Mike's Minute: The beat-up of the week

The beltway beat-up of the week goes to the seemingly ongoing fascination over the missing paperwork and the Prime Minister's office when it came to a meeting between Z Energy and their concerns over Mike Smith's court case involving polluters and climate cost. 

Mike Smith called "conspiracy" and you don’t, sadly, need to do a lot more than that to get half the media fizzing over a scandal for the ages. 

The bit, if you have forgotten, that made it look troublesome was twofold: 

1) The PM's office didn’t have said paperwork, hence it looked shady. 

2) The Government changed, or is going through the process of changing, the law in a way that, surprise, surprise, suits Z Energy. 

Now, accepting lost paperwork is not a good look, and the Prime Minister freely admitted it weeks ago, we finally hear this week from a bloke called Lindis Jones who runs Z Energy. He produces the document they gave to the Government and here is the critical point – there is nothing in it. 

Nothing they hadn't said publicly already. 

In other words, they were alarmed that blokes like Smith can fill court time with fishing expeditions and that singling out companies like Z Energy and Fonterra is dangerous and ruinous to businesses and reputations. 

Now, they say that because, funnily enough, it's true. And that is why, funnily enough, the Government acted to change the law. 

The Government said, correctly, that the Government is the ultimate court and when it comes to climate policy the Parliament is the place decisions are made. 

Now, they did that, not because Z Energy thinks that, or Fonterra thinks that, or you and I think that. But because it's true and it's right and they would have done it anyway. 

There is no skullduggery. There is no clandestine, backroom nonsense. No one met in a dark alleyway. No Government was dragged into making a decision they wouldn’t not have already made. 

All that happened was a piece of paper got waylaid and Mike Smith stirred up a very gullible media looking for fizz and clickbait. 

What's required of the media, if they are remotely interested in repairing their battered reputations, is the ability to see real news. 

The ability to differentiate between a story and BS and to not be so keen to see things that aren't there. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Beltway beat up of the week goes to the seemingly
ongoing fascination over the missing paperwork in the Prime Minister's office.
When it came to a meeting between Z Energy and
their concerns over Mike Smith's court case involving polluters and
climate cost Mike Smith called conspiracy and you don't sadly
need to do a lot more than that in this
country at half the media fizzing over a scandal for
the ages. The bit if you've forgotten that made it

(00:22):
look troublesome was twofold. One the Prime Minister's office didn't
have said paperwork, hence it looked shady. And two the
government changed or is going through the process of changing
the law in a way that surprise surprise suits Zed
Energy now accepting lost paperwork is not a good look
in the Prime Minister freely admitted it weeks ago. We
finally hear this week from a bloke called Lindas Jones,

(00:43):
who runs Zed Energy. He produces the document they gave
to the government. Here's the critical point. There's nothing in it,
nothing they haven't said publicly already. In other words, they
were alarmed that blokes like Smith can fill court time
with fishing expeditions, and that singling out companies like Z
or Fonterra is dangerous and ruinous to business and reputations.

(01:03):
Now they say that, funnily enough, because it's true, and
that is why, funnily enough, the government acted to change
the law. The government said, correctly, the government is the
ultimate court, and when it comes to climate policy, the
parliament is the place decisions are made. Now they said that,
not because Z thinks that, or Fonterra thinks that, or
you and I think that, but because it's true and

(01:26):
it's right, and they would have done it anyway. There
is no skull duggery. There is no clandestine back room nonsense.
No one met in a dark alleyway. No government dragged
was dragged into making decisions they would not have already made.
All that happened was a piece of paper got way late,
and Mike Smith stirred up a very gullible media looking
for a bit of hiss and a bit of clickbait.
What's required of the media, if they're remotely interested in

(01:49):
repairing their battered reputations, is the ability to see real news,
the ability to differentiate between a story and BS and
to not be so keen to see things that aren't.
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
News Talks at B from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio