Heroism in Africa, cynicism in NZ

Today we feature a powerful investigation by Andrea Vance and Iain McGregor on South Sudan. David Shearer emerges as a towering figure in that piece; he truly is doing God’s work in a place that can only be described as hell on earth.

Shearer, of course, was the former Labour leader who might have been prime minister, except he never faced an election.

Installed after Phil Goff stepped down following Labour’s disastrous 2011 election defeat, Shearer was rolled by David Cunliffe in 2013. His passion for politics gone, Shearer returned to his old job at the United Nations and is tasked with the challenge of bringing peace to South Sudan.

Shearer’s rise and fall in politics is a reminder that the good guys don’t always win. He arrived with a made-for-Hollywood back story – a humanitarian, an internationalist, and a man of courage who had stared down Somali warlords.

But the glow didn’t last. As a political reporter at the time, I was among those who was critical of Shearer’s leadership – he often didn’t have all the answers, he didn’t know how the game was played. It made him seem slow and defensive in the face of media and political pressure.

But maybe that’s the point. We are too used to politicians who can retreat behind glib responses when the going gets tough. Shearer was never one of those people. We should have celebrated that fact.

Hearing Winston Peters’ staggering admission this week that he knew about – and condoned – people secretly photographing journalists has only reinforced that view. RNZ’s Guyon Espiner and Stuff’s Matt Shand were doing their job, seeking to uncover the truth about NZ First’s secretive funding trail. There can only have been one reason for publicising those photographs – intimidation.

Yet so far Peters’ Labour allies have stayed silent.

Where are the conviction politicians now?