Labour Thus Far....

[CCS]

Yeah, that's totally what's happening.

[Ab]

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/polit...suicide-future

Whatever you do, don’t mention boys and men, I mean they’re only 75% of the deaths

[Lightspeed]

Find me a voting bloc with any particular sympathy towards weak men.

[CCS]

Open and transparent.

[fixed_truth]

If it's not for work then that's perfectly reasonable.

[CCS]

Sure, it's not a state secret, but as the article notes, other prime ministers have been far less cagey about their holiday plans. Seems that Labour's default position is always Deny and Obfuscate.

[crocos]

This is such a slow-news-day article. Really, I couldn't give a shit if she's taking leave on her own dime where she goes. Any reasonable person would take the "Transparent" boasts as being related to the political process, not the personal lives.

[CCS]

I think I've already addressed that point.

[CCS]

Calls for more transparency over Let's Get Wellington Moving decision

[Ab]

https://thespinoff.co.nz/the-bulleti...ed-aussie-law/

Heckuva job Jacinda.

[Lightspeed]

What'd you expect? She'd suddenly unracist Australia?

[Ab]

Maybe she can unrapist the Labour Party

At least four members of the Labour Party have reportedly resigned over an investigation into allegations against a staff member.

Newstalk ZB political editor Barry Soper says the allegations involved not only sexual assault but rape, offers to pay for sex - and that there were 12 alleged complainants.

"What they're saying is, the party is telling them not to comment. They say people incredibly high up are on the side of the accused in the Beehive," Soper said.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is keeping tight-lipped about the party's handling of the matter.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/a...ectid=12255887

Fairness, open and transparent, etc

[Ab]

Ardern:

"It's something for the party and not something that I am directly involved in"

#leadership

[pxpx]

I listened to her interview on ZB this morning on the drive to work; and I retract my statement about Jacinda being good at answering questions. It was fucking abysmal.

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by Ab

Maybe she can unrapist the Labour Party

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/a...ectid=12255887

Fairness, open and transparent, etc

Which do you want? Do you think it's fair to potential victims to be open and transparent?

Allegations being made, people resigning. Sounds like house cleaning to me.

[Juju]

Originally Posted by Ab

Maybe she can unrapist the Labour Party



https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/a...ectid=12255887

Fairness, open and transparent, etc

To play devils advocate, let's hypothesize and replace 'The Labour Party' with 'The Labour Company'.

Would you expect a company to make public allegations (Note that word, allegations, not proven crimes) against a staff member before even the appropriate HR process has completed? Would the CEO or a large company always get involved in HR matters? No.

The police have not been involved yet, which to me says a lot about the validity of the alleged claims.

[Ab]

#mostopen #mosttransparent

https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/07...-game-of-hats/

[pxpx]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

Which do you want? Do you think it's fair to potential victims to be open and transparent?

Allegations being made, people resigning. Sounds like house cleaning to me.

Maybe a more valid question would be "Just what the fuck is going on with the Labour Party?"

[Lightspeed]

What you would anticipate to happen in any organisation where people compete for positions of power.

It's like the accident log at work. Anyone working with safety would recognise a clear log back not as a necessarily safe work place, but rather one where there is no discipline around managing incidents. Because accidents happen, it would be strange if they didn't.

Unfortunately for some political parties, they rely on the support of people who concern themselves with things like transparency, fairness, protection for the vulnerable rather than power for the powerful.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, other parties have a free hand to act with relative impunity, just as long as some woodlouse is available to spin shit and smear detractors.

[Ab]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/a...ectid=12256846

[Ab]

A spokesperson for Ardern said the formal complaints were made to the Labour Party and were workplace complaints.

"We've been advised that none of the people who made a complaint to the Labour Party about a Labour member currently work in any part of Parliament."

It's hat-juggling time again!

[fixed_truth]

Originally Posted by Ab

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/a...ectid=12256846

I'm trying to be objective until the nature of these allegations come out and we can see whether they're of a criminal nature or not. But when someone seeks out a woman who just last year tried to sweep sexual harassment under the rug, and who rather than facilitates a police statement goes to twitter for political point scoring - my skeptical senses start tingling.

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by Ab

#mostopen #mosttransparent

https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/07...-game-of-hats/

Remember, Labour set themselves a very low bar when they claimed "most open/transparent". They just need to respond to OIO requests in 29 days instead of 30.

[fixed_truth]

Labour MP Clare Curran steps down - a year after she was sacked from Cabinet
Good.

[CCS]

Good, fuck off.

[Lightspeed]

She should start her own political party, draw some National voters closer to center. Pragmatic policies like Labour, but without the airy-fairy oversight nonsense.

[Ab]

https://thespinoff.co.nz/unsponsored...-is-her-story/

[Ab]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/pol...lt-allegations

[fixed_truth]

“It’s important to be clear that none of the complaints the party investigated related to sexual assault. The person leading the original review made it clear to the complainants that the party would never be the appropriate body to handle allegations of that nature and that they would need to be investigated by the police.

As Haworth’s response to The Spinoff makes clear, however, the party strongly disputed that they were at any point told sexual assault was being alleged.

To me it sounds like they were told. I wonder what is the correct work-place process when someone makes a serious allegation against someone but chooses not to go to the police?

[Ab]

Labour put together a panel to investigate the latest complaints. It was not independent: all three were on the party's New Zealand Council, its governing executive.

None were professional counsellors or experts in dealing with the victims of assault.

After four months, the panel found no reason to take disciplinary action.

The complainants had no right to appeal, because such a step wasn't written into the party's constitution.

The women were angry, disappointed, bewildered. So, Labour made an inadequate and token gesture, agreeing to a review (not of the allegations, but of the process).

But they appointed the party's solicitor, a lawyer from the same Wellington firm that carried out the external youth camp review.

what the fuck, how is that acceptable?

[Ab]

Chris Trotter is claiming that Paula Bennett plans to name names under Parliamentary privilege.

[Lightspeed]

Did I gloss over the substance of the matter, or is that still to be made apparent?

An MP telling us that someone working for the opposing party has made unspecified allegations and feels like the Prime Minister doesn't care about them? That's the only substance Bennett has provided right? The feelings of those making the allegations?

I feel I must be missing something.

[Ab]

Trust your feelings

[StN]

I still not clear - is "Banging on the floor" a colloquial term for something?

[Ab]

Cmon man, if the account is true it's not something to joke about.

[Lightspeed]

So we're still waiting on the substance of the matter, in the meantime it's good political fodder.

[crocos]

Yep, that's about the size of it.

[StN]

Originally Posted by Ab

Cmon man, if the account is true it's not something to joke about.

I apologise and withdraw.

It does seem like Jacinda's stardust is somewhat lacking here.

[Ab]

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/progr...ictims-witness

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/...t-allegations/

I see Jacinda is off on another overseas jaunt next week. That would be bad.

I also note that Winston has totally vanished. Say what you will about the old vampire, but when the shit hits the fan he knows to be a million miles away.

[StN]

Is he back on deck after his hospital visit yet? (Google says no) The one where Paula sent him some flowers and he gave them to someone else.