TV Review Diana Wichtel
Don’t count your clichés when party leaders clutch at election year chickens.
‘ The reality is,” Simon Bridges informed Jack Tame, on TVNZ’s Q+A, “we live in a world of reality.” That’s a lot of reality this early in an election year when, traditionally, if anything is depressingly up for grabs, it’s reality.
Reality in election year: it inevitably finds itself in collision with well-loved political clichés. “I’m not going to tell voters what to do,” Bridges told Tame resolutely. “Well, actually,” he continued, unable to resist the golden opportunity offered by television to never stop telling voters what to do, “I want you to vote for me.” As he explained helpfully, more than once, “If you want a National government, you have to vote for it.”
Tame, looking mildly exasperated, took a firm tone with this sort of carry-on. “Just let me finish,” he snapped. And, “Just answer the question. It’s a simple question!”
If he’s already this irritable with party political blaguing, by September his head is going to explode.
Another unavoidable casualty of any election campaign: the longsuffering English language. Asked about the path to power now that National has ruled out any postelection deal with New Zealand First, Bridges cited encouraging polls but expected a tight MMP race: “We don’t take, ah, count our chickens for granted.” Well, you wouldn’t.
Tame asked about the likelihood of other minor parties supporting National. “There’s the Māori Party,” Bridges said. “The Māori Party said they probably wouldn’t support you,” Tame said. “I’m not going to play that game, Jack,” Bridges said. By then, what with the counting and the chickens, I’d lost track of what the game was.
TVNZ’s Breakfast was all over the NZ First Foundation difficulties. “That political party donations thing is a palaver, which is obviously the word of the day,” cried Hadyn Jones, before deciding to spell it: “P-a …, P-a …” He retired defeated. “Pavlova!” suggested newsreader Anna Burns-Francis, coming to the rescue with an easier word to spell. Co-host Hayley Holt weighed in – “It’s an alleged palaver,” – demonstrating that the word’s meaning was also a bit of a mystery to the Breakfast team. Jones was standing in for John Campbell, who would have known how to spell palaver.
Never mind. Back on Q+A, Tame had possibly mesmerised Bridges with his elaborate TV-presenter hand gestures – the point, the pistol, the prayerful fingertip steeple. He got Bridges to admit National had dropped the ball on housing when in government. “We were two years too late in what we did.”
Holt didn’t fare so well with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Breakfast. Asking, as was everyone, about those NZ First donations, she got schooled on never framing questions that can elicit a yes/no answer. Or, in this case, a yes/nope answer. Ardern talked about waiting for the independent agencies investigating before applying a judgment. “Is it also, though, because you know that you need NZ First in order to form a government after the election?” hazarded Holt. “Nope,” said the Prime Minister. “That’s probably the shortest answer I’ve ever given you.” Holt asked a more open-ended question, about the photos of two journalists meeting a former NZ First president that ended up on a blog.
The answer? “… yes, you have questions around how that photo ended up on that blog, but that is a question for the leader of NZ First, not for me.” In other words, still nope.
Nope could catch on as an election-year media strategy. It may not be the most relentlessly positive of answers, but it’s effective. Still, Ardern looked aggravated at having to deal with NZ First fallout when there are other chickens she’d surely rather not be taking for granted. Any chance she’ll be free any time soon of this sort of palaver? Nope.
Q+A, TVNZ 1, Sunday, 9.00am; BREAKFAST, TVNZ 1, weekdays, 6.00am.
“It’s an alleged palaver,” Holt said, suggesting the word’s meaning was a bit of a mystery to the team.