Heather Roy's Diary – 30 March 2007

When Good Markets Go Bad

In days gone by, armourers who made faulty weapons were tortured and killed by the survivors of the battle in which the weakness was revealed. If the executive of GlaxoSmithKline were aware of this, they clearly felt that they were out of the reach of the Ribena 'survivors'.

In the Auckland District Court this week, GlaxoSmithKline was fined $227,500, and ordered to undertake a nationwide campaign of corrective advertising in newspapers to explain that the ready to drink Ribena - though not the concentrate - contains no detectable level of vitamin C.

The findings will, no doubt, spur a flurry of demands ranging from calls for greater government regulation and court powers to the usual chorus girls demanding mandatory labeling. None of these will achieve what people want but will add cost to taxpayers and further loopholes for manufacturers and their lawyers.

As parents, we all try to make good choices about what our children eat and drink. When we find a product fails our common sense test, we discard it. 60 years of market history can evaporate overnight. Johnson & Johnson discovered problems with their Tylenol product in 1982 and acted quickly, ethically and publicly. The brand was saved. GSK has done the opposite.

If Pharmac is not already considering the accuracy of this company's medicinal offerings, it should be. If parents want to punish GSK for misleading them, all they need to do is stop buying their products and they will disappear off supermarket shelves very quickly.

No doubt there will be more companies caught out in this manner. What's important to remember is that markets - us - determine what is acceptable or not in terms of products. Let's not be caught up in another range of inquiries and legislative programmes that distract us from the really big problems facing this country.

Freedom Of The Press

Parliament has also been abuzz with the treatment meted out to Nick Wang, a journalist barred entry to a photo opportunity between Michael Cullen and Chinese Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan.

Free countries allow the media to report on and debate the conduct of politicians, so that our leaders can be held to account in the court of public opinion. Communist countries, however, replace the free press with propaganda organs. In China's case this is the Xinhua news agency, which permits its journalists no dissent from the National Congress' party line.

In response to the first reports on Nick Wang's treatment, police claimed they detained and ejected Mr Wang because he was upset and trying to push his way into the room, and that they weren't acting on a request from the Chinese officials. Video footage, however, shows a very calm (considering the circumstances) Mr Wang being told by police that the Chinese delegation didn't want him there, and then threatening to have his parliamentary security clearance revoked.

The New Zealand Police collectively have had a rough time recently, and this incident has again focused negative attention on them. When the police work with diplomats and politicians, they are always acting under the directive of Ministers, and within especially strict limits. The Prime Minister's speeding motorcade through South Canterbury was a case in point, where four police officers were hung out to dry for simply obeying the direction of Ministers in the government that employed them. This week's incident has the same feel about it, and it seems the police have again been blamed for a sequence of events stemming from simply doing their job.

Like many of our fundamental freedoms, freedom of the press is something that we take for granted until it is under threat. The Press Gallery, the Commonwealth Press Association, Parliament's Speaker and political parties are all going in to bat on Mr Wang's behalf, but serious questions still need to be asked.

Happy 70th Birthday RNZAF

In 1913 the Royal New Zealand Airforce was formed after the United Kingdom gifted New Zealand two Bleriot monoplanes. The planes were soon grounded, after a woman was given a joyride, but were soon deployed to assist the British in World War I.

This Saturday, the first of April, marks the RNZAF's 70th birthday. Today's Air Force - 2,846 strong - pulls their weight among the 616 New Zealand troops currently deployed overseas.

Our Air Force has a proud record - 15 Kiwis became aces in World War I, and at least 78 in World War II (including Flying Officer "Cobber" Kain, who by 1940 was the RAF's "ace of aces"). More than 4200 Kiwi airmen have given their lives in defence of our country, and in 1945 more than a thousand New Zealand aircraft were defending the skies over Europe and the Pacific.

The RNZAF motto is "through adversity to the stars", and much of the media attention they've gained in recent years makes it seem as if they're passing through a period of considerable adversity. Despite this, the men and women of the RNZAF continue to punch above their weight, and they deserve a very happy birthday indeed.

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ENDS

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