NZ Politics Daily: 21 April (liberation)

TVNZ scored a scoop last night when they forced Defence Minister Wayne Mapp to admit the SAS had been involved in a mission to kill the insurgents allegedly responsible for the death of Lieutenant Tim O'Donnell last August. The initial line of questioning as to whether this was a revenge attack has been quickly denied by the government (DomPost/NZPA: SAS attack not ‘revenge killing’ – Mapp. As is often the case with war stories the full facts can take quite some time to emerge (it has taken six months just to find out it happened at all).

Derek Cheng (NZH: SAS strike not revenge killing – minister) does add important information:

“The district's governor initially said there were eight civilian casualties, and a Nato investigation later revealed a malfunctioning gunsight on a coalition helicopter that had resulted in errant shots hitting a building. The building was struck mistakenly, but was previously used as base of insurgent operations. US Air Force Brigadier General Timothy M. Zadalis said at the time that the coalition regretted "any possible civilian loss of life or injury” Dr Mapp said investigations had found that no civilians were killed in the strike”.

Hopefully some of those reporters we see on billboards posing in flak jackets may help to clear any “fog of war” around this story.

In the same article Keith Locke reiterates the Greens’ opposition to NZ’s military presence - the only opposition politician willing to comment so far. It will be interesting to see if the Greens’ defence spokesperson who replaces Keith Locke will be as unequivocal and consistent as he has been, regardless of the political winds. John Hartevelt (DomPost: We’re not mentioning the war) notes Phil Goff’s current silence on the war despite his long experience in Defence and Foreign Affairs and previous statements that we should be out of there. A better line of attack on National, he thinks, than helicopter rides.

Nevertheless, the helicopter ride does attract quite a bit of attention and even detailed analysis (Adam Bennett NZH: Govt use of RNZAF aircrafts doubles) but, as Duncan Garner points out in his weekly summary (TV3: The week in politics – VIDEO), Labour spent quite a bit of time in government flying the friendly skies with RNZAF and so would be unwise to push it too far.

Labour’s latest anti-asset sales campaign involving mock stop signs has, almost inevitably it seems, backfired a bit on them as David Farrar gives them a lesson on road rules in (Kiwiblog): Did Labour check the law) and James Meager (mydeology) builds a convincing case for the prosecution in Labour’s diabolical master plan unveiled. There is a sideshow as to whether the signs have promoter statements as required under electoral law (Andrew Geddis, Pundit: A sign o’ the times and John Pagani, Posterous: Sad cases and So, was that ‘sorry’?). Pagani does seem to have a lot of time for blogging his view of everything and everyone these days. Labour supporters who were critical of his efforts in Goff's office are unlikely to be grateful for his prolific insights.

In other articles of interest, Morgan Godfery (Maui Street: The Mana Party…Coming soon) seems to have the inside running on Hone Harawira’s new party and John Minto (Scoop: The Front: Dark Shadow of the State Creeps On…) provides a comprehensive list of legislation restricting civil liberties passed since 2001. It includes this analysis of the 2007 Terrorism Suppression Amendment Act:

“There are many examples of protest activity and civil disobedience from past events such as the 1981 Springbok tour, which could now be classified as terrorist….Under the new law it would have been illegal to provide support for the African National Congress in the fight against apartheid or for campaigns to have Nelson Mandela released from jail”.

Gerard Hehir

Guest Editor NZPD

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Below are the internet links to all the NZ politics material from the last 24 hours that are either informative, insightful, interesting or influential. This list and the links are taken from a fuller document, NZ Politics Daily, which is emailed out, Monday to Friday, to various researchers, academics, journalists, MPs and so forth. The document is purely for research purposes only, and if you would like to be on the subscription list, please email: [email protected]

SAS attack in Afghanistan

Dom Post/NZPA: SAS attack not ‘revenge killing’ – Mapp

Derek Cheng (NZH): SAS strike not revenge killing – minister

NZPA: SAS attack was to ‘protect our people’ – Mapp (and VIDEO)

NZH: SAS attack on Kiwi soldier’s killers

John Hartevelt (DomPost): We’re not mentioning the war

Labour Party’s anti-asset sale campaign

David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Did Labour check the law?

Adam Bennett (NZH): Labour’s asset campaign runs into road rule problem

Andrew Geddis (Pundit): A sign o’ the times

John Pagani (JP’s Posterous): Sad cases

John Pagani (JP’s Posterous): So, was that ‘sorry’?