Q+A and The Nation review

The Nation

With such an incredible week in politics it would be pretty difficult to screw up a current affairs show this weekend.

Water rights are front and centre. The formation of the land and water forum is covered, and the bloody farmers are put on notice that they have to expect their water allocation rort must come to an end.

The tensions between the Iwi Leaders group and the Maori Council are highlighted and The Nation of course come down in favor of the Iwi Leaders group. Interestingly the Maori Council warned the newly created Freshwater Iwi group being pushed by Cullen and Tuku Morgan last month not to turn Maori against Maori. It will be with this group that Key try's to cut a sweetener deal to settle this issue, how he appeases National voters who will see this as political treason will be fun.

Alistair Bisley from the Water Forum is on trying to explain how he can come up with a formula that won't annoy farmers.

Iwi representative is on doing a fairly poor job of communicating the issues at stake.

Colin James is on and he points out how the Freshwater Iwi might be the circuit breaker for Key. He says Maori Party is unlikely to leave the Government and has very interesting comments on us entering a 'post-settlement' phase on the water issue. He sounds exasperated at Key's comments to ignore the Waitangi Tribunal.

The new moves by Vodaphone to cannibalize the telecommunications market to create someone who can take on Telecom is next. My personal hope is now that Vodaphone have taken Telstra over that Telstra's awful TV adverts come to an end.

The most interesting thing is that Mr Vodaphone says there should be no regulation and that they are best mates with Sky TV. This admission should scare the hell out if every NZer concerned about Sky TV's dominance because Vodaphone sound like they will do all they can to cement that oligopoly into place.

The French ambassador is on? WTF? This is time that could be spent debating the water issue. American Dad is on Comedy Central, I'm flicking between gags.

Media Panel, Billy vs Brian and the Governments main propagandist David Farrar is on. Nice to see The Nation allowing the Government to come on and express their opinion openly this year by including Farrar. He's not very good on TV is he? He can't look the camera in the eye.

I didn't get an invite to Nethui so have no idea what they were talking about. Nice to see they want to regulate bloggers but didn't invite anyone other than the usual suspects.

God damn TV3's Three60 program looks good, but Q+A is on.

q+a

Corrin Dann is on, I like him. The dream to own your own home is looked at, the maori Water issue is on and the panel is Bryce Edwards, Helen Kelly and Don Brash.

Corrin doesn't have the monologue flow down yet, but he's a journalist rather than a 'broadcaster' so he will find the dumbing down of news a little more difficult to achieve than Holmes.

Housing affordability is the first issue and it's good to see that Bernard Hickey is given a platform. We aren't building enough houses says the productivity commission chair, (another argument for the State to embark upon a massive building program for state houses) and Bernard warns interest rates are going to explode shortly and also argues we need a massive building program.

Hickey points out that the baby boomers have property speculated Gen Xers and Gen Y out of the housing market and are actually driving people over seas.

This is such a great debate, I'm checking the channel to see if I'm actually on TVNZ?

Good panel. Bryce notes that none of the main Political Party's care about public housing - (except for MANA who have a policy of 20 000 new state houses). Brash admits it's an issue and Helen notes that the State housing system only caters for those in the worst situations when it needs to be expanded. Edwards attempts to reach out to the left and right to create some solutions and demands political leadership. Interesting tactic. Helen and Don immediately start arguing with each other.

Great debate. Am I really on TVNZ? Edwards notes public housing is a big issue, he doesn't seem to be aware that it's a big part of MANA Party policy.

Brash is all on for urban sprawl says housing only takes up .7% of our land use, Helen demands to know why local government has to build social housing when really it's the Governments responsibility.

Next up is Hone Harawira. I'm amazed this Q+A almost seems like actual public broadcasting, am I dreaming?

Hone comes out swinging. Should the Maori Party walk? He says Maori Party should have walked a long time ago. The 'sitting at the table' strategy is debated, shouldn't they try and get the best deal for Maori. Hone throws it back and demands to know what are the actual gains the Maori Party has actually achieved.

How did Key insult the Tribunal? Hone says he insulted the Tribunal because while Parliament can over rule it, he has never used that language with the High Court. Hone argues Key has targeted the Tribunal because they are Maori, it's a political dog whistle.

Hone points out that the Tribunal hearing is to establish the Maori interest over water and that it's Key's desire to ram asset sales through that have forced this legal action.

The panel is on. Edwards notes the Maori Party doesn't know where they are going, Helen notes National will ram this through regardless of the Tribunal findings and Brash says National were surprised by the Maori Council's decision. He says no one owns the water, but he gets challenged by Edwards that Brash isn't focused enough on property rights - Helen says it's wider than that and it needs to include cultural rights. She also notes the Iwi Leaders and the Maori Council are on a collision course.

Edwards says Key will spin this as Maori taking the water, Helen says it's about asset sales. Brash amazingly brings up John Banks and his legal case and the possibility of Brash needing to leave Parliament???

That Brash brings this issue up on his own unprovoked is the most interesting part of the entire show.

Internet privacy issue is discussed. Another Nethui issue. Didn't get an invite, so missed it. Did any left wing bloggers go or was it a Public Address cool kids club event?

Am surprised by how good Q+A was this week.

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