NZ Politics Daily - 2 September (liberation)

John Key hasn’t let the fact that he has not actually read Nicky Hager’s book stop him from voicing the same arrogant dismissiveness we saw in evidence in his initial handling of the Israeli spy allegations and the work of journalist Jon Stephenson on Afghanistan. As with his treatment of Stephenson, Key’s first response has been to attack the journalist’s credibility by saying ‘Nothing surprises me when it comes to Nicky Hager…. he makes a lot of spurious claims and never generally backs it up’ – see: TVNZ’s Key, Goff dismiss 'spurious' Hager book. This earns a swipe from John Armstrong: ‘Those who think Nicky Hager is just another left-wing stirrer and dismiss his latest book accordingly should think again. Likewise, the country's politicians should read Other People's Wars before condemning it’. In his must-read Herald story, Armstrong also points to the ‘mountain of previously confidential and very disturbing information his assiduous research and inquiries have uncovered’ – see: 'Candyfloss' PR exposed in all its cynicism.

Armstrong’s views are shared by many journalists and commentators, including media law expert, Steven Price - see: Other People’s Wars. Price says: ‘Just heard John Key discussing the book on Checkpoint. He said (a) there was no evidence for Hager’s claims; and (b) he hadn’t read the book. I hope other people find that as breathtaking as I do’. The sentiment is also nicely captured by the Dim-Post: ‘Yeah – crazy old Nicky Hager, always making wild suppositions based on nothing but confidential documents leaked to him by senior military and intelligence officials’ (Deep thought).

Unsurprisingly Phil Goff concurs with John Key, saying he does not see any need for an inquiry into Hager's accusations. But then, as John Armstrong points out he would say that wouldn’t he: ‘Neither National nor Labour - both having committed troops to Afghanistan while in government - have anything to gain from such an inquiry. Nor has the public mood shifted in sufficient quantity against the Afghan deployment to force any meaningful inquiry. It is more likely any Government going down that path would cop a backlash through being seen as undermining the armed forces. And, with an election pending, neither of the two major parties will go there’.

Not everybody shares Armstrong’s view of the importance of Hager’s book. Vernon Small and Guyon Espiner in particular both point out that they visited Afghanistan and saw nothing scandalous. These journalists seem to share Goff’s basic line that, ‘I think it would be shock horror surprise if you didn't have intelligence facilities designed to keep New Zealand defence personnel safe in an area of deployment’. Another interesting interview on RNZ’s Nine-to-Noon, has Katherine Ryan discussing the matter with Jon Stephenson and Ron Smith.

Meanwhile the Greens are once again proving their worth by backing up Hager, but as Armstrong points out, that the Greens’ response has actually been surprisingly limited. Could it be that the Greens are shifting away from their loud-hailer approach to foreign policy? Certainly the gist of Denis Welch’s article on the Greens in the latest Metro magazine might suggest that. The magazine is well worth buying for Welch’s analysis of the party that might finally have found it’s way to success in this year’s election. Welch says that the party is still far too ‘ preachy, patronizing and far too principled’ and ‘holier-than-thou’, but under the new leadership its making great strides to make itself more palatable to voters. He says, ‘if you wrote a book about the party's centrist shift in the past couple of years, you might well want to call it The Decline and Fall of the Roman Sandal’. Under Russel Norman, the Greens have finally ‘embraced capitalism’ and made ‘the Green Party economically credible’. David Farrar has also written insightfully about the party of the moment in The rise of the Greens. And today’s Dominion Post Editorial on the Greens states ‘Greens' rise is clearly due to disillusioned centre-Left voters looking for a new home as any real prospect of a Labour victory disappears’. This all means that we’re going to see more and more changes from the Greens. Notably, PR firm, Senate Communications advises in their latest political briefing that ‘businesses philosophically opposed to the Greens’ policies will need to find a way to engage meaningfully with the party’.

Finally, two other important items today are Chris Trotter’s Why we now see politics as a big turn-off and Tim Watkin’s A lobby with clout. And the interview I conducted with Hone Harawira yesterday is reported in the following three items: Allison Rudd’s An answer for almost everything, James Meager’s Vote Chat 2011 – At home with Hone, and Channel 9’s Hone Harawira visits Otago University.[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: [email protected]

Nicky Hager’s Other People’s Wars

John Armstrong (NZH): 'Candyfloss' PR exposed in all its cynicism

Audrey Young (NZH): 'NZ base home to CIA'

Audrey Young and NZ Herald Staff (NZH): Hager Defence claims rejected

Derek Cheng (NZH): Spies 'let go early in return for passports'

TVNZ: Key, Goff dismiss 'spurious' Hager book

TV3: Gov-Gen slams Nicky Hagar over CIA claims

Danya Levy and Vernon Small (Stuff): Governor-General attacks Hager book claims

TVNZ: Former Defence Force chiefs dismiss CIA claims

Vernon Small (Stuff): Little kept from media eyes at base

Steven Price (Media Law Journal): Other People’s Wars

RNZ: Military deny Hagar claims