Entry 396, on 2006-09-19 at 13:11:24 (Rating 3, Politics)
Politics here in New Zealand have started getting a bit dirty recently. The latest series of incidents started when the leader of the opposition, Don Brash, was accused of being involved in an affair with a prominent business woman. Subtle hints were initially mentioned by the government, then an unknown member of the opposition itself leaked information with the details. Some commentators have said the affair was already a widely accepted fact, where others have been surprised by it, so the whole thing is probably true, but did we really need to know?
The next stage has been accusations from a right leaning publication - a mainly nonsensical thing called Investigate run by Ian Wishart, an equally nonsensical individual - that the prime minister's husband is gay. The story has been followed up by a tabloid, adding to the hyperbole. The story was based on photos which have been public since the election of him "hugging" another man during a celebration of his wife's political victory. Hardly proof that he's gay, and really just a bit silly.
The accusations against Brash are personal, but they do have some relevance to the public. They affect everyone's perception of him, a person who is in charge of a conservative political organisation and has stated in the past that he thinks fidelity and loyalty are important. So in some ways the affair should be a matter of public record.
But whether the PM's husband is gay or not probably doesn't belong in the category of information we need to know. For a start, its highly unlikely he is; and second, even if he is, how is that important to the public? The Labour party has a permissive attitude to social issues such as homosexuality and it shouldn't affect our attitude in any way. Of course, there are always people who would treat this with complete seriousness, but they are the sort of people who probably don't like the Labour government anyway.
Things might get better too. Another political commentator has commented that Investigate magazine has some information about the relationship between National and the Exclusive Brethren (a bunch of complete loonies if there ever was one). Of course, we probably won't hear much about that from investigate because it really doesn't do much investigation - its more interested in distributing one sided propaganda.
I do feel a bit sorry for Peter Davis (the PM's husband) but it is also rather amusing to see things sink this low. We have largely avoided this in NZ and places like the UK have had all the fun! Now, we too, can avoid the issues that really matter and concentrate on the dirty details of our politicians' lives instead!
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