John beats up on young Mum

Written By: - Date published: 4:27 pm, August 5th, 2009 - 89 comments
Categories: climate change - Tags:

Seems John Key’s been name-dropping Kiwi film stars to business leaders in Brizzie. In today’s NZ Herald Key is quoted slamming actress Keisha Castle-Hughes for speaking out on climate change, saying that she should ‘stick to the acting’.

Remember it’s just a matter of days after public consultation wrapped up over what the Government’s 2020 emissions reduction target should be. The Government was adamant it wanted public input on the issue, but it now seems that when those views aren’t helpful to National’s cause and are picked up widely by both local and international media, its all-inclusive attitude wanes.

Now we know that the Government is rattled by the recent surge in support for strong action on climate change, but to go for the nation’s whale rider in such a patronizing way is a low blow (not to mention a bad move).

It’s a very dangerous thing to suggest (particularly to a 19 year old) that people just sit by and stick to their day jobs while faced with the biggest crisis in history. If the youth of today (young mothers in particular) can’t enter the climate debate, we’re doomed.

There’s a pattern here. The precedent was set by Social development Minister Paula Bennett’s disclosure of an outspoken beneficiary’s details and it now seems a theme that this Government looks down with disdain on those prepared to raise their heads above the parapets and pass comment.

If I were Castle-Hughes I’d point out to John that if perhaps if he’d stick to HIS day job (ie- leading the country on big issues like climate change) then she’d have less of a night-job.

Isn’t Castle-Hughes’ day job first and foremost being a mother? And in that capacity isn’t she totally qualified to express her concerns about the future?

As far as i can tell, she’s not claiming to be a scientist, nor an expert, she’s just claiming to care. And she’s been admonished for it. Perhaps John should stick to being a multi-millionaire.

89 comments on “John beats up on young Mum ”

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  1. Pat 1
    5 August 2009 at 4:43 pm

    When Key speaks at breakfast meetings etc, he tends to flip out a few funnies. I suspect the Castle-Hughes reference was in a tone to get a laugh, rather than “slamming” her. Without hearing the tone of his speech, one can jump to conclusions, such as the vacuous self-righteous drivel of the above post.

    • BLiP 1.1
      5 August 2009 at 4:59 pm

      Yep – I’m sure Maori across the nation were rolling in the aisles. Maybe Johny should resign and become a stand-up comedian. He’s certainly do a better job than he is now.

      • Pat 1.1.1
        5 August 2009 at 5:02 pm

        “…Maori across the nation …”

        WTF are you on about?

        • BLiP 1.1.1.1
          5 August 2009 at 5:19 pm

          When Johnny’s little joke was printed in the papers this morning and, perhaps, appears on tele tonight, do you think Maori people will be chuckling along with his “funnies”?

          I can just see them now . . . ” hahahah, isn’t that champion of the underclass such a dag, making fun of our gal on the international stage – and to think, he could have chosen that more famous pakeha male Rhys Darby, but, no, he chose one of us . . . hahahaha . . . thanks National Inc, we’re lovin’ it”.

          I’m not sure trying the dismiss the racism in his “funnie” as a just a wee joke is going to go down all that well. But, by all means, try your hardest.

      • starboard 1.1.2
        5 August 2009 at 7:17 pm

        ..keep smokin the good shit man…

    • JustRight 1.2
      6 August 2009 at 8:51 am

      What is with the headline “John Key slams young mother” What a load of emotive drivel. If Keisha wants to live by the sword, then she can also die by the sword.

      I remember a McKinsey Consultant & Author who spoke at the Labour Knowledge Wave conference on “Creative Destruction” was dissed by Helen Clark in much the same way. I wonder if that attracted the deadline “Clark slames Middle Age Father” ?

  2. mike 2
    5 August 2009 at 4:45 pm

    I think his point is wtf does an actress know about climate change – have an opinion great but the why ask to meet with the PM?

    The public are tired of 2-bit celebs trying to grandstand on trendy issues of the day.

    • infused 2.1
      5 August 2009 at 8:39 pm

      My thoughts exactly Mike. It’s like peta. Stupid celebs who don’t even give a shit.

