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Thursday, February 2, 2023

Wendy Geus: Same circus different ring master... as Three Waters appoints three CEOs


If the media can drag themselves away from their favourite pastime of criticising Mayor Brown, they may see a similarity between the government's big boo boo on school closures to Mayor Brown's tardiness in declaring an emergency for an unprecedented weather event... Or not.

Both appeared 'out of their depth'. The government has had over 5 1/4 years to get their act together, Mayor Brown, three months. With a fast moving civil defence situation where things change in an instance, decision making is fraught, as the government has also found.

However, this has given the media the fuel they need, and I see once again another vicious cartoon of Brown on line. The day Ardern jumped ship no such vicious cartoon of the chief rat fleeing the sinking ship. In Britain she would not have been so lucky. Noone and nothing is sacred. With so many media outlets, coverage is a bit more balanced.

Like the Herald's marketing promises, but never quite attains.

Here she got a much gentler farewell from her fully paid up media who now have her destined for martyrdom with sorrowful images of her accompanying misogyny (yawn) accusations and protestations the Cindy moniker is so demeaning. Can't you hear the violins?

Barry Soper may hit the jack pot with his article comparing Ardern to other PMs accompanied by a photo of her in red with her head fetchingly on one side. Will he outdo the longevity of the questionable article on the TVNZ website of journalist, not news maker, John Campbell, who opines 'I have been a slow dull student of our history,’ posted on the 21 September 2022. I could not bear to open it to learn his ponderous reasons.

As Brown has found, who does not enjoy Cindy's media support as her political life crumbles, best to keep objective in text messages to 'friends' or your message may end up on the front page for the mayor hating media to gorge on. Who is advising him?

Following fast on the heels of two media polls showing Labour up and the genial Hipkins as everyone's fave PM, we find his government up to their old tricks again. This time making spur of the moment, broad brush decisions following the freak Auckland weather event.

Mayor Brown had suggested schools stay closed Tuesday given the weather bomb still approaching. Not to be outdone, The MOE generously gave (overjoyed) children another week off school, without enough consideration of how this would inconvenience Aucklanders, hundreds of thousands of whom are hardly affected by the weather event.

After an outcry from schools and opposition politicians the ministry apologised for tardy communication.

Now they are back tracking and suggesting that some schools could open before 7th February, and they are making decisions on a daily basis. Similar to what Brown had suggested?

They literally could not organise a piss up in a brewery.

This week I see with horror a headline online 'Three Waters appoints three CEOs' and my worse fears were realized... Business as usual.

So, this was the kind of bread and butter stuff affecting struggling New Zealanders that Hipkins our new PM was referring to addressing? Fine words Chris, but behind the scenes nothing has changed.

Same circus different ring master

Wendy Geus is a former speechwriter and generalist communications advisor in local government. She now writes for the pure love of it. This article was originally published by ThePlatform.kiwi and is published here with kind permission.

3 comments:

Robert Arthur said...

We have just got shot of a PM expert in communications but otherwise a failure and the msm et al are hoeing into Brown for seriously pondering options and not rushing into showy communications. PR visits such as that by Hipkins involve a lot of disruption of staff, diversion of activity, and contribute little or less. Having to constantly face media who have little else to do and examine evey word as if court statements must be very taxing, diverting and time and effort wasting.The more human Brown is the better I like him. Henceforth i am going to address all Letters to Editor to Chief Drongo. Few meet PIJF conditons so are never published anyway.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely right on the money Wendy, nothing new to see with this lot.

And thanks for the reference to Campbell's personal acknowledgment that he was "a slow dull student of our history." His recent epiphany and insights appear to come from studying Waitangi Tribunal findings. You know, that taxpayer-funded, cyclopean propaganda machine whose speciality is revisionist nonsense, like Maori didn't cede sovereignty. But with his snout firmly embedded in the PIJF, what else would one expect from the likes of "woke" personified.

Anonymous said...


But - given their abysmal track record - they would be foolish not to try using Ms Ardern's spin machine to convince the public of their so-called competence .

Also they know the sheeple are apathetic with short memories.