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John Key and Kevin Rudd - Source: ONE News -
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I saw John Key's first joint press conference with Kevin Rudd at the Apec meeting in Lima late last year and watched them together again in Sydney on Monday .
In Peru, Key wasn't much more than a week into the job and he seemed completely overawed. He let Rudd do most of the talking and the occasion had the feel of a father taking his son for a driving lesson.
On Monday, Key was relaxed and confident and handled questions with ease, although the press conference format was hardly challenging.
Overzealous Australian officials impose a structure on these events which is completely unnecessary. Two questions are permitted from the New Zealand media and two from the Australian side.
Some journalists react by asking several things at once. An Australian reporter did that, asking Rudd about the decline in the manufacturing sector and about a local defence force pay scandal in one convoluted question.
The effect - and this is probably the communications strategy behind all this - is that it gives the politician license to babble forth without being exposed to any real scrutiny.
Rudd is one who very much likes to babble. He is a policy wonk, very self-assured and very knowledgeable, although sometimes verbose and pompous.
Key kept his answers short, largely chirping away in his "shrug of the shoulders, it can't be that hard" optimistic kind of way.
That was his approach to the major issue to arise out of these talks: flights between the two countries being treated as domestic routes to cut the hassle of transtasman travel .
I think Key might be in for something of reality check about the obstructive power of officials on this one.
He's right of course. How hard can it be? The US and Canada do it, it's been on the books between New Zealand and Australia since 1992 and back in the day you could travel to Australia without a passport.
The thing is, though, officials will be feral about this. They had previously been working to a deadline of 2015 for ease of access - that's right, six years away - and they'll hang on with white knuckled obduracy.
A coterie of cringing, self interested bureaucrats will attempt to block it, all the way from customs to bio-security, from immigration to aviation security, not to mention those whose duty free businesses could take a hit.
Key comes back to Australia in August and optimistically believes a decision can be made by then.
We'll see soon who gets their way - the optimist or the officials.
What do you think about what Guyon is discussing? Share your views on the messageboard below.
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Post new commentGeoff Keey said on 2009-08-14 @ 01:47 NZDT: Report abusive post
Guyon, I was surprised to see you citing the Government's climate change cost estimates so uncritically given the extent to which they have been discredited.
stephen6565 said on 2009-08-13 @ 22:15 NZDT: Report abusive post
Another very poor article. You are part of the fourth estate and should be asking the hard questions of the govt. Making the govt accountable is not just the oppositions job. This whole article is just rubbish 'feelings' centred around your personal political views. Stick to policy and 'news' items.
geekypolitics said on 2009-08-11 @ 19:34 NZDT: Report abusive post
Mr. Espiner has some good advice for Labour especially on the environment, but the idea that Goff should "cuddle" up to Key is appalling. It is always difficult for the opposition to take a stance on matters that are of an international nature, as the reputation of the country as a united entity is at stake. Democrats in the U.S. had the same problem with regards to the Iraq War. I'd hate to see Labour make the same mistake in the name of "solidarity behind the troops."
Andrew Nichols said on 2009-08-11 @ 14:17 NZDT: Report abusive post
"Polls in Britain showed, counter-intuitively, that support for their troop deployment increased even as casualties mounted. " You're flat wrong! Current polling in the UKs major dailies actually shows majority and growing option to Britains involvement in Obams purposeless war. Not that that's ever bothered the govt there, who in time honoured fashion enjoy perpetuating "Britains post WW2 role as the Greeks to the US Empire" (Harold McMillan 1943)
Kereama said on 2009-08-11 @ 13:39 NZDT: Report abusive post
Of course Labour need to find their direction! They lost the election and they lost touch with grassroots NZ - National did too once, and it took them years to get back on track - but they did. The point is, the "road to nowhere" isn't permanent (unless you're Winston Peters... let's hope anyway). While it may be the opposition's role to critique the Government, the media has an obligation to do so also. Let the opposition "find" themselves and focus instead on the ones that count.