    • travellerev 2.2
      6 August 2009 at 1:43 am

      Just to make a point here but what makes slippery John the ex Forex and derivatives trader such an expert on Global climate change.

      All he knows about is how to scam pension funds and investors out of their hard earned cash with those interesting new financial products. Oh, no not those which are now collapsing our financial system. Yes, precisely those.

      Bill can hold a candle to Slippery John as far as scamming goes. He learned from the best. $ 50 mill proves that.

      And to stay with the thread. If John Key is entitled to have an opinion which is deemed worthy because we were stupid enough to vote him in as PM than Castle-Hughes opinion is just as valuable. At least we go and pay to see her act.

      Oh, I forgot we pay John Key too.

      • JustRight 2.2.1
        6 August 2009 at 8:58 am

        Unsure quite how much financial literacy you are showing here travellrev. John Key was not involved in the creation of or sale of the financial instruments which led to the current crisis. The record is clear that he was well out of it – he was in Politics while it was all going on.

        • chris 2.2.1.1
          6 August 2009 at 10:33 am

          It’s been going on since the 80’s so no, he was not out of it. He was just not directly involved with the catalyst CDO’s etc. etc. Debt fuelled money creation by banks should’ve been stopped by letting a mild depression happen in 87ish, it didn’t we took the brakes off and now we’re fucked and drowned in credit that should never have been created. It’s not John’s fault, god knows he wasn’t high up enough at ML to have that much influence, but he was at least complicit, not that he realises, and not that he’s unique in that. there must be @ least 100 000 maybe more people who’ve worked in these mega-banks since the 80’s, not to mention the de-regulators who created the playing field.

    • Strawberry toes 2.3
      6 August 2009 at 8:33 am

      Well said. As soon as some braindead celebrity starts spouting off I switch off.

    • Chris 2.4
      6 August 2009 at 10:09 am

      Great point mike. What the fuck does our PM (An investment banker) know about climate change anyway?

  3. aj 3
    5 August 2009 at 4:47 pm

    No Pat. We are entitled to take this put down as seriously as others slammed Clark for the haters and wreckerw comment. Key is acting like a bully, but thats par for the course now.

  4. Gareth 4
    5 August 2009 at 4:50 pm

    The point is she dosen’t say she’s an expert (not like Key is one either) but she’s a Kiwi, and a mum who wants a good future for her kids.

    She shouldn’t be told to just stick to her day job. What if Kiwis just stuck at their day jobs and didn’t comment when nuclear ships were still visiting New Zealand, when rugby teams from Apartheid South Africa were playing here or when women didn’t have the vote?

    Good on ya Keisha. Thank God for people like you prepared to stand up and demand we do our bit and reduce emissions in New Zealand and shame on you Mr Key for ridiculing Keisha’s earnest and heartfelt desires for a safe climate for her and her kids. The Prime Minister should stick to HIS day job leadership.

  5. Brett Dale 5
    5 August 2009 at 4:51 pm

    Misleading headline.

    What are you the national enquirer?

    • BLiP 5.1
      5 August 2009 at 4:55 pm

      A Prime Minister of Aotearoa subjecting a successful young Maori mother to international ridicule is not “beating up” on her?

      • Mike Collins 5.1.1
        5 August 2009 at 5:38 pm

        What’s being Maori got to do with this again?

        • BLiP 5.1.1.1
          5 August 2009 at 5:42 pm

          Why not pick on the more famous Rhys Darby – but no, for all his love of the underclass and for all his “celebration of success” – the Goober decides to pick on a young, Maori, sole mother? Classy.

          Neither subject is an acceptable target for John Key’s international ridicule but, you know, just saying . . .

          • Doh 5.1.1.1.1
            5 August 2009 at 7:29 pm

            oh, The race card again.
            Just lucky she wasn’t Samoan – you know with all those already pissed off samoans about Labour selling Taito down the drain – simply because he was a samoan and all that

          • Mike Collins 5.1.1.1.2
            5 August 2009 at 8:43 pm

            BLIP – the fact you want to go down the race path suggests more about your paranoia than any concerted agenda to run Maori down. Mind you, it seems you are ready and willing to assume everyone is a victim of something – even if it is your own imagination.

