Freedom Matters - Dirty Politics Threatens That
The most concerning thing for me about the publication of Nicky Hager's book Dirty Politics is not the claims made within i,t but the implications for privacy and freedom in New Zealand.
I'll deal with the book's main claims later, but firstly the fact that the emails which most of the book is based on were, admitted by the author, as being hacked and obtained illegally. It seems that for half the population, because it is said to be "in the public interest" and supports their political view, that this snooping has been given tacit approval.
Given recent years of protest about how much government organisations may be listening in to our private conversations and reading our emails this is a remarkable change in attitude. It seems that snooping and breach of privacy is now regarded as okay if it is perceived by the individual doing it as for the good of the country. The concerning thing of course is that it is not our legal system deciding this but politically motivated (no matter how much they deny this) members of the public.
The danger now is that it is open slather. Individuals from all of the political spectrum can now claim delving into New Zealanders' private emails is , in their opinion, "in the public interest" if it seems to reveal something scandalous. The trouble with emails, and texts, is they can often be, and have in this book, been misinterpreted. So we will have members of the public setting themselves up as judge, jury and executioner without first even seeking the other side of the story.
Is this what New Zealanders want? I have no doubt Whaleoil has just as many emails, if not more in his files which are likely to be very damaging to the left and right of New Zealand politics, should he decide to release them in the name of "public interest". There will be many public figures laying very low at the moment I would think. I for one do not want a New Zealand where anyone can access my private communications for their own ends.
Moving on now to the assertions made in the book itself. And I admit I have only read the more salacious pieces floating around. I don't want to pay money for a book with illegally obtained information.
Where to start? There are just so many falsely drawn conclusions and assumptions. I don't think anyone is denying emails exist. What is disputed is the interpretation of those emails and texts. Lets take them one by one.
Rodney Hyde: Assertion he was blackmailed. Completely denied by Rodney as without a shred of truth. This was banter between other parties which never came to anything
Peter Dunne: Links with and payments from the tobacco industry. Last contact was 20 years ago. So false.
David Farrar: Again all main assumptions denied.
Judith Collins: Has done nothing outside the cabinet manual or illegal. The name she gave to whaleoil was already in the public domain.
John Key and OIA request: The SIS director has confirmed Key had no influence on this. So wrong again
John Key: Description of West Coast woman who's son was killed in a car crash. Just didn't even happen and I think most people would be surprised if he used those words. Turns out the contact made on that day with whaleoil was on a completely different matter.
Jason Ede: Trawling around in Labour's website and sharing information. Has he done anything illegal? Probably not. Labour's website pages were open to the public. If he downloaded anything as long as he did nothing with the information he's unlikely to have done anything wrong in a legal sense. Unethical? Possibly. Talking to media and bloggers is one thing. Talking about how to get the opposition with outsiders is quite another. The PM should reign his staff in on this. I don't think anyone in any political party would be naive enough to think this doesn't go on in all parties, but leave it to the journalists and bloggers.
So yes there is some dirty politics in New Zealand, from all sides. So let's not get cute and think it's only National. If Nicky Hager wanted to really do a job on NZ politicians he would have covered the political spectrum and done some checking of his stories to weed out the ones without foundation.
The National Party handling of this has been poor. The PM was, understandably, taken by surprise. In those circumstances what he should have done is say "look I haven't read the book, I'll go away and see what's in it and see if there is anything I need to investigate" . He could then have gone away, compiled a list of the main accusations as above, with researched denials as above and knocked it on the head there. There is very little of substance in this book and it is more an attack on Whaleoil, which National should distance itself from.
Freedom in this country has been compromised with the release of this book and Nicky Hager has achieved the opposite of his intentions. New Zealand politics just got grubbier with his biased spin and it's opened the door to future similar attacks from individuals with other agendas. Freedom does matter and Nicky Hager has made New Zealand less a land of liberty and individual freedom than it was before with this. He probably doesn't realise it but he is being used as a pawn by a higher power now seeking to influence New Zealand politics.
