This is the future of the National and ACT party
Posted by Charles Chauvel on November 26th, 2009
*Click on the image above for a full sized version
This is the future of the National and ACT party: ACT lead researcher Andrew Falloon and the Minister for Energy’s Political Advisor Christopher Bishop.
I’m waiting for them to break out the ‘Dig Baby Dig’ T-Shirts.
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on Thursday, November 26th, 2009 at 4:47 pm and is filed under act party, national.
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LOL.
I wonder sometimes what a humourless bunch the Labour Party must really be.
But on the plus side if the Abel Tasman is full of minerals – then I hope the Government mines the hell out of it.
I am not sure there is anything of any real value there except native NZ bush. A simple cost benefit analysis (touris vs minerals) will demonstrate which is the best decision.
Ermmmm….. so?
Mr Chauvel I think it’s a bit unseemly posting staff members’ facebook profiles on a blog. I realise that facebook profiles are public, but then again so are the addresses of many MPs. That doesn’t make it a good reason to publish it.
Nooo, I put the smiley face BEFORE M, onty’s comment was taken out of moderation.
Monty
You might be right if the CvB analysis could actually calculate the reversal of New Zealnd’s image overseas, and kiwis own held attitude about protecting New Zealand’s natural environment (or at the very least stop destroying it!)
I doubt anyone would be able to put a price on that, or the possibility of consumers overseas seeeing what a hypocritical stance this Government has in contradiction to that vision and simply decide to buy somewhere else.
Oh BTW, I think that if you can’t understand Facebook properly, then you deserve to be laughed at.
And this is the future of the Labour Party – perving on other people’s facebooks.
Are staff fair game now?
This is a worrying trend for freedom of expression.
creepy
Wonder if Spud has a Facebook?
Maybe for the first time, I’m with Tim on this one. I find it slightly disturbing that a senior and very capable MP would use this stuff. My advice is to stick with attacking big Jezza and Rortney, and leave their minions out of it.
Thanks for the comments, folks.
I’m not sure that when people who seek to work in the highly ideological environment of a Minister’s office or a political party in parliament have some huge expectation of privacy as to the views they choose to express in a semi-public environment. But I understand the issues and it was a line call about whether to make this public or not – in the end I decided people deserved to know.
To put minds at rest, I don’t trawl people’s facebook pages looking for heresy. The page was sent on to me by email by 5 different facebook friends of these guys within 10 minutes of them being posted.
I used to be a staff member years ago and I would have come down on the other side of the judgement call Charles made. If staff members enter the debate themselves – make more traditional public statements, attack other parties then they are fair game. But they don’t have the house to answer back as we do as politicians. Them being stupid not enough reason for having a go.
Good thing about Red Alert – we can disagree and thats ok.
Yeah, but deserved to know what? Perhaps it shows that he is uncomfortable with the direction his Party is taking in regards to National Parks. Would you prefer that Party Staffers, no matter their affiliation, were Yes Men?
or maybe he was just displaying a sense of humour?
Also, what context was this expressed in? Was this posted on Facebook today, two weeks, two months ago?
I’ve gotta say I’m disappointed with this. I thought you were one of the “good ones”; pouncing on a joke like this is facile, and a little bit creepy.
Yeah, I get that MPs have to be on “best behaviour” at all times, and it must grate. But I’m seriously not wild about making every damn staffer in Parliament consider the political ramifications of every tweet and status update they write.
No class.
And besides, is this a precedent you really want to set?
Deserved to know what? That and ACT staffer engaged in irony in a Facebook status update and and National staffer appreciated the joke? Really? People deserved to know?
Hasn’t National just passed an embarrassment of an ETS? Isn’t Key still refusing to front at Copenhagen? Haven’t the Maori Party just finished selling out average Maori and Pakeha alike to secure favours for big Iwi business? Didn’t Duncan and Gueyon just make a complete hash of reporting on Phil’s speech? Aren’t there myriad substantive issues for you to get stuck into rather than petty sniping about social media?
Sorry, this post was just lame.
I think Charles has made a good decision. These staffers are right in the middle of these political decisions and seeing how they make light of such a huge issue is telling of the sort of idiots that are working for the Government. Time to get rid of them I say. Thanks for the post Charles.
I assumed that the person gave permission for their profile to be shown.
I’m with trev on this one.
Charles: it looks like someone wrote a funny post. someone found it funny and said “haha”.
how this is relevant to anything is unclear.
it’s just a little bit creepy I have to say
So am I, but do want to add that we all make mistakes.
Sufi, Donuts and Gayon sure did screw the coverage of Goff’s speech. Wonder if they read it? Looks like JK is the new king of PC. Makes Clark look like an amateur.
Yeah I’m gonna watch the late news because I only got home in time to see a recap before the ad break and I wondered what had happened because the spin on it made it sound as if he’d done something really bad.
Mr Chauvel, despite your protestations that you “don’t trawl people’s facebook pages looking for heresy”, this is not an isolated incident for you. In March you made an attack on the same staffer in Parliament.
I would have thought that more important things might occupy senior Labour Party MPs than facebook stalking Ministerial staffers.
Tim your last comment is nonsense – people send us links and material several times most days. To receive material from the Nats staffers “friends” is hardly stalking.
If it was such a big joke and nothing we should take seriously, why has Mr Falloon deleted the status off his Facebook page?