  6. Tom Semmens 6
    5 August 2009 at 4:53 pm

    Should Keisha stick to acting? Should Paula have stayed on the DPB? Should John have kept to money speculation?

    Questions, questions.

    • Doh 6.1
      5 August 2009 at 7:31 pm

      should Goff have stayed a freezing worker? (was he any good at that either?)

    • Akldnut 6.2
      5 August 2009 at 7:32 pm

      Keishas still acting
      Paulas still got lots to do with the DPB (Beware vocal dissenters)
      Jonnies still a speculator (Its just us he’s playing with now)

  7. Mac1 7
    5 August 2009 at 4:54 pm

    @Mike and I am tired of ad hominem arguments from politicians, and anybody for that matter, where the substance of the issue is not debated but rather the person is attacked.
    In this case, could it be possible that a young female upSTARt actually meets curmudgeonly older alpha male?
    My surmise is as good as yours explaining why Key said what he said. Attempts at humour are not an excuse, Pat, and certainly picking on young females as a COAM is not fair do’s.

  8. Geoff 8
    5 August 2009 at 4:57 pm

    Misleading headline? Rubbish! Last I heard Keisha was still both young and a mother. I’m glad she’s willing to stick her neck out and say what she thinks. Government asked people to say what kind of target they want and she did. Why not?

  9. exbrethren 9
    5 August 2009 at 5:01 pm

    Should Melissa Lee have stuck to documentaries?

    Should Lockwood Smith stuck to hosting game shows?

    Should Rodney Hide have stuck to truck driving?

    Should Captain Beaky have stuck his mouth together with glue to stop talking drivel?

    • Pat 9.1
      5 August 2009 at 5:10 pm

      Should Melissa Lee have stuck to documentaries?
      Yes. But she had greater aspirations, so good on her for following them.

      Should Lockwood Smith stuck to hosting game shows?
      No. Then we would have been denied one of the best and most fairest Speakers we have seen in recent memory.

      Should Rodney Hide have stuck to truck driving?
      No. Parliament would not be the same without him. Nor would Dancing with the Stars.

      Should Captain Beaky ….?
      I suspect you are one of the small minority who don’t like John Key. You are a very rare creature, so you should feel very special.

    • felix 9.2
      5 August 2009 at 7:58 pm

      eh?

      Lockwood still hosts a game show, doesn’t he?

  10. Ianmac 10
    5 August 2009 at 5:13 pm

    Good on ya’ Keisha. I wish I was that brave and as Gareth says: “She shouldn’t be told to just stick to her day job. What if Kiwis just stuck at their day jobs and didn’t comment when nuclear ships were still visiting New Zealand, when rugby teams from Apartheid South Africa were playing here or when women didn’t have the vote?”
    So Pat and Mikefor you to be consistent with the PM and Paula and Bill position, stick to your day job and do not have an opinion unless you have a degree on the subject and even then……..

  11. LabourWillBeLiquidated 11
    5 August 2009 at 5:15 pm

    I like John Key more every day. My message to KCH: “Shut up little girl, get ye back to the kitchen”

    • Derek 11.1
      5 August 2009 at 5:17 pm

      The ugly face of the right rears its head again. Please leave this one up, Standardistas. People need to see what John Key’s core support looks like.

      • Gordon Shumway 11.1.1
        5 August 2009 at 8:52 pm

        Take your hand off it, Derek. “Core support” – what do you base that on?

        53% (or thereabouts) support National so that’ll include a fair few dickheads. Even amongst the 30-something percent that will admit to voting Labour, at least some of them are morons too (certainly if some of the posters on this site are in any way indicative).

        • Ron 11.1.1.1
          6 August 2009 at 7:53 am

          “53% (or thereabouts) support National so that’ll include a fair few dickheads”…that would be a yes

          • Gordon Shumway 11.1.1.1.1
            6 August 2009 at 12:52 pm

            Well the swing-voters for starters. They tend to lose the plot occasionally 🙂

  12. Tigger 12
    5 August 2009 at 5:17 pm

    Pat, this is farce, yes?

