While everyone knows that media training exists, and hears or sees the result when the student speaks to a reporter, the actual process beforehand is seldom publicised.
The exercise that they were given was a hypothetical — presumably to depersonalise it and make it an academic rather than an actual task. They had to answer the question: ‘‘Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck?”
But, being politicians, it quickly got political. Labour’s Finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds referred to her political adversary, Finance Minister Nicola Willis, as “a duck-faced horse” — a comment which she immediately and appropriately apologised for.
Meanwhile, senior MP and Labour campaign chairman Kieran McAnulty used his response to attack the media — which, one could have thought, he might have wanted to curry favour with at this moment in the electoral cycle.
Ohariu MP Greg O’Connor — who was obviously and not unreasonably expecting that his words would be going no further than Labour’s inner circle — shared some fairly direct reckons on party management.
At least former health minister Ayesha Verrall gave the chore the level of seriousness it likely deserved, choosing to sing her response.
So far, so entertaining. A trivial diversion that will be swiftly forgotten by most.
However, it raises a few serious questions for Labour.
Most important is the simple fact that it made it into the public domain at all. This was a relatively benign leak, but it begs the question whether top-level strategic discussions or sensitive caucus issues might somehow make it into the light of day.
But more broadly, the purpose of the training exercise was how to answer questions asked by members of the public — the MPs’ employers.
Feedback given to Ms Edmonds included: ‘‘You’ve seen here the political art of answering the question you want to be asked and dealing with a question where you are not even sure what it is asking in front of a room of people.”
Voters weighing up who to cast their ballot for in November may well find it difficult to summon enthusiasm for a prospective MP, of any party, who prefers to answer their own question rather than respond to a genuine request for information.
Good on ya mate
New Zealand is a young country. If one takes the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi as a starting point, that was 186 years ago. Scottish settlers arrived in the South eight years after that, and MPs were first elected 172 years ago.
While Dunedin and Parliament still survive, many things established during the pioneering era did not endure. That is particularly so in the field of business, where tough trading times and takeovers mean that many a firm which was once a household name has had the sands of history enfold them.
A remarkable survival story was celebrated in Dunedin over the weekend as Speight’s Brewery celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding.
Quite what James Speight and his business partners would make of the modern day Rattray St landmark is anyone’s guess, but they would likely be pleased and somewhat surprised that the name survives to this day.
That was by no means a certainty. It led a precarious early existence before rising to become the colony’s largest brewery in the 1880s.
As New Zealand changed and the country’s economic centre moved north, at various times in the 20th century it looked like Dunedin’s brew was for the chopping block.
But survive it has. Although carbon filtered and low carb beers are a world away from the original gold medal ale, Speight’s — and that trademark drop — have stood the test of time.
In a city which reveres its heritage, that is a thing well worthy of celebration.
