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Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Robert MacCulloch: The NZ Election was Bought by the Rich, my foot - our Mainstream Media Tries to Undermine Democracy


A leading NZ Herald columnist today assigns blame for Labour's election loss. He claims, amongst other reasons, that the election was bought. Wilson says, "In Britain in 2017, $2.1 billion in donations helped the Conservative Party keep Jeremy Corbyn out of power". Is the Herald arguing it believes Corbyn deserved to be elected but was denied by rich people?

Is this the same Mr. Corbyn, Granny Herald, who last week "defended his decision not to condemn Hamas in the wake of deadly attacks on Israel by the Palestinian militant group"? That prompted criticism from the UK Security Minister, who attacked Corbyn for once describing Hamas representatives as his “friends”.

Aside from that matter, Wilson goes onto say, "The same thing happened here .. Since 2021, National and its allies have banked $13.5 million in donations of $20,000 or more. That’s over 5 times as much as Labour and its allies".

The Herald should not be misleading its' readers about how much was spent on the election campaign by the different sides. To do the analysis properly, one must take account of the vast sums spent by all Labour-aligned organizations which tried to get Hipkins re-elected. Here are two examples. First, the Council of Trade Unions ran a series of attack ads on National. The CTU Chief Economist, who used to work for Finance Minister Robertson, went through National's tax & spending proposals line-by-line, putting out documents & press releases with covers like the following:



Do the Herald's numbers include the cost of such documents in its "donations" figures? No. Here's another example. OneNews reported a group of Auckland University academics from its Public Policy Institute "fact checked" the Leaders Debate. Its headline stated Luxon made four "false" statements - versus none for Hipkins. Of the statements about economics, the academics got the "facts" in their "fact check" wrong when I studied them. Does the Herald include funding to tertiary institutions whose staff campaigned on Labour's side? No.

Before the Herald argues our democracy is failing and the election was bought, with no analysis of the total sums spent by all Labour-aligned compared to National-aligned institutions, the paper should refrain from undermining trust in our nation's integrity. My impression is that overwhelmingly more money & power was brought to bear by Labour, using its affiliate organizations in the unions, media & educational "establishments" than National to try to swing the election. Even with it, the people were not fooled.

Sources:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/simon-wilson-why-didnt-labour-do-more/JKHVAF6FG5A4DHS73Y3AVLC3BY/

https://www.politico.eu/article/jeremy-corbyn-says-israel-must-end-occupation-declining-condemn-hamas/

https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/09/21/fact-check-leaders-claims-in-the-first-debate-put-to-the-test/ 

Professor Robert MacCulloch holds the Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics at Auckland University. He has previously worked at the Reserve Bank, Oxford University, and the London School of Economics. He runs the blog Down to Earth Kiwi from where this article was sourced.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...


Wilson has no credibility due to his bias - he should go and work for The Guardian ASAP.

The credibility of universities is also in play - again due to overt bias. Propaganda machines. Crunch time is coming as they are broke.

Anonymous said...

Comrade Wilson not happy about the election outcome?
That’s a surprise maybe he should do what the rest of us have had too for the last 6 years, accept it and move on.
In 3 more years he can roll out the red flag and try again.

Rob Beechey said...


Frank Newman stated on an earlier piece “ The Labour Party enjoyed the benefit of this terrible govt’s gift of $55 million to promote itself through the corrupt MSM.”

Kevn said...

The media funding appears to go on until 2026...

https://www.nzonair.govt.nz/funding/journalism-funding/

DeeM said...

This is priceless. Even when the reason for Labour's defeat is as plain as the nose on Wilson's face he just can't see it.
The guy's delusional, like most of the MSM, who think the public love them and hang off their every word. You'd think it would've dawned on them that a majority of the public did the exact opposite of what they were telling them to do.



Ray S said...

Wilson and others like him appear to have their heads where the sun don't shine.

Best thing for them is to go away quickly and take anyone with similar views with them.
Must of us are really and truly well over all this woke BS.

Anonymous said...

My comment relates to the statements within this article that relate to Jeremy Corban, former Leader of the UK Labour Party.

I suggest that any reader of this article and the "pinned comments", should locate and buy the book - Dangerous Hero (Author Tom Bower - a noted UK Political Columnist) - which is about Jeremy Corban. From my "reading of this book" - it would appear that dissatisfied Labour MP's saw Jeremy to the "exit".

It is a pity that those New Zealander's who "hang on, for grim death" as members of the NZ Labour Party did not see that Chris Hipkins, was the sole reason (aided & abetted by misfunctioning Caucus Members) - for the "demise at the Voting Booths" for the Party he was "not fit to lead", very similar to Jeremy Corban.

Now, will we see in the coming 3 years, those NZ Labour Party "person's", both elected and list, who will sit in opposition, repeat their collective inabilities, like they did during the John Key/Bill English Govt?

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