Editorial: Bizarre attempt to shoot messenger

Sometimes the Minister of Finance seems to imagine he has a Houdini-like ability to talk his way out of any problem. Does he think he could stand in broad daylight and argue, convincingly, at least in his own mind, that it was midnight? How else to explain the pitiful spectacle of Michael Cullen attempting to blame the media for a Prime Ministerial blunder which had severe sharemarket repercussions?

Admittedly, Dr Cullen had little room to manoeuvre. Patching up as best he could Helen Clark's errant advice that Air New Zealand's mum and dad shareholders hang on to their shares was an unenviable task. Normally, it was one the Prime Minister would tackle without qualm. Clearly, however, she had already recognised the error of her ways.

Dr Cullen could have made the most obvious response - that the recommendation amounted to nothing more than a casual remark by Helen Clark. But that would have been equivalent to suggesting the Prime Minister lacked commercial nous. Already, there has been evidence enough of that. Equally, he could have dismissed her remarks as an appeal to patriotic New Zealanders. But that, again, would have betrayed the Prime Minister's inability to distinguish between a rallying call and market-sensitive information.

Helen Clark's advice that shareholders sit tight could qualify as a "don't sell" message or something less precise. But not so her conviction that Air New Zealand had a "viable future". Unsurprisingly, that was interpreted as a signal that the national flag carrier would not be put into statutory management. Inevitably, it prompted a rise in the share price - and the Stock Exchange's decision to halt trading in the shares for five hours.

With the obvious avenues of explanation or obfuscation blocked, Dr Cullen retreated to the outrageous. Why not just shoot the messenger? Thus we had the disgraceful scene of a minister of the Crown hectoring journalists about their line of questioning and beat-up reports. According to the Cullen journalism handbook, reporters must actually make judgment calls on whether they are asking sensible questions. This to politicians who are schooled in handling the media and who, the public has the right to assume, have the wit and intelligence to judge a question on its merits - and to refuse to answer it if the situation demands as much.

The Government already knew of the impact of any comment on the fragile airline. Air New Zealand's shares dropped to their lowest level yet on Monday after Helen Clark said statutory management was a "viable and credible" option. Reporting that was no media beat-up. Nor was it to subsequently report her comment that Air New Zealand had a viable future. And nor were investors being irrational when they acted on her comment.

A Prime Minister who is ready and willing to answer questions on virtually any issue leaves herself open to the occasional mishap. Her openness is, of course, admirable in many ways. But there is a difference between being ready and willing and, in some circumstances, being able to comment. The Government is doing due diligence on Air New Zealand before either taking a direct shareholding or underwriting a capital-raising exercise. It is privy to inside information about the bail-out talks. Clearly, any comment, no matter how casual or how motivated, will be taken seriously. To not recognise that is, indeed, to lack business savvy.

Surely, the Government has now learned its lesson. Certainly, Dr Cullen's extraordinary statement suggests it knows such remarks cannot be excused in any rational or worthwhile way. And if the Prime Minister's remarks were intended as a confidence-builder, her role there has been usurped. Cereal-maker Dick Hubbard has leaped into that breach, spending $26,000 on newspaper advertisements that call on New Zealanders to pitch in and save the airline. His call for people to fly with Air New Zealand as much as possible deserves support. As does his idea that air travellers give up 10 per cent of their unredeemed air points, even if the practicalities may be somewhat problematic.

In an advertisement in the Herald today, Air New Zealand staff appeal, similarly, to patriotism. This, also, should not fall on deaf ears. The fight to save the koru strikes a chord with all New Zealanders. It would help no end if the Government played a sensible, and sensitive, role in that struggle.