OPINION: MickeySavage<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a bit of a slow burner of an issue and relates back to the time that Luxon\u2019s reign was in turmoil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last month the news broke that Luxon had ghosted senior National Party whip Stuart Smith after Smith wanted to tell him how disgruntled the National Party Caucus was with his leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This Thomas Coughlan article<\/a> set out all of the details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This occurred shortly after the cabinet reshuffle that was not originally planned that put the boot into Chris Bishop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then there was the release of diabolical polling and talk about a group of five National MPs wanting a change of leadership<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the story fermented for days because Smith refused to say anything. The Senior Whip even missed the Caucus meeting where Luxon put his position on the line because he had something else that he had to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it took Smith days to deny<\/a> that he wanted to talk to Luxon about Luxon\u2019s flagging support as claimed in the Coughlan article and supported by others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe he wanted to talk to Luxon about the weather or rugby or something else. But taking four days to say this suggests either gross incompetence of the reinvention of history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then there was the Ani O\u2019Brien attack on Maiki Sherman<\/a> who had just been suspended from Parliament for seven days for knocking on Smith\u2019s door and wanting to ask him questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n O\u2019Brien blogged about a drinks session around budget time LAST YEAR where Sherman allegedly used the f* bomb in response in response to something said to her by something said to her by Lloyd Burr. I am not aware what he said but clearly she was upset by it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This was an interesting thing for a member of the Free Speech Union executive member to blog about. After all you would expect a FSU adherant to support and celebrate the exercise of free speech, even if it involved an empthet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A timeline helps focus the mind however on what happened here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n March 31 \u2013 reshuffle announced<\/p>\n\n\n\n April 9 \u2013 Smith tries to talk to Luxon<\/p>\n\n\n\n April 17 \u2013 Coughlan reports on failure to meet<\/p>\n\n\n\n April 21 \u2013 Luxon calls leadership vote. Smith denies the Coughlan report<\/p>\n\n\n\n April 23 \u2013 Sherman tries to interview Smith<\/p>\n\n\n\n April 24 \u2013 Brown complains about Sherman to Brownlee<\/p>\n\n\n\n April 28 \u2013 O\u2019Brien publishes her Substack article on Sherman<\/p>\n\n\n\n And fast forward to Friday of last week when Sherman announced her resignation as TVNZ\u2019s chief political reporter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To add to the sense of unease David Seymour has recently made threats against John Campbell and the head of Radio New Zealand for apparently not being right wing enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From Laura Crimp at Radio New Zealand<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The deputy Prime Minister and ACT party leader spoke to The Platform <\/em>last week, taking swings at both state broadcasters\u2019 management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n