NZ Politics Daily: 15 June (liberation)

It might be an old story – now over three months old – but the Darren Hughes scandal is still being analysed in the political sphere. This is partly as a result of the Police announcement last week not to prosecute, partly because Phil Goff has arrived back in the country, and partly in order to evaluate the role of the media in covering such scandals. Goff has predictably blamed the media for Hughes’ fate, asserting that Hughes was not allowed his right to a presumption of innocence – see: Goff slams Darren Hughes’ ‘trial by media’. But as the No Right Turn blogger has succinctly explained, ‘Of course Goff has to blame the media. Otherwise he’d have to accept responsibility for his own mishandling of the matter’. Two Radio NZ programmes have recently addressed the media’s role: first, Mediawatch (audio here), and then yesterday Denis Welch discussed the media’s role in his Media slot on Nine-to-Noon (audio here). Welch says the media handled the scandal fairly well. And he also quotes my own analysis, which he seems to concur with, saying that in order to move beyond the scandal, Hughes should front-foot on the issue. For better or worse, the scandal will never really go away until Labour and Hughes deal with it properly, which they still haven’t. For an overview of how the scandal has been visually portrayed, see the aggregation of cartoons about the Hughes scandal below.

The other major political issue of the day, the Te Tai Tokerau by-election, is discussed today by two of the country’s most senior political journalists. Duncan Garner blogs about what might happen in both the by-election and if Labour wins it – see: Davis can beat Harawira - blog. John Armstrong asks whether the Maori Party is deliberately trying to lose the by-election in order for Labour to kill off the Mana Party – see: Tactical risk for Maori Party. [Continue reading below for a full list of the highlights of NZ Politics Daily]

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: bryce.edwards@otago.ac.nz

Darren Hughes

Newstalk ZB and NZH: Goff slams Darren Hughes’ ‘trial by media’

NZPA: Goff defends handling of Hughes affair

Danya Levy (Stuff): Darren Hughes had to go – Phil Goff

The Dim-Post: Oh God, just please let it stop

Marlborough Express Editorial: Time to rebuild trust

Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Mike's Editorial: Darren Hughes