Wednesday, 20 November 2024 10:55

Review SOEs!

Written by The Hound

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OPINION: NIWA has long weathered complaints about alleged stifling of competition in forecasting, and more recently, claims of lack of transparency by the Crown-owned entity - spurred by its refusal to release information under the OIA about its conduct around Cyclone Gabrielle and the Hawke's Bay flooding.

Now it is at the centre of a Media Council complaint after state-owned TVNZ and RNZ reported a questionable and alarmist NIWA social media post - claiming Dunedin had its "wettest day in more than a century" - without bothering to fact check it.

TVNZ says it's not required to verify NIWA statements.

Well, this old mutt reckons the taxpayers not required to keep propping up underperforming SOEs like TVNZ, RNZ and NIWA.

What's happened to those state-owned enterprise reviews the Government promised?

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As Stuff notes, “It wasn’t the Playboy cover which caused offence. No, it was the back page which… featured an advert for a cigarette brand”.

As Regulations Minister David Seymour notes, “The real scandal here is, well, no wonder we’ve got problems in healthcare when they’re doing the Stuff quiz during work time.”

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