    ‘the best and most fairest Speakers’ – he’s the Speaker mate, not Cinderella.

  13. gingercrush 13
    5 August 2009 at 5:23 pm

    Does anyone else find it uncanny that many on the left share the same delusions as many on the right felt about Helen Clark? Its unnerving how quickly the left has become delusional about John Key.I suspect when John Key’s tenure ends (however long that will be), many on the left will be as bitter about John Key as the far-right still are about Helen Clark.

  14. Brett Dale 14
    5 August 2009 at 5:38 pm

    Blip:

    he said “she should stick to acting.”

    That is not beating up on a young Maori woman, when did her race come into it?

    • BLiP 14.1
      5 August 2009 at 6:25 pm

      I’m happy to repeat myself, I often find the Right need to have some things explained over and over again – plus its an important point:

      Why not pick on the more famous Rhys Darby but no, for all his love of the underclass and for all his “celebration of success’ the Goober decides to pick on a young, Maori, sole mother? Classy.

      Neither subject is an acceptable target for John Key’s international ridicule but, you know, just saying . . .

      Why am I not surprised you wish to explore the race issue?

      • Gordon Shumway 14.1.1
        5 August 2009 at 8:56 pm

        BLiP – there is no race issue here, unless in your world you can never criticize someone who’s not a white middle-class male.

        YOU have brought up Keisha’s race, no-one else. You’re the one who’s seen a Maori actor, when everyone else sees just an actor.

        Stop being a santimonious idiot. You’re the only one being racist on this thread.

  15. graham 15
    5 August 2009 at 6:00 pm

    i as a tory i upset that you would compare ms clark to the great john key.ms clark has never had a job in the private sector in her life .john on the other hand has untill recently been in the real world.now to all you pinko union loving anti john key people it is important because someone has to provide taxes to support the parasites that are the public service and NGOS .i do support actors and artists sticking their heads up to tell me how to run my life it gives me the chance to avoid giving any of my hard earned cash to those losers

    • gobsmacked 15.1
      5 August 2009 at 7:21 pm

      Graham, I know you’re really one of the Standard’s writers doing a parody, but anyway …

      FYI: those “losers” have done a huge amount for the NZ economy. Hardly anybody outside this country has heard of John Key. Millions more know the films made in and by New Zealand. Actually, for many people, it’s the only thing they know about New Zealand (to quote John Stewart).

      Tourists visit this country because of LOTR, Whale Rider and countless other successful screen exports. The Minister of Tourism should know this. But he prefers cheap shots.

    • travellerev 15.2
      6 August 2009 at 1:54 am

      John had a job in the real world? You’ve got to be kidding me.

  16. BR 16
    5 August 2009 at 6:32 pm

    Climate change activism? Acting?

    What’s the damn difference?

    Bill.

  17. John Dalley 17
    5 August 2009 at 6:44 pm

    Maori Party a bit quite?
    Not in too much of a hurry to defend a young MAORI mother.

    • BLiP 17.1
      5 August 2009 at 6:55 pm

      Like the rest of them, ducking for cover after the expenses were made public I suspect. Plus, when have the Maori Party ever stood up against something the sons of their colonial oppressors, National Inc, has to say?

      • indiana 17.1.1
        6 August 2009 at 10:30 am

        I’m curious, if the PM was Maori and said this to say Rhys Darby, would have called the Maori PM racist?

  18. Policy Parrot 18
    5 August 2009 at 6:55 pm

    In his own logic, Key himself should have stuck to financial philandering.

    Graham – Who the hell would want to work in the private sector in New Zealand – it is poorly paid, there are slim to fuckus chances for promotion, and too many employer/owners have their heads in the sand when it comes to issues like capital investment. Even your hero abandoned NZ for that very reason.

    New Zealand’s savings, and therefore its potential for investment is always going to suck while there are low wages. The last government created a pretty favourable climate for economic development, but many businesses stayed right on the margin, the extent of their largesse being forced upon them by rises in the minimum wage. As if the fucking minimum wage was ambitious.

