Stephen Franks featured on The Radio NZ Panel on Act’s firing of Roy today.
Stephen Franks featured on The Radio NZ Panel on Act’s firing of Roy today.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Uncategorized, act party. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Will listen later
Classic quote.
I can’t listen to it but can someone please tell me if Franks explained why he was in the room when they decided?
He wasnt in the room, he said he has been advising Heather Roy
BLiP and wasnt S Franks answer interesting….
Didn’t Franks say there is a rule that decent politicians follow not to speak of what went on inside caucus.
But he’s not a politician (MP) today, is he? Very odd.
I guess he didnt want her to be seen to be breaking that code through him, afterall she must have breached that code when she spoke to him of it.
Isn’t Rortney a different politican in government compared to opposition. He and Winston were really made for opposition not government.
Hmmmm that makes sense; the legal mind does indeed work differently…
The whole thing is a bit sad. Roy was the best part of ACT now. It was interesting to see Deborah Coddington’s write up on gay rights in the herald the other day. That’s the sort of civil liberties focussed position ACT should have been taking, but they seem to have lost their liberal values completely now. Not that I expect much sympathy in this forum, but there was some value in ACT originally.
I have heard good things about Heather Roy, her association with Douglas concerned me but she seemed to genuinely believe what she was doing would improve the lot of NZers. I may not agree with her ideology but I can see that.
Loota, by “decent” politicians he meant himself of course
Go Tracey!
You are really helping the side tonight! 
Thanks Spud, been flat out at work… tired and should go to bed, but wanted to stop by.
Tracey
Yes, indeed. Although pompous enough to let us all know he is privvy to the actual discussion but far to honourable to spill the beans, Franks was quite revealing. Reading between the lines of what he said, it would appear the decision was to suit Hide rather than ACT itself, or even the public its supposed to serve.
The schadenfreude caek is moist and delicious, hopefully there’s plenty more to come.
Thanks for that info Tracey, much appreciated.
I have heard that Franks was in the room when the ACT caucus made the decision. Hide is behaving just like Winston – the man he fought so hard to get rid of. So ironic.
INteresting Mickey, if true he certainly kept that close to his chest when on radio today.
I agree BLip he certainly imferred Hide was protecting his hide, but then Franks went because he challenged the rhino and lost…
Liked how she really tried to understand special education and especially the problems Gifted kids have in the school system. Even posting on her page about how National standards were going to fail gifted kids, which I feel was a bold move considering what side of the house she was on.
From Rodney -lifted from ACT press release @ http://www.act.org.nz/news/new-act-deputy-leader
We have agreed to the following changes:
* John Boscawen will replace Heather Roy as Minister of Consumer Affairs.
* He will also take my Associate Commerce portfolio, and I will be taking the Associate Education portfolio.
* We have also agreed to drop our involvement in the Associate Defence portfolio to focus on core ACT issues, most notably Education.
So TOLLEY and HIDE – I have to go and rock in the corner now…
My computer won’t play it
Its a worry isn’t it.
Yeah the Heather Roy thing is a worry, Hilary said Rodney is going to be in charge of special ed
And it sucks not being able to play a simple clip, I don’t get it
So good to see you though
Your browser probably needs the windows media player plug in Spud. (Just randomly guessing here, might be somethign completely different…)
Franks never was a good fit for ACT with all the gay bashing, it would be good if ACT were still truly liberal could at least get some social reform happening this term via private member’s bill at least, alas not to be…
No Loota that’s not the problem
Julie, sorry for the misinfo. It seems Franks was indeed at Caucus as Roy’s legal advisor and support. I listened to him on radio and didnt hear him say that. Mind you I was in auckland traffic so perhaps missed him saying it.
I have a friend in Special Ed, a teacher no less (supposedly anti anything from the right, right, righties?
she speaks well of Roys work in this area too.
Perhaps Key said to Rortney, “duuuuude, I backed you in the coup, now you gotta get this girl offa Tolley and my NS gig. I gave you a supercity, now give me education, innit”
Jeremy, wash your mouth out, social reform, you mean social engineering
Nice piece from Colin Espiner
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/blogs/on-the-house/4033074/Dumb-and-dumber-Axing-Heather-Roy
I assumed Boscawen got his promotion in thanks for his EFA campaign, god forbid we make an election an even playing field and every donor is known?
Interesting to hear JK say that the ministerial appointments were tied tot he Leader and Deputy positions and that why Roy loses the portfolio. However the Agreement between ACT and National does support that notion
“The Leader of ACT Rodney Hide MP and Heather Roy MP will be appointed to ministerial positions outside Cabinet.”
It sounded like Mr Franks has read his Machiavelli too
And spud – get the podcast offa the rnz website
@Tracey Espiner’s piece is very accurate, and I’m no fan of Boscawen, but the EFA was a terrible authoritarian oppression of our freedom of speech. When even Forest and Bird complain that they are being prevented from communicating openly with the public, you know the act is deeply flawed. The EFA is still one of the main reasons I wouldn’t vote Labour.
Thanks Cnr Joe
Was That 90 days since the leadership challenge?
Should be some fun and games out of the Ministry of Misinformation (whoops, Education) with Hide and Tolley at the helm.
http://www.voxy.co.nz/politics/tolley-ignores-serious-issues-ero-report/5/59239#comment-15022
Sadly the Minister that actually listened to individual concerns is a Minister no longer.
As Associate Minister of Education, will Rodney Hide also carry the portfolio for gifted and talented education? Maybe that is a question to be asked … media reports only seem to mention special education, but currently gifted sits outside that portfolio. Will the work Heather was undertaking with the sector, parents, etc be continued? Will the ministerial advisory group on gifted and talented remain intact?
The more stories I read the sadder I am that a person of high integrity, with an excellent work ethic, has been treated this way (politics aside)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10667067
Any electrorate need a hard working Independent?
I hope Labour ask serious questions about all this in Parliament tomorrow. It’s not just some comedy spat in a fringe party – it goes much deeper, to the heart of government.
Herald on Roy:
She said Hide had spoken to Defence Minister Wayne Mapp and tried to have her removed as Associate Defence Minister, to which Mapp “protested vigorously”.
The Key (sic) question is: who’s in charge?
Did the Prime Minister consult the Defence Minister before removing Roy? Did the Defence Minister “protest vigorously”? Did the Prime Minister agree with his Defence Minister, that the Associate Minister was doing a good job?
etc
The implications are obvious, and disturbing.
With apologies to Monty Python…
“Are you the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers?”
“Eff off! We’re not the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers! We’re the Taxpayers and Consumers Association!”
@Tracey – I would like to see T
L L Y put in charge of gifted education 
