PADDY NEEDS A WACK

We watched Patrick Gower's shift from the Herald to TV3 with interest. He has some talent but  on the face of it  his latest story about Tuhoe stepping up to get "total " control of the Ureweras as part of a treaty settlement is a beat up. A really big beat up - the sort that fuels redneck racism. 
So why do we think its a beat up  - well because the Treaty Minister the gracious Chris Finlayson says so. We are very glad he did. It would be an outrage if the Government was going to give away a big corner of the country lock stock and punga trees   to one group of families as their exclusive fiefdom  because that's essentially what the story meant.

Hon Christopher Finlayson Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations
19 April 2010	Media Statement

Statement on Treaty negotiations with Ngai Tuhoe

At no point in the negotiations have Ngai Tuhoe asked for any form of separatism from New Zealand or an independent Tuhoe state.  Those issues are simply not part of any negotiation the Crown is undertaking.  The Crown has not, and will not, make any offer to Ngai Tuhoe that includes such forms of redress.  Any claims by TV3 or other media organisations are simply untrue.

The Crown and Ngai Tuhoe have been engaged in negotiations for nearly two years.  The negotiations raise a number of complex issues which both parties are working through in a constructive manner and we hope to see progress in the near future.

Ngai Tuhoe have discussed the importance of Te Uruwera and the Crown is currently exploring with them what form any redress might take.  The Crown has made clear its position that any settlement must recognise the rights of all New Zealanders, including public access and conservation values.

So there we have it... Its not a runner...  However we reckon up in the mists of the Ureweras there will be a little band of Tuhoe who think that its all true and even if it never comes to pass, its the way they will see things anyway and if white people venture too far up that a -ways well they just might not come back.....They are the silly buggers Gower probably had a yarn to. 

So Patrick - you owe us a beer for scaring us and the rest of TV3 watchers unnecessarily....

HERALD A LITTLE SLOW

Its not often we get one over the Herald but this week we did. We here at Roarprawn signalled on Saturday that TVNZ was due to put up a bid to counter the rugby World Cup bid of TVNZ.

Patrick Gower is a fine young reporter and he fleshes out our story here today.


What we dont like is that TV3 is involved... Why? Whats the reasoning? Its the question Gower hasn't ansked and needed to be answered. We said originally that any money being fed to Tv3 would end up in the coffers of their Aussie financiers...


So why not a joint bid by the two stations tied to the state?

KEY JOYCE AND ENGLISH

Patrick Gower wrote an interesting yarn his morning on the rise and rise of Steven Joyce. He is on the money. As is Fran O'sullivan. And is Transtasman. Keys appears to be about to line this country up for some big changes. He relies on Joyce. Joyce has delivered as we have seen with broadband and transport. English has since the election stumbled here and there and many party insiders question his absolute loyalty to Key.

Labour sees English as a wounded animal after the Ministerial Housing debacle. He did himself no favours..

So with the governments rise in popularity will we see Key and Joyce along with Brownlie, Groser, McCully, and Finlayson who all understand the transformational changes required to get this country moving at pace, starting to rev things up a bit?

If they do, we think that English's long term position is at risk as he does not have the same strategic sense as Key and Joyce and there is still the question of his loyalty that currently rests on a sand wall built by the the promise that he keeps finance and the Deputy PM positions.

The cynics would say that if Labour continue to pick on English then that could ultimately speed up the transformation agenda.

The tranformational change we need is Keys game to play. He needs to start playing it soon.

OF POLAR BEARS AND BACTERIA BINS, AND FAILED MISSIONS

We have already expressed some measure of joy at Key's announcement that " Hug a Polar Bear" programmes exhalted by the last government are for the chop. And Patrick Gower has a story in the Herald on Mission on Mission off, a health campaign administered by SPARC

Its has a website funded to the tune of $3.9 million.. They claim to have had 90,000 visitors - hell we have had 100,000 visitors to Roarprawn in less than seven months and it cost us nothing to set up.

What a bloody crock. We are glad that it is going but seriously someone should be looking at why it cost that much to build and administer.

We are hoping that we can get our rubbish tins back as well. If its good enough for the hamsters on the hill its good enough for us. We are waiting patiently for an email saying we can bif our desktop bacteria bin.

Commonsense reigns supreme.

Another excellent start to the day...

BEST SATIRICAL JOURNALISM OF THE WEEK

Patrick Gower from the Herald is pretty new on the political journalism scene. His dogged determination to get Winston to answer some simple questions was refused - the result is a nice piece of satire. Well done Patrick!

Read it here