The politically created and media stoked pre-budget circus over insecure Treasury data was a symptom of a growing problem.
Treasury, the Government (in particular Grant Robertson), and the National opposition all came out looking worse to the public.
The circus demonstrated how out of touch with ordinary New Zealand politicians and the media are getting.
Bernard Hickey suggests: Our political metabolic rate is way, way too fast
No one comes out the Budget 2019 ‘hack’ with any credit, Bernard Hickey argues. The ‘scandal’ is symptomatic of an accelerating and more extremist form of politics in a social media-driven age of snap judgments and tribal barracking.
I turned on Radio New Zealand’s First at 5 programme, expecting and wanting to hear the latest burp and fart in the saga.
Instead, I heard presenter Indira Stewart asking some year 13 students at Tamaki College in South Auckland about what they wanted from the Budget, and comments from the tuck shop lady Nanny Barb about the kids at the school arriving hungry and needing breakfast. Listen to it here.
It stopped me in my tracks.
Year 13 students Lu Faaui, Uili Tumanuvao, Sela Tukia, Francis Nimo and Efi Gaono thanked Nanny Barb for their meal. They talked about what they wanted from the Budget. They had been forced to move out of state houses in Glen Innes (Tamaki Regeneration Company) to South Auckland and their parents were working multiple jobs to pay for private rentals.
They were paying $40 a week to travel across Auckland each day to Tamaki College.
“Just like Sela said, it’s forced us to move out of GI (Glen Innes) and yeah my family just decides to cope with it. It’s made my Dad work even more hours. My mum gets two jobs, my sister gets two jobs. I mean, money is money you know,” said Lu.
What they didn’t care about
They didn’t care about how an Opposition researcher had done 2,000 searches on a Treasury website to try to find Budget 2019 information four days ahead of its release.
Or that Simon Bridges had then recreated 22 pages of Budget information and released it to the public to highlight Treasury’s IT system flaws and embarrass the Government. They didn’t care or even know that the Treasury Secretary had jumped to the conclusion the information was ‘hacked’ and needed to be referred to the police.
Or that Grant Robertson had made the mistake of trusting Makhlouf and leapt to lash back at Bridges by suggesting illegal activity. Or that Bridges had then accused Robertson of lying and the Treasury of being incompetent, and that it was a deliberate smear and a threat to democracy.
They did not hear the Opposition Leader jump the shark by saying: “This is the most contemptible moment in New Zealand politics.”
Really? Worse than Muldoon outing Colin Moyle? Or the Dirty Politics revelations? Or Jami-Lee Ross’ allegations?
All those teenagers wanted was affordable and convenient housing and transport so they could easily go to school and their parents didn’t have to work so hard.
That sort of thing is reality for many people who don’t care for posturing and point scoring, which turns most people off politics.
This is how politics works now
If I had time and they were still interested in talking to me, I’d explain how politicians and the media operate now.
I’d show them my twitter feed and how news and commentary have ramped up into a blur of headlines, memes, click-bait, extreme views, abuse and a desperate game of trying to grab the attention of a distracted media and whip their own social media bubbles into a frenzy.
The best example of how this increased metabolic rate of politics has warped the public debate is to point to what has happened in America and Europe, where increasingly polarised politicians shout at each other from their own bubbles of supporters and nothing changes. Meanwhile, other forces keep screwing the scrum of democracy to further their own interests.
The end result is a disengaged public, policy paralysis, a lot of noise and not much light.
It isn’t unusual for politicians to be out of touch with ordinary people living ordinary lives.
But the media a real concern – they are supposed to shine a light on politicians and Parliament, hold them to account and inform the public.
too often they seem too intent on lighting the fires, or at least providing the petrol and inflaming things way out of proportion to their importance.
I understand how it happened and I’ve been living in it now for a decade. A political firmament driven by social media, sound bites, cheap shots and one-day-wonder stories is not going to solve the problems of South Auckland or Tamaki.
Everyone should take a chill pill, stop jumping to conclusions for a quick political hit and instead think beyond the beltway to the real world and long term concerns of citizens.
What’s the chances of this happening? I see no sign of it.