    The economic model of labour supply is inaccurate to the extent that workers have the power to withdraw labour, and that employers cannot lower wages. This has resulted in a significant market failure – something that if it not fixed, will cost NZ taxpayers billions in subsidies of employers of stingy employers.

  19. Brett Dale 19
    5 August 2009 at 6:57 pm

    Blip

    Rhys Darby more famous than Keisha?

    She is an Oscar nominated actress.

    He has a bit part on a cult tv show.

    I would say she is more well known.

    Please tell me the left is not trying to make this a race thing, oh dear.

    • felix 19.1
      5 August 2009 at 7:07 pm

      He has a bit part on a cult tv show.

      Eh? I think you mean “a major part in an internationally acclaimed HBO tv show”

      Oh and he did that wee film with Jim Carey too. Just sayin.

      Not meaning to knock Keisha’s achievements at all, I just think you’re being a bit unfair to Rhys there.

    • starboard 19.2
      5 August 2009 at 7:25 pm

      KKH..never heard of her up until this storm in a tea cup..lets keep it that way…

  20. Deciduous 20
    5 August 2009 at 7:17 pm

    An echo chamber of fools.

    This siite is very very boring and appears to be a battery farm for labour student activists. But who is grooming who?

  21. TC 21
    5 August 2009 at 7:21 pm

    Whilst KC-H is misguided, at least she has the guts to put her face and name to what she says, unlike the gutless, nameless, faceless writers of the Standard.

  22. Mac1 22
    5 August 2009 at 7:27 pm

    TC, the nameless TC….. now what were the other two words? Oh yes, faceless and for three in a row…..

    • TC 22.1
      5 August 2009 at 7:29 pm

      touche

    • TC 22.2
      5 August 2009 at 7:33 pm

      BTW, I’m not the one running a political blog funded by the labour party and the union movement 🙂

      [lprent: All money for the site has been funded by me for the nearly two years. Over the last month I’ve also gotten a few contributions by people using the PayPal button (thanks folks).

      On the other hand you just hit one of the auto-bans in the policy. Adding you to the spam queue since it is late and I’m annoyed. Think of it as evolution in action in educating idiots why you don’t insult a sysop. ]

  23. Mac1 23
    5 August 2009 at 7:49 pm

    TC, I can guess you’re not running a political blog funded by the Labour party and the Union movement. Damned be he who says you are. A liar, Sir, a cad, a bounder.

    Who is?

  24. Craig Glen Eden 24
    5 August 2009 at 8:07 pm

    Oh the right they are a real bloody think tank are they not. No wonder National have no policy, but who needs policy when you have stars like Melissa Lee and John Key?
    Yup Johns a real great leader a real big man.
    What a piece of shit, funny how he didn’t have much to say up in the Bay of Islands,
    wasn’t so tough or funny up there was he?

  25. Brett Dale 25
    5 August 2009 at 8:31 pm

    felix:

    I like Rhys and I love flight of the concords.

    But it is a cult following, it doesn’t have huge ratings and I think Keisha is the bigger star because of her Oscar nod.

    • felix 25.1
      5 August 2009 at 8:51 pm

      Oscar? Pfft, Rhys was nominated for a Billy T.

      That’d be quite choice wouldn’t it, a Billy T!

  26. Brett Dale 26
    5 August 2009 at 9:58 pm

    No one comes close to the great Billy T James. Funniest New Zealander Ever!

  27. Jared 27
    6 August 2009 at 12:10 am

    Keisha has had her 15 minutes of fame, I hardly think she has the star power of Rhys Darby at the moment though. When John Key said he wanted to hear what the public thought about climate change I hardly think it was synonymous with a meeting with Key. Keisha is neither a scientist or an academic with something meaningful to contribute to Key in a one on one interview other than a bleating heart emotional response that fails to take into account reality. And by reality I mean realistic carbon emission cuts rather than the unrealistic 40% as proposed by Greenpeace. Its a nice thought but it would mean the end of civilisation as we know it interms of simple activities like power generation. I think there is merit in the climate change area, that we are having an impact, but lets be rational about whats achievable and what isn’t, and at the moment, 40% is unachievable.