Probably because it’s the kind of thing that gets beaten up by people with nothing better to do than blow offhanded humour up into a so-called scandal. The pity of it all is that my high regard of the Red Alert blog is that it seems open to all opinions, whether they agree or disagree with Labour’s official viewpoint.
It would be a shame to see people afraid to post dissenting opinions, fearful that they would be held up for ridicule huh?
Mr Ellis I have thought carefully about your comment and the earlier one and have decided to ban you for three months. If you ever comment in that manner again the ban will be for life. Trevor.
I just got back to my office after working to repeal – successfully – the provocation defence. That matters a lot more to me than any of this, I have to say.
If he was a Green or Labour staffer you would have come out supporting him or at least ignored it. The post didn’t say anything about supporting Brownlee’s policy, that’s just the assumption you made because of Mr Falloon’s role.
This post is the sort of stupidity that leads people to hate politics no matter the party; I really thought Labour was better than this.
Every win you can get in opposition must be a sweet one…
I think the comments boil down to the fact that people don’t really like the bitter schadenfreude style of politicking.
Posts that debate/attack policy and propose alternatives good. Posts that go “nya nya, you’re smelly’ bad.
This really really pisses me off. Many of my friends have worked as Parliamentary staffers, and what they do in their own time is their own business.
This is a bit silly.
Given Andrew Falloons affiliation with ACT, his comment does not suprise me. ACT supporters generally view national parks in a negative light, and would turn them into Mordor/Moria given half a chance, but we dont have to make a big deal about what he said on facebook.
After all, this summer I plan to drive out on the Forgotten Highway to take pics of Stratford – Okauhura railway – before Minister Joyce tells KiwiRail to rip it up and turn it into a cycle way.
How bloody creepy. I must remember to not “friend” anybody even remotely friendly with Charles in case he decides to pass judgement on my choice of breakfast cereal or my taste in obscure Euro pop. if this is the best you can come up with then I hope you enjoy another 4+ years in opposition. Plenty of time for you and your pervy mates to trawl as much of the internet as you like.
Clint – You need to read some of Charle’s pressers on ETS. This is far from the best shot he’s fired at NACT lately…
What does everyone think about mining in public parks? The idea that senior right wing people think it’s all a bit of a laugh is just slightly concerning to me. Personally couldn’t give a toss what they think but I suspect this issue warranted a little thoughtfulness, not gleeful joshing. And the issue remains, why on earth do we want to start digging up our National Parks. I expect the Maori Party and the Maori members of National to oppose it – mining is hardly good for whenua.
P.S. Falloon doesn’t appear to have ticked any privacy settings, just checked his page and it’s all open to view. And with that I look forward to never visiting his page again.
Dominic, love this whole NACT thing. Wow, who writes this stuff? If this is what passes as a “shot” at the Government then perhaps being a MP wasn’t the best job choice.
I’d hate to think that if I drilled enough I might actually find your own head buried deep down in the sand.
Hang on, isn’t he in a different party? How can you take what an Act staffer (ie not in a Ministerial office and therefore not in Government) says as being anything to do with the National Government.
It’d be like using a Green staffers criticisms of a Goff policy to embarrass the Labour Party.
I just don’t get it.
I think you owe the guy an apology Charles. Really not your best work.
[...] ACT staffer Andrew Falloon joked on his Facebook status that he is off to the Abel Tasman National Park for 8 nights before Gerry Brownlee rips it up and Charles Chauvel both uses this in a question in Parliament, and blogs about it on Red Alert. [...]
Much as it pains me, I agree with Trevor’s 6.21pm post
Let’s hope that this does nor escalate into a tit-for-tat war, but more importantly, if it does, Mr Chauvel may want to reflect on what he has started.
The question really is: who would ever get a facebook page? It’s the silliest, most vouyeristic excuse for a pasttime ever known. I mean really, it is a waste of time.
Clint – I have no idea what your remark means. NACT is a widely used summation of the National/ACT side of the coalition. You are just arguing the form of the message though, not the message itself which I what I was trying to say in my last post. Too often we get bogged down in the drama around the issue than the issue itself.
As for having my head in the sand – I’m of Middle Eastern descent so I’ve got sand not just in my head but in my blood…
Thanks to Trevor for the ban on Tim for his threatening tone that he seems to take here
Charles Chauvel:
I hope people who “work in the highly ideological environment of a Minister’s office or a political party in parliament” don’t completely lose their sense of humour — especially the ability to take the piss out of themselves. God knows you’ll need it if you’re going to stay sane for longer than a week.
[...] [...]
I see the self appointed Humour Police are in full cry.
‘How dare you’, they say, to not see how hilarious this all is, as they wag their fingers.
Not realising that it is them who are the buffons
Tim Ellis is completely nuts if he means what he says here:
‘ Mr Chauvel I think it’s a bit unseemly posting staff members’ facebook profiles on a blog. I realise that facebook profiles are public, but then again so are the addresses of many MPs. That doesn’t make it a good reason to publish it. ‘
You can’t be half public Timmy! A bit like being half pregnant!
“Wonder if Spud has a Facebook?” Aw Sherylyn wants to friend me
Go ahead, look up Spud. 
@Gonner 8.28 – I agree with you, gasp
, some people just put too much of themselves out in the public domain.