Tamihere Tells TV3 Journalist To Get a Real Job

Wednesday, 30 March 2005, 6:57 pm
Article: Kevin List

During the general debate in Parliament today, John Tamihere advised TV3 journalist Duncan Garner “To get a real job.”

Mr Tamihere’s career advice to Mr Garner came at the end of a speech criticising certain sections of the media, mainly those with the surname Garner who work for TV3. Tamihere was critical of their ethical standards.

John Tamihere began his speech by stating he would outline the “very cosy and close relationship between Duncan Garner of TV3 and his soul-mate Rodney Philip Hide”.

Tamihere accused Garner and Hide of being called into the Waipareira Trust as early as August 2004 to “ help shape, frame and put together the architecture of the hatchet job that was released in here [the House] on October 14.”

Tamihere told the House that Garner was connected to Bruce Bryant the Chief Financial Officer of the Waipareira Trust through his (Mr Garner’s) de-facto wife Mihinarangi Forbes. He told the House Ms Forbes, who also works at TV3, is the niece of Mr Bryant.

During late 2004 TV3 ran a number of exclusives outlining payments made to Mr Tamihere following his becoming an MP in 1999. In the furore that followed the revelation that Mr Tamihere had changed his mind and decided to accept a payment in 2000 that he had publicly stated he wouldn’t accept in 1999, Mr Tamihere resigned his post as a cabinet minister.

Today, Tamihere alleged that Garner had simply been fed information by Bryant in an attempt to make Tamihere himself look bad.

Tamihere also posed a number of questions about how much Mr Garner and Mr Hide knew about Mr Bryant including asking whether they knew that;

"- Bruce Bryant designed a scheme to move seven million dollars from the Wananga O Aotearoa to a company that was owned by his son who was married to Rongo wetere’s daughter?

"- Bruce Bryant designed a company that the ACT Party had publicly attacked

"- that Bruce Bryant only resigned from the company (attacked by ACT) this month."

Tamihere further queried why Mr Rongo Wetere had been the subject of Rodney Hide’s attacks and Duncan Garner’s news reports whilst Mr Bryant slipped under the radar - that is until MrTamihere’s attacks today.

The media was presented with a number of rhetorical questions by Tamihere who accused TV3 of “manufacturing news” and suggested that due to this supposedly “manufactured news” he and his family had suffered considerably.

Whilst escoriating Garner for his allegedly close relationship with ACT Leader Rodney Hide, Tamihere did find time to offer NZ Herald journalist, Audrey Young a bouquet for her coverage of the Waipareira Trust.

“A decent journalist from the NZ Herald called Audrey Young, seven days into the hatchet job produced an account dated 21 October 2004 entitled ‘John Tamihere the case for and against,” thundered Mr Tamihere who further considered this piece and asked “some simple questions from a journalist that received the right answers and the White Inquiry breached the same matters.”

In concluding his speech Mr Tamihere posed these questions:

“Duncan Garner, does he have an independent media consultancy business? If so who are his clients and are they associated with Rodney Hide?”

This rhetorical question was not answered by Tamihere but he instead accused the ACT Leader whose party is currently polling 2% of getting the lions share of coverage on TV3 news.

Whether Mr Tamihere or the Labour Party will get more of a “fair go” in future from TV3 as requested by Mr Tamihere during his speech, remains to be seen.

ENDS

© Scoop Media