    • lprent 27.1
      6 August 2009 at 1:40 am

      Keisha is neither a scientist or an academic with something meaningful to contribute to Key in a one on one interview other than…

      So? Your point is?

      Key is a moron about science who knows nothing much about anything useful in the field. There would have been no point in putting any scientists or academics conversant with the subject in front of a scientifically clueless PM. He wouldn’t have been able to follow the arguments.

      On the other-hand, he is meant to be a politician who if he wants to stay a politician for say a decade will have to understand the concerns of 19 year old mothers when they are 30. So he proved himself to be incapable of understanding that generation – how predicable. Also that he is no politician because alienating kids who are voters for no gain is just stupid – also how predicable.

      40% is achievable. The greens just released a paper showing a few ways to do it. I wouldn’t agree with a lot of their prescription, but it is do-able.

      What you really mean is that it will be uncomfortable. So is having the weather patterns changing rapidly, refugees arriving in boats from the islands, tariff barriers against do-bugger-all nations like ours, and having your bach washed away.

      If you’re serious about tackling climate change then the best place for NZ to start would be to do the R&D on reducing farts. Thats underway… Ummm nope – the NACT’s in their infinite stupidity cut the FastForward fund. They replaced it with – actually nothing. They just re-announced some existing labour initiatives that budget had already been committed to.

      This pathetic set of sad-sacks couldn’t hit 15%. Not because it is unachievable. But because they are a useless set of know-nothing, do-nothing jerks.. Just like their supporters… umm like you?

      • gingercrush 27.1.1
        6 August 2009 at 10:19 am

        Like your friends the Labour Party Iprent. Sorry but they had the money, they had the boom and they completely failed.

  28. Draco T Bastard 28
    6 August 2009 at 12:23 am

    Jesus, the shear arrogance of this National government is almost unbelievable but, they are RWNJs that aren’t, any way shape or form, connected to reality so I suppose it’s what you’d expect. Bunch of idiots being idiotic and showing their blissful ignorance.

  29. sausage fingers 29
    6 August 2009 at 8:26 am

    You mean “sheer” ignorance. “Shear” ignorance is ignorance about wool removal. I guess Draco jus showed us his or her blissful ignorance.

  30. Mac1 30
    6 August 2009 at 8:30 am

    Lynn, re my comment at 7.49- that was a questioning of TC at 7.33 who should have been the target of your sysopsian wrath. He crossed that boundary of questioning the funding of the Standard, presumably, as the “political blog funded by the Labour party and the union movement.”
    I grandiloquently chipped him for his BTW comment and then asked, who is (running such a blog) because I know from years of reading this blog that is a serious breach to asseverate that anybody but yourself funds it.
    Refer to my earlier comment at 7.27 where I chipped TC for attacking Standard posters as nameless, faceless, gutless etc. He immediately conceded the point.
    I think you got the wrong man in your sights, Lynn. As you said, it might have been late.

  31. Deciduous 31
    6 August 2009 at 8:44 am

    Slightly too obsequeious Mac1.

  32. Mac1 32
    6 August 2009 at 8:48 am

    At least I can spell the word, oh leafless one.

  33. gobsmacked 33
    6 August 2009 at 9:04 am

    Hat-tip to the Dim-Post, for outing Hayley Westenra as another on Key’s list of Enemies Within …

    http://www.wen.org.uk/general_pages/matrons.htm#HW

    Stick to singing, etc, etc …

  34. Maggie 34
    6 August 2009 at 9:54 am

    Keisha’s response to Key’s attack demonstrates she has far more class than he does.

  35. Mac1 35
    6 August 2009 at 1:14 pm

    Maybe, but at least I can spell the word 😉

  36. SPC 36
    6 August 2009 at 3:46 pm

    Do we need a list of occupations which entitle one to an opinion on the issue?

    Or is this simply the PM’s way of saying disagree with your PM and go back to your day jobs, coz there is only one PM.

    Maybe he says go back to being Minister of Finance to people in Cabinet who disagree with him too.

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