Audrey Young: PM's routine turns risque before reality ends laughs

The Prime Minister's post-Cabinet press conferences are not usually colourful affairs but yesterday's turned decidedly blue.

It began, as it usually does, with an "Okey Dokey" from John Key.

It's a quaint way for him to demonstrate both his informality and control over the issues that are thrown at him from any direction.

Yesterday he talked about the Auckland Super City, Fiji, swine flu, the Mt Albert byelection, the roving eye of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, street prostitution, brothels, and the economy - in that order.

During the more respectable segment of the press conference, Mr Key fielded a question about the use of his Blackberry souped-up phone that allows users to receive and send emails as well as take calls.

Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff is concerned about the large amount of confidential information carried on such devices by people such as Mr Key and the risk of losing it.

Don't worry, Mr Key tells the reporters. He hardly ever gets sent confidential Cabinet papers via email (thus via Blackberry).

"As a general rule, what is on my Blackberry are the news stories you write, emails from my wife.

"They are not state secrets - well they could be, but they're not. I don't have any of those problems, trust me. I'm not suffering the issues that Berlusconi is, don't worry," he said with a chuckle.

With accidental timing, a serious young Herald reporter then asked a serious question about an article that had appeared in yesterday's newspaper.

"Prime Minister, can I please ask you about street prostitution in South Auckland."

Mr Key: "God! We're having quite a day aren't we, but yeah, feel free."

He said he would be happy to meet the Manukau Mayor Len Brown who has concerns about it.

The next question is about one of his list MPs whose tenants ran a house of ill-repute unbeknown to the MP or PM: "About Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, when did you first find out he had a brothel on his rental property?"

Key laughs at the unusual direction the press conference is taking.

Finally it gets back on to a standard track with a question about Treasury's view that GDP has fallen 1 per cent in the March quarter.

The blue colour drains from the press conference and turns a sobering Treasury red.