The Star: November 07, 2019

The Star Thursday November 7 2019
24
OPINION
The coming week
in our history
November 7, 1970 –
Long-haired Christchurch
mountaineers John Glasgow and
Peter Gough became the first
people known to have scaled the
2000m Caroline Face of Aoraki/
Mt Cook. They declared it a
‘triumph for the hippies.’
November 8, 1936 – New
Zealanders Griff Maclaurin
and Steve Yates were part of
the International Column of
anti-fascist volunteers which
marched into Madrid, bolstering
the city’s defences against the
assault of General Francisco
Franco’s rebel armies. Both men
were killed in battle within two
days of arriving.
November 9, 1769 – James
Cook helped his astronomer
Charles Green observe the
transit of Mercury at Te
Whanganui-o-Hei (Mercury
Bay), Coromandel Peninsula.
November 10, 1868 – The
Matawhero ‘massacre’ was
Te Kooti’s utu for his exile
to the Chatham Islands and
subsequent events. In the
middle of the night, around 100
men, 60 on horseback, forded
the Waipāoa River and moved
quietly towards Matawhero. By
dawn, they had killed about 60
people of all ages in the Pākehā
settlement and adjacent Māori
settlements. Most of those who
escaped the slaughter ran to
Tūranganui (Gisborne), 6km
away, while some fled south
towards Māhia.
November 11, 1978 – With
two minutes to play in the test
match against Wales, All Black
lock Andy Haden flung himself
sideways from a lineout in an
attempt to secure a matchwinning
penalty. English referee
Roger Quittenton duly awarded
a penalty to the All Blacks 15m
infield. Brian McKechnie the
goal and New Zealand held on
to win amidst vehement booing.
They went on to become the
first All Black touring team
to achieve the Grand Slam by
defeating all four home unions.
Readers respond to an
Environment Canterbury
and NZ Transport
Agency report which
found almost half of
Canterbury drivers claim
to have better than
average driving abilities
Scotty Wilson – And
about 80 per cent can’t even
keep left unless passing.
Petrina Rooney – I did
the survey and compared to the
amount of other people I see
who don’t stop at stop signs,
don’t indicate or use the correct
lane when turning a corner,
don’t drive to the conditions, I
consider myself above average.
Andrea Lamont – And
half the drivers are still on
learner’s or restricted (licences)
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Jenny: Why won’t you talk to us?
THE PUBLICLY-elected new
chairwoman of Environment
Canterbury has tripped at her
first hurdle – Jenny Hughey is
not doing interviews.
The Star wanted to profile
Hughey in today’s issue in our
regular Our People segment.
Our People is a light and
bright question and answer
interview about who the person
is, their interests and so on. We
do it on the phone or in person.
Hughey – who is on a nice
$180,000 a year salary – was
elected by the public alongside
other councillors as part of
a new look and long overdue
democratic ECan.
But Hughey would only do an
interview if The Star submitted
written questions through
ECan’s communications team.
The communications team
provide information and
answers to the news media from
the various managers and the
chief executive.
It is the same for the city
council, police and other public
sector organisations. Some call
communications teams blocks
or spin doctors.
This way of dealing with
the public via the media often
means a journalist doesn’t get to
Jenny Hughey
put managers and others, who
are in key public sector positions
and answerable to the people, on
the spot. Questions are asked to
be submitted in written form,
– some having these for 10
years. What is with that?
Brenda Te Koeti – Above
average capacity to drive
recklessly.
Benjamin Curtin – And
70 per cent of them are thicker
than cold porridge.
Susan Lightbown – I
think all drivers think they are
From the
editor’s desk
Barry Clarke
vetted by the communications
teams, answered by the
managers, signed off and sent
back to the journalist. To be
fair, communications teams are
useful and helpful.
But back to Hughey. She
wanted our questions to her sent
to the ECan communications
team.
Our People interviews are not
written and answer, they are
verbal interviews, in person or
on the phone.
We also believe publiclyelected
officials like councillors,
whether it be city council
or ECan, shouldn’t be using
communications teams as a
vetting service.
So we didn’t send the
questions to the ECan
communications team.
Here is what we wanted to ask
Hughey:
What will be your priorities
over the next three years and
good drivers, and to be honest,
at times that includes me. Just
human nature.
Carolyn Thompson –
Doubt that very much. Bunch of
red light runners. So dangerous.
Nurses at Christchurch
Hospital say their safety
is under threat because
of a lack of staff car
parks near the building
how will you achieve them?
What expertise do you bring to
the role? What made you want
to run for ECan? Do you think
we are in a climate emergency?
Have you participated in any of
the climate protests? How will
you be addressing the climate
emergency? What are you doing
to reduce your carbon footprint?
Are nitrates in the water supply
a concern of yours? Where did
you grow up? Do you have a
family? What are your hobbies?
The questions were not too
difficult.
But hold the phone. ECan’s
communication team tells us
they will be writing profiles on
Hughey and the other publiclyelected
councillors for its
website for the public to read.
There’s no problem with that
but it seems incredulous that
Hughey, who will lead ECan in
arguably its toughest three years
for some time, doesn’t seem to
have the confidence to talk to a
journalist.
With major issues like water
and air quality, transport and
global warming being a huge
part of our future, side-stepping
talking direct to the news media
will simply not be good enough.
barry@starmedia.kiwi
Annabel Temple-
Furman – I seriously don’t
know what goes on inside the
heads of these well-paid urban
planners. Common sense must
be lacking somewhere because
the wider hospital parking issue
has been going on for the past
47 years. Is it really that difficult?
Any modern, expansive medical
campus requires adequate on
site parking.
Jan Elizabeth – I am
sure there is plenty of land
nearby, thanks to earthquakes,
that could be used for a high
rise parking building. This
should have been a priority
and required before any more
building was consented. I have
often noticed the huge stress
people feel about parking as
opposed to the reason they are
going to the hospital.
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to Christchurch,
to Ashburton,
we have it covered