Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Winston's attacks on RNZ aren't that shocking

Winston's in trouble with the opposition again, isn't he?

He's in trouble with the opposition - yet again, someone in the opposition's gone crying to daddy, calling on the Prime Minister to sort Winston Peters out.

I mean, last time this happened, it was because he was mean to old 'Bussy Galore'. This time, it's because he's threatened to defund Radio New Zealand.

Now he did this this morning in what I consider to be a highly entertaining tantrum, actually, because he got cross at RNZ for getting cross at him because he wants to define what a woman is in law.

Now, this crying to daddy business that's going on about Winston is utterly pointless, and I bet you Labour knows it, but they're doing it anyway. 

But it's pointless because number one, you and I both know that Luxon is not going to sort out Winston Peters.  Luxon needs Winston more than Winston needs Luxon right now.

And number two, Winston is not wrong.

Radio New Zealand looks like it is going to lose funding in the upcoming budget - or at least that's the rumour doing the rounds at the moment.

And if RNZ doesn't lose funding, it should lose funding - because it got a funding boost that was enormous under Labour.

It got a $25 million a year injection under Labour. That was a boost of 60 percent. That's huge.

I do not know of any other major media organization in this country that has had a revenue increase during this prolonged recession.

And what's more, despite all of that money, objectively, they're doing a cruddy job - because have a look at what's going on with their audience numbers. They have had an enormous decline in the people listening to them in the last 5 years.

When Winston accused Radio New Zealand of having a woke left bias, there will be plenty of people around this country who perhaps used to listen and don't anymore or don't listen for whatever reason, but there'll be plenty of people who would have been nodding their head in agreement with Winston once they heard that he'd said that.

Now, look, I know this is politics, so maybe Labour sees an opportunity here to play the hero for Radio New Zealand's audience who are horrified at what Winston said, and fair play to Labour.

They can do what they want, it's politics.

But I doubt this is going to be a big vote winner, because frankly, the number of voters who now nowadays care very deeply about protecting the media seems to be at an all-time low.

And also, don't forget this - it's hardly a shock, is it?

Winston Peters attacks the media. I mean, that could have been a headline every year for the last 40 years, couldn't it?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Winston's in trouble the opposition again, isn't he. He's in
trouble with the opposition again. Yes, again, someone in the
opposition's gone crying to Daddy, calling on the Prime Minister
to sort Winston Peter's out. I mean, last time this happened,
it was because he was mean to old Bossy Galore.
This time it's because he's threatened to defund Radio New Zealand.
Now he did this this morning and what I'd consider
to be a highly entertaining tantrum actually because he got

(00:21):
cross at aarn Z for getting cross at him, because
he wants to define what a woman is in law. Now,
this crying to daddy business is going on about Winston
is utterly pointless, and I bet you Labour knows it,
but they're doing it anyway. And it's pointless because number one,
you and I both know that Luxon is not going
to sort out Winston Peter's. Luxon needs Winston more than
Winston needs Luxon right now. And number two, Winston is

(00:44):
not wrong. Radio New Zealand looks like it is going
to lose funding in the upcoming budget. At least that's
the rumor doing the rounds at the moment, and if
aarn Z doesn't lose funding, it should lose funding because
it got a funding boost that was enormous under Labor.
It got a twenty five million dollar a year injection
under Labor. That was a boost of sixty percent. That's huge.
I do not know of any other major media organization

(01:06):
in this country that has had a revenue increase during
this prolonged recession. And what's more, despite all of that money. Objectively,
they're doing a cruddy job, right because I have a
look at what's going on with their audience numbers. They
have an enormous decline in the people listening to them
in the last five years. When Winston accused Radio New
Zealand of having a woke left bias, there will be

(01:27):
plenty of people around this country who perhaps used to
listen and don't do anymore, or don't listen for whatever reason.
But there will be plenty of people who would have
been nodding their head in agreement with Winston once they
heard that he'd said that. Now, look, I know this
is politics. So maybe Labour sees an opportunity here to
play the hero for Radio New Zealand's audience who are
horrified at what Winston said, and fair play to labor.

(01:47):
They can do what they want. It's politics. But I
doubt this is going to be a big vote winner
because frankly, the number of voters who nowadays care very
deeply about protecting the media seems to be at an
all time low. And also, don't get this. It's hardly
a shock, is it. Winston Peters attacks the media. I
mean that could have been a headline every year for
the last forty years, couldn't it. For more from Hither

(02:09):
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