three Beagle Boys - it's resulted in Labour taking the lead.
The Greens are stable and strong despite a few overblown scandals...and TPM are steady.
Luxon makes no apology as he sinks - and so he should - I mean the guy takes us all for fools.
The Atlas Network will be fidgeting about making some concessions soon as the slide in the polls continues.
Can't expect David Farrar to keep publishing outlier polls every month lol.
Luxon, Seymour and Winston need a friendly media and polling company to cover up the reality - but somehow increasing numbers of New Zealanders can just see through it all.
I like that about us.
Wednesday Morning Coffee
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