OPINION: Peter Williams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Any politician who refuses to front on a particular media outlet essentially because he or she is afraid of being made to look foolish is, frankly, a coward and not competent to be in a position of responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s into that category that we must now place the current Prime Minister. We know that Jacinda Ardern was already a certified member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christopher Luxon has cancelled his regular appearances on TVNZ Breakfast after being hopelessly ill-prepared for a predictable barrage of aggressive questioning on a trivial topic from Tova O\u2019Brien. He is also a regular decliner of interview requests on the country\u2019s only current affairs show Q and A. He\u2019s never appeared as Prime Minister on the on-line outlet The Platform where he\u2019s sure to be interrupted and talked over by breakfast host Sean Plunket who\u2019d probably want to interview him aggressively about why his government hasn\u2019t removed co-governance provisions from local government and new water entities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luxon and his new minder Simeon Brown say they\u2019ve pulled the pin because some TVNZ political staff were asking questions in an area at parliament off limits to the media, and then reportedly threatening to besmirch a National MP for not answering those questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If true, that\u2019s unacceptable behaviour and the Speaker, as the boss of the parliamentary precinct, should deal with it. For Luxon, through Brown, to throw a hissy fit and quit a previously regular media appearance is childish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ardern, you remember, quit her regular appearances on Mike Hosking\u2019s Newstalk ZB breakfast show when he pointed out to her the difference between GDP and CPI and made her look a fool on economic matters. He was just pointing out the obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had two and half years as a host on a radio station called Magic Talk. Ardern was Prime Minister the entire time. Despite numerous requests from me and my producer she didn\u2019t appear on the show once, not even during the 2020 election campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her mate Grant Robertson came on once a week until he had a dummy spit because I asked him about the World Economic Forum\u2019s Great Reset. He reckoned it was conspiracy theory. I don\u2019t think it was but the WEF has reduced influence anyway now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe Ardern didn\u2019t think our ratings were worth the time. Actually they were better than Newstalk ZB in a few provincial markets so I never knew quite what her problem was. I didn\u2019t lose any sleep over it but thought it was a very arrogant attitude to take to the audience we had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I feel exactly the same about Luxon chickening out of TVNZ\u2019s Breakfast and The Platform. If you want your message to resonate with the public use the media \u2013 broadcast and on-line – to reach them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other politicians and parties are not blameless either. Act reputedly won\u2019t go on RNZ\u2019s Morning Report because of the attitude of staff toward them when they appear in person on the premises. No doubt they\u2019re not too enamoured either of the aggressive line of questioning they usually encounter when they\u2019re on-air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Act staffer once called about what they could do about RNZ\u2019s attitude towards them. I suggested they get some significant change at board level. After all, they\u2019re part of the appointing government. There were vacancies advertised for the RNZ board in February this year. It\u2019s nearly May. There still haven\u2019t been any appointments. The terms of the chair and two other directors expire on June 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But if politicians want to progress in their public careers, the best way to prove how able, principled and disciplined they are, is to take the good with the bad. Luxon should show more courage and not resist the hard line of questioning that would come from Tova O\u2019Brien and Sean Plunket. Be prepared to get on the front foot, know what you stand for, be knowledgeable across a wide range of portfolios and most importantly, know who voted for you and what those voters want you to do. It\u2019s not too hard. You campaigned on it and negotiated two coalition agreements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The New Zealand political media will never be enchanted by Christopher Luxon. But he can show more fortitude by not running from the fight. He should be better briefed. He shouldn\u2019t resort to corny one liners from his \u201ctalking points.\u201d He has to be authentic. Provide evidence he has political conviction. Right now he\u2019s not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And if you want inspiration about how to hose down an aggressive interviewer watch John Key v John Campbell on Campbell Live in 2013 on the proposed GCSB legislation. The Herald\u2019s Colin Hogg said Campbell was humiliated. Even Campbell himself said that Key was \u201cabsolutely brilliant.\u201d That was a Prime Minister well briefed and thoroughly prepared on a fractious issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, Key had been Prime Minister for 5 years by then and well experienced in the role. But despite his many failings on the policy front (the flag referendum, the UNDRIP signing) Key was a master in front of a TV camera. I saw plenty of it first hand when he made his weekly appearances on Breakfast in 2009-2016 era. We often chatted in the corner of the studio while he was waiting to be interviewed. Often it was about golf, sometimes it was politics. He never had a media minder with him. The DPS men lurked in the corridor outside, the limo waited in the basement beside the lift. But he was a natural as a politician because he had command of issues and had an answer to the criticism he knew was coming his way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remember the morning he\u2019d had the word Labour were going to blow the whistle on the illegal GCSB spying of Kim Dotcom before the infamous raid in 2012. His line to me in the corner of the studio that morning was \u201cthe shit\u2019s going to hit the fan today.\u201d It did, but he was ready for it, didn\u2019t deny he knew more that he\u2019d previously let on, absorbed the criticism and became more popular than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You could never see Luxon cope with a scenario was well as that. He\u2019d go to ground, issue written statements and then fudge answers at a press conference later in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s hired former TV and radio journalist and presenter Rachel Smalley to lift his media game. She has an unenviable task. Luxon is not politically smart the way Key or Helen Clark or Ardern was, nor a natural TV performer. There was hint of Smalley\u2019s influence with his bold appearance after hosing down the leadership coup and reporting the vote of confidence his caucus had given him. He refused to answer questions afterwards. That was smart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But his statement should have included the word \u201cunanimous\u201d in reference to the vote of confidence. By not, he opened up even more speculation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luxon needs to learn to give as good as he gets. His appearances with Hosking are usually pretty boring. That\u2019s because neither will indulge in much beyond economic matters. He should reconsider the Breakfast ban. He should front on The Platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the immortal words of John Key himself in Parliament in 2015, Luxon should \u201cget some guts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Writer and broadcaster for half a century. Now watching from the sidelines although verbalising thoughts on <\/em>Reality Check Radio<\/u><\/em><\/a> three days a week and writing at <\/em>Peter’s substack<\/u><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" OPINION: Peter Williams. Any politician who refuses to front on a particular media outlet essentially because he or she is afraid of being made to look foolish is, frankly, a coward and not competent to be in a position of responsibility. It\u2019s into that category that we must now place the current Prime Minister. We<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[225,113,255],"coauthors":[925],"class_list":{"0":"post-12460","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-opinion","8":"tag-christopher-luxon","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-opinion"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12460"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12461,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12460\/revisions\/12461"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12460"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=12460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}