New Zealand Listener - October 13, 2018

OCTOBER 13 2018 LISTENER 11

CHRIS SLANE

The leader-and-deputy combo, or the PM and

finance minister fronting up jointly, can make a

credible statement. But unless you’re baby Neve,

lurking in shot during a prime ministerial interview

only draws attention to your handbag status.

OFF THE PISTE

Still, you have to hand it to our MPs – the reasons

for which they come a cropper are never predict-

able. Even when, as in the case of Clare Curran,

they actually repeat themselves, you never see it

coming. The Derek Handley affair is the gift that

keeps on giving – to the Opposition.

Having made one mistake as a minister and

been let off, who would have dreamt Curran

would make the same mistake almost immedi-

ately? Her failure to disclose her meeting with

putative new Government technology tsar

Handley showed Curran still hadn’t a clue about

the proprieties ministers need to observe.

To the Opposition’s disappointment, there

seems no evidence of a stitch-up or power play

in either of Curran’s off-piste encounters. The

banal fact of both was she was stupid and care-

less. But the echoes have lasted extra weeks

because Handley – seemingly out of naive

enthusiasm rather than any manipu-

lative intent – brought the Prime

Minister into the email/text/docu-

ment trail of discoverables. Jacinda

Ardern, in turn, failed to be frank

when her involvement was first

raised, so the affair became more of a

shemozzle than necessary.

Ardern’s golden glow, burnished

by a sunny and assured performance

at the United Nations, has acquired a

little too much gloss with her admis-

sion to having paid a New York film

crew to record the trip to provide

fodder for social media. This leaves a

bad taste in “don’t get up yourself”

New Zealand, without necessarily

bringing any political benefit.

This may be the ultimate in selfie

sticks, but prime ministerial public-

ity and clicks abroad don’t convert

into New Zealand currency. And

years of research have so far failed to

find a link between online exposure

and votes – even “likes” and votes.

If there were one, cats and

those adorable Australian

quokkas would run the

world. Which, come to

think of it, is what our

mad politics often feels like

already, only much

less cuddly. l

Slow learner: Clare

Curran; right,

Meka Whaitiri.