Greenpeace Attacks Wholly Predictable and True to Form

Greenpeace Attacks Wholly Predictable and True to Form
Media Statement

Greenpeace Attacks Wholly Predictable and True to Form

Katherine Rich – Chief Executive, New Zealand Food Grocery Council
Date: Friday 2 December 2011

This statement was drafted prior to my departure with instructions to issue it if required. It follows an Opinion piece by Greenpeace's Bunny McDiarmid in today's Dominion Post.

Greenpeace has cemented its position as a political lobby group following its latest attack on the Food Grocery Council (FGC), me personally, and my fact-finding visit to Indonesia.

Further, the timing of these attacks to coincide with this visit means opportunities to respond are limited. However, Greenpeace’s criticism is predictable.

Greenpeace criticises Food Grocery Council for not meeting them before the visit.

It is correct that I did not meet Greenpeace people before I left. There are reasons for this;

1) Having read and digested the information sent, I did not feel the need for additional “assistance” to understand the points.

2) Greenpeace’s approach to the FGC can be best described as unusual and cynical. On Friday 25 November, Greenpeace emailed my office at 3.43pm with a 3-page cover letter and more than 30-pages of detailed documents. At 4.01pm, before it was physically possible to read the material, Greenpeace phoned my office demanding a meeting. At 4.11pm it sent a second email confirming the call. To further confirm the calls and emails Greenpeace also sent a hard-copy of the letter and documents in the post. That’s four attempts to make contact in less than half an hour. There have been further calls to my office since Friday.

Now, some might call this efficient process, others might call it intimidation and the sort of perfunctory tick-box contact to set up the classic, “X refused to meet Y” political stunt. It all seemed unusually manic to be a completely sincere approach, but I reserve my judgment.

3) The most appropriate meeting at this stage is surely with the people of Cottonsoft. Though Greenpeace lobbyists have offered seemingly unlimited time to meet with the FGC, in either Wellington or Auckland, they have continually refused to meet with Cottonsoft. The fact that Greenpeace has time to meet with the FGC, retailers, customers, competitors, and to develop expensive media campaigns, but ignore invitations to meet with Cottonsoft indicates it is more interested in political campaigning than actually talking to the company it is attacking.

4) Emails by Cottonsoft to Greenpeace show a constructive and positive effort by Cottonsoft to engage. Greenpeace plays politics by saying it has not rejected invitations to meet Cottonsoft. Whether an invitation is ignored or formally rejected, the effect is the same – no meeting.

5) Cottonsoft has been denied the natural justice of countering the attacks on them. The media and public should be asking Greenpeace why it is not meeting Cottonsoft. If Greenpeace was genuinely interested in effecting positive change then surely meeting face to face was the best way to achieve this. The continued preference to attack from afar rather than engage with its victims speaks volumes about Greenpeace’s true motivation.

Fact-Finding Trip to Indonesia

Greenpeace demonstrates the tactics of a classic political lobby group by smearing anyone who might wish to defend a New Zealand company under the group’s attack.

These tactics include criticising the fact that this is a sponsored visit to Indonesia to see first-hand the operations of Cottonsoft’s parent company APP.

Clearly this is designed to sway the public into thinking that any subsequent impression of findings from this trip must be biased because it has been paid for by someone else. Cheap shots like these are the hallmarks of a political campaign designed to sway public and political views.

However, though this fact-finding visit is paid for by APP, Greenpeace is misguided in thinking that the FGC’s views on any issue are or might be captured by any individual company. That’s not the way good decision-making works. Having chaired and participated in parliamentary select committees and other organisations over the years and heard the views of New Zealanders from all walks of life, I have no doubt in my ability to draw information from different sources and use it to form a view.

Ironically, the Executive Director of Greenpeace on national television implored me to visit Indonesia, arguing that I couldn’t possibly comment on the issue without having seen it first-hand. I am now making the effort to do that.

This trip provides the opportunity to get answers and information. I have absoultely no doubt that tough questions will be asked – not just by me, but also by others accompanying me.

Greenpeace should welcome the trip, particularly because it is actually a tour for senior Australian and New Zealand journalists and conservation campaigners. As guests of APP it’s the best opportunity to ask those tough questions and get explanations, which is more than Greenpeace has achieved by sniping from afar, flatly refusing to engage, and continuing to peddle misinformation.

One New Zealand delegate is a Fairfax business editor. I know from personal experience that she is a fearless interviewer, with the ability to ask direct questions that go to the nub of an issue. There is no question that she will do the same on this trip without fear, favour, or regard to who is paying for the ticket. While attacking funding is a classic political tactic, I can say that having worked with many journalists over the years I have yet to meet any seasoned journalist who collapses into writing one-sided puff pieces because another organisation has funded their fare. If anything, from experience, the opposite is more likely to happen.

I am sure all attendees will agree that while we will see a snapshot of the country and the issues it faces, it certainly gives us a better perspective than just sitting in a New Zealand office and relying on Google.

Katherine Rich
Chief Executive
The New Zealand Food & Grocery Council

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