It’s probably too late now, because the press statements will already be written, ready and waiting to be drip-fed to newsrooms over the next two weeks, but wouldn’t it be nice if the parliamentary spin machine went on holiday at the same time as most of the rest of us?
In the Beehive, ministerial press secretaries are told during December how important it is for the Government to be seen as on deck, caring and not on holiday during Christmas and New Year. Each ministerial office is asked to draft media statements for release from Christmas Day through January, even if their ministers are sensibly away on holiday, as most are barring the unfortunate ones on the Duty Minister roster. Similarly the National Party media machine gets ready to churn out statements on every imaginable topic at a time all good people should be hoping to spend time with their families and giving work, and politics, a break.
Between Christmas Eve and January 15 last summer, the Government issued 21 media releases on subjects ranging from the road toll through the Fiji situation to the execution of Saddam Hussein. The minor parties were mostly on holiday, bless them, with ACT issuing four, the Greens three and NZ First only one, for example. But the National Party unleashed a torrent, 41 between December 28 and January 15, the last day of the holidays for many people. It probably issued more, but its website has a technical hitch and is not showing any statements at all between November 27 and December 28 last year, when there would have been scores up to Christmas Eve, so I was unable to count them. Some Nats seemed not to have gone on holiday at all, particularly Simon Power, battering away punitively about the Corrections Department and its minister; and Tony Ryall, a one-man accident and emergency department of health crises.
Worse than all these statements being issued at a time almost everyone in New Zealand has happier things on their mind is that the news media carries many of them. Journalists call this “the silly season” because they have to fill news bulletins and newspaper pages with “news” that would not get an airing during the rest of the year, due to, well, almost everyone being on holiday, so there is not much happening to report on. But politicians should have a holiday like everyone else. Many of them work far longer hours than most people and are separated from their families for much of each working week because of having to be in Wellington for the House, select committee meetings and general politicking. They would come across as more human, and humane, if they let it be known they were on holiday with their families instead of trying to be seen flooding newsrooms with press statements.
Merry Christmas!
