David Parker writes a guest column in NBR on the importance of media independence and freedom.
It’s worth a read:
Media freedom and independence under threat
David Parker | WEEKEND REVIEW |The SFO issued that order against the NBR with no outside oversight.
NBR was right to inquire into what had gone wrong. The SFO interference in the NBR proved beyond doubt that the SFO powers are excessive and undermine the important role of a free media.
OPINION: Media freedoms are absolutely essential to the long-term health of any democracy. New Zealand is no exception.
The production order used by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) against the National Business Review demanded that NBR give up their records, including sources, of the NBR inquiry into the South Canterbury collapse.
That collapse caused hundreds of millions of dollars of cost to tax payers. The huge losses led to allegations of improper behaviour by South Canterbury Finance.
Serious questions were also raised about incompetence of the Government and its Ministry (the Treasury).
They allowed the size of that risk to grow by hundreds of millions after the Crown guarantee was granted, and rejected alternative ways of solving the problem which may have saved tens if not hundreds of millions.
The SFO was supposed to be merged with the Police, but unusually the merger was scuttled by Keys government.
A sacred cow not to be slaughtered ?
Poor performance doesnt seem to worry them.
The SFO knows a lot more about the H fee than it let on, and Keys recall of who/when/where bounces like a rugby ball, each time it goes in a different direction.
It sucks Ghost!
!!!!!
Ever since that farce called the “Winebox Enquiry” this country has gone to the dogs, totally lacking in business professionalism, politicans in this country tend to forget they are employed by the taxpayers in a custodian role to preserve the country’s wealth and improve the life of all New Zealanders not just the group of people that put them in power.
With the highly suspect SCF Bailout there needs to be an independent enquiry into the Government & Treasury’s handling of the Guarantee Scheme, it appears their Risk Management was incompetent.
If so people need to be accountable.
Just like the collapse of the Bank of New Zealand no one was held accountable despite some highly questionable business practices.
No wonder Joe Public is losing faith in Politicans.
theres an easy answer to those who are losing faith in politicions in new zealand… just go back through the time lines and see who it was administering when those debacles were initiated…. you may, or may not be surprised to find that the vast majority if not all of them were brought about by the general incompetence, and corruption prevalent in every national party government since it’s inception…
remember who it was that origionally brought new zealand to the brink of starvation in the thirties, (thank god for the savage govt)…. how many times have national dragged us back down that path?….simple answer… every single time they have been able to lie their way back into government…
how many times has the labour party had to use all it’s hard won political capital to get us back to some sort of balance?… just as simple an answer…. every single time we’ve had a national government for more than three years…
if you don’t like what i’m saying… then prove that the history books are lying…. i dare you…
but don’t read the newspapers, because they have been vassals of the people who own the national part since before there was a national party…
media independence in this country is a fallacy… the only journalists who have written the truth have had to be brave enough to bear the consequences….. career ending in some cases…
We need to give some thought to those journalists trying to do a good job but are forced down the OIA route (20 working day wait) only to be turned down and then lodge an appeal with the Ombudsmen with a wait of anything up to two years for their decision.
Hi Ghost/Hakim, haven’t seen you for a while!
Making more stuff up EP ? Just like your muddled attempt on the Chinese FTA. No clue at all, maybe you are Bill English
Do you still hate Peseta Sam ghost/hakim?
Who is hakim?