Vinny-dication and Three Cheers For Cate Blanchett

Hante Temmuz 23, 2022

Back in September I reported how the Youtube channel of freelance journalist, Vinny Eastwood, had been arbitrarily closed down two weeks before the election. Well, after silencing the renegade reporter, just when freedom of speech was at a premium, Youtube have now, rather mysteriously, realised that it was all a big mistake and have reinstated the channel. Despite the suspect timing and complete lack of an explanation, Youtube's about face offers some cause of celebration not only because the channel is a virtual history of Kiwi protest denied mainstream media coverage but also because discordant voices like Vinny's will need to shout even louder to be heard now that the New Zealand electorate has given a collective shrug, held its nose and reinstated John Key as Prime Minister for another three years. Since taking power with 47% of the vote in one of the lowest turnouts in New Zealand's history, the new New Zealand Government has already shown an alarming commitment to shedding civil liberties, free speech, transparency and accountability in government in order to strip mine New Zealand's assets for the benefit of the country's richest 1% and its foreign paymasters. Here are just a selection of sorry post election developments:

John Key wearing his Prime Minister's hat

Nicky Hager, the journalist who exposed the Prime Minister's unsavoury involvement in the dirty politics scandal just prior to the election, has been raided by the police who are pressuring him to give up his source. Meanwhile the Prime Minister has repeatedly failed to answer questions in the House regarding his own misconduct, claiming that he only takes responsibility if he is wearing his "Prime Minister's hat" as if abuse of office was no more serious than a day at the races. Key's arrogant evasiveness of the I'm the Prime Minister I can do what I want variety was in full evidence this week when questioned by Green MP Gareth Hughes, over Key's hypocritical energy policies. When caught out in a lie, Key resorts to smug wisecracking (see the video below).

It would seem that Key's serious side is reserved for TV appearances telling the public how "brutal, dangerous and ugly"terrorists like ISIS are, in the hope that over stating security risks to New Zealand absolves him of explaining the government endorsed surveillance being carried out on the population, which was exposed by Edward Snowden before the election. Yesterday Key announced that a "group of free thinkers" has been corralled "to detect unseen threats to New Zealand's national security, advising the Prime Minister of danger before it arrives." Selected for their areas of expertise, the group includes several CEO's and the Chief Executive of the 2015 Cricket World Cup. So now we have the private sector effectively advising the government on national security - a little dubious when you consider that the first piece of legislation that this government pushed through was to take away workers' rights to a tea break.

It wasn't always that way. In fact there was a time when Australasian governments refused to toady to the superpowers and big business and implemented policies that made the New World a truly egalitarian place to live. I was reminded of this yesterday while watching the memorial to former Australian Prime Minister, Gogh Whitlam. Cate Blanchett gave an impassioned speech honouring Whitlam's legacy and in doing so highlighted everything that is wrong with the neoliberal mindset that currently dominates politics and policy making not just in Australia and New Zealand but in Britain and the U.S. as well. In front of a stony faced Tony Abbott, Blanchett argued that her own success was largely due to the social polices enacted by Whitlam in the early 70s:

"I am the beneficiary of free tertiary education… I am the beneficiary of free health care and that meant that the little I earned... could go toward seeing shows, bands, and living inside my generation's expression... I am the beneficiary of a foreign policy that put us on the world stage and put us on the front foot in our region. I am a product of an Australian that engages with the globe and engages with its history and its Indigenous peoples. I am a small part of Australia's coming of age and so many of those initiatives were enacted when I was three."

Blanchett's speech met with rousing applause and hinted at the shameful elephant in the room: Whitlam's progressive programme for a freer, more equal and independent Australia was cut short when he was ousted from parliament in a constitutional coup orchestrated by the intelligence organisations from 5 eyes "allies" Great Britain and the U.S.

Blanchett also touched on women's rights, stating: "I am a working mother of three, when I took on the role in Little Fish, I had just had my second child. No-one batted an eyelid, no-one passed judgement and no-one deemed me incapable. Because the culture around women and the right for women to work as equals had also been addressed significantly by Gough Whitlam."

However, the fight for equal rights and equal pay Down Under is far from over. Yesterday on Facebook, New Zealand Internet Party leader, Laila Harré, drew attention to the recent decision of The New Zealand Court of Appeal which held that women have the right to be paid the same as men doing a different job if the work is comparable.The Court agreed with the argument put forward by caregiver, Kristine Bartlett, that were care-giving a historically male job, the rates of pay would be higher. The Court stated that where there was current or historical structural gender discrimination that had undervalued the care-giver role, then it was right under the Equal Pay Act 1972 (which provides for equal pay for work of equal value) to consider what a hypothetical male would be paid in the role. As well as caregivers, Harré notes that the decision has enormous import for the "many other traditionally female-dominated occupations where evidence of systemic wage discrimination exists - these include aged care nurses, early childhood teachers, school support workers, and admin workers." Harré sounded a note of warning though, as the decision now allowed women to go to court to claim a rate of pay free from any systematic gender discrimination, then you can be sure that Key's government will endeavour to retract it through legislation and who's to say that Key's free (Market) thinkers won't find stroppy women demanding equal pay an ISIS like threat to national security.