Biting the hand that feeds.

Opposition can be really unfair. You toil away on issues in such as the Government’s plan for Auckland governance. You rail against electing councillors at large, the omission of the social issues board, the token powers for community councils and the lack of representation for Maori with no thanks.

Then along comes a Minister who is obviously motivated solely by self preservation and is terrified of losing a single vote in her most marginal of West Auckland electorates. She whimpers that she is not that fussed with some of her own party’s proposals and somehow manages to get all the kudos for crusading on behalf of the oppressed thus:

The Community Coalition for Auckland-Voices of Tamaki Makaurau has congratulated Waitakere MP and Minister of Social Development Paula Bennett for her public support of their concerns about potential loss of local control and projects. The Minister has taken the unusual step of publicly criticising the current proposals on regional governance.

Yes, cheers for saying what everyone else in Auckland to the left of Attila the Hun has been saying all along.

Coalition representatives recently met with Ms Bennett to discuss the Government’s proposals for the SuperCity.

“It was a very constructive meeting and Ms Bennett asked for the group’s ideas on how local views can be given a voice in a new structure for Auckland’s governance”, stated Iris Donoghue, a Coalition spokesperson.

“It was great to have our local MP asking for the views of her community.”

Um… and cheers for meeting with constituents and, well doing the bare minimum you would expect to see in a local MP’s job description.

But just when you could be forgiven for thinking all is lost, yesterday we saw a very different take from the same organisation:

Bennett Lets Down Waitakere Voices

Waitakere MP Paula Bennett’s recent concerns over the content of the Government’s hasty proposals for the structure of Auckland’s governance have come to nothing and her constituents feel she has let them down.

Concerns raised by the communities of Auckland, brought to cabinet by Paula Bennett and supported by Prime Minister John Key have had no influence on Mr Hide’s proposals.

Community Coalition for Auckland: Voices of Tamaki Makaurau spokesperson Iris Donoghue said “Ms Bennett assured the people of West Auckland that she was listening to their concerns, but without the opportunity (as promised) to put their concerns to Ms Bennett nothing has even been mooted as a possible change and the community feels let down by our MP.

Wow. That’s a turn around and a half and rightly so. Paula Bennett is a representative of the government’s proposal on Auckland governance. She sat and continues to sit around the cabinet table as these things are decided. She is responsible and partly to blame for the undemocratic proposal being rushed through with scant consultation. She must be put under as much pressure as possible, not appeased.

But then today, as Blackadder would say, a spectacular return to form:

Members of the Community Coalition for Auckland; Voices of Tamaki Makaurau, have acted decisively to dispel fears that a personal attack against Waitakere MP Paula Bennett was launched yesterday. A press release, sent out in error from a voluntary media representative on behalf of the Coalition, has been retracted.

“We reiterate our earlier support of the stance Ms Bennett took in Parliament criticising the Government’s Regional Governance model as lacking any social wellbeing component,” said Coalition co-spokesperson Iris Donoghue. “We welcome the Social Issues Forum that Ms Bennett proposed and which has now been approved by Cabinet. This was not clearly reflected in the press release sent in error.”

“Ms Bennett’s recent actions demonstrate her commitment to ensuring that community wellbeing is firmly on the table for any decisions on Auckland’s Supercity.”

One wonders what has happened here. I don’t for a minute believe that blaming a silly voluntary media representative paints the whole picture. Voluntary or not, one would take it as a given that before quoting Iris Donoghue - the Chair of the organisation, at the very least the broad gist of the press release would have been run past her.

 

This smells to me like Paula Bennett, or her staff, or both have read the second release and kicked up a fuss. I have no proof of course, but one wonders what threats might have been made to force an organisation to retract a perfectly legitimate criticism of a Minister.

 

This is not the first, nor the most concrete sign I have seen that this government has an open hostility to criticism that is one thing now while they are still in honeymoon mode, but will be quite another when people’s rose tinted glasses begin to get scuffed up a bit…

Comments

[Doug]

But will be quite another when people’s rose tinted glasses begin to get scuffed up a bit…
Might be a while.
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2009/4376/