10 November 2016
Fairfax apology not good enough

The apology by Fairfax newspapers to a Mt Roskill by-election candidate for excluding him from a debate is disingenuous, simply not good enough, and should have been tendered to all candidates excluded from the event.

To dredge up the lame excuse that only Labour and National candidates were invited because both had polled above 10 percent at the last election smacks of favouritism.

Newspapers like the Central Leader are quick enough to approach candidates of all parties to get them to spend money on advertising, yet when it comes to coverage they simply perpetuate the old first past the post voting system by virtually excluding anyone but National and Labour.

In a real democracy all political points of view should be given a fair hearing, and the fact that they are not is one of the reasons Labour and National continue to dominate the political landscape.

Both parties already help themselves to the lion’s share of the public money allocated for the purchase of election advertising, and to have them being given yet more advantage by media organisations like Fairfax is unbelievable.

That neither National nor Labour have protested that all candidates should be participating in the debate shows they are not interested in voters or in democracy either, but simply in retaining power for their parties at all costs.

Candidate Andrew Leitch, representing the Democrats for Social Credit Party (a registered political party that has stood candidates in every general election for 60 years) awaits an apology.

ENDS

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