Sunday, September 20, 2009

The secrecy around cuts

So does the failure to provide basic information about what government is doing reflect wretched communications strategy or incompetence? Some background to help you decide, courtesy of the Times Colonisthere.
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is not incompetence, it is a deliberate communication stratetgy.

The government wants to roll out as many bad news items as fast as possible and with as little information as possible to confuse and overwhelm any opposition.

This approach closely follows the Roger Douglas model used to ruthlessly implement economic "reform" in New Zealand in the mid 1980s; even using the same manufactured debt crisis. With this approach there is no consulation, no dialogue, no shared decision-making, no electoral campaigning on key issues. Sound familiar?

Gordon Campbell noted in a Dec 2008 year-end interview with the TC that he regretted not going farther and faster in his first term.

Looking back, NZ's radical economic reforms and rigid ideological approach of the 1980s did not lead to a stellar economy or a thriving society.

Although it did lead to democratic reform and a MMP system to prevent NZ from being politically hijacked again by wild-eyed zealots.

Her'es an interesting short 1997 analysis from the UK Independent paper http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/a-cautionary-tale-from-down-under-1244042.html

Also interesting to note that New Zealand's national debt was $12 billion when Sir Roger Douglas took charge in the mid-1980s which then ballooned to $36 billion in the seven years of implementing radical rightwing economic "reforms".

9:22 AM
Norm Farrell said...

Has the original Gordon Campbell been kidnapped and replaced by an automaton designed by a secret offshoot of the Fraser Institute?

The person in charge of this Government could not be the Campbell that spoke to British Columbians years ago> Here's what he stood for"

http://northerninsights.blogspot.com/2009/05/you-cant-handle-truth.html

12:18 PM
wstander said...

Niether. It reflects profound dishonesty.

7:41 PM
wstander said...

Typo- Neither

7:42 PM

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