'EDDIE' CHANGES HER TUNE

Here's 'Eddie' - aka Jenny Michie, Labour Party communications officer - writing about the Auckland 'supercity' on May 15:

Why is the National government delaying its announcement of the Supercity transitional agency? The Rankin Effect. That’s the flinch you get when your rampant arrogance becomes a bit too obvious.

But despite the Rankin Effect, it looks like most of Rodney Hide’s picks for the new board will pass Key’s test. Who wants to take a punt on how long it’ll be before these oligarch cronies turn their cold values into something Aucklanders just don’t want?

Now we learn that one of the 'picks' who passed John Key's tests is the outgoing national secretary for the National Distribution Union. Yes, its Laila Harre travelling to the right of the political spectrum at some speed.

But the politically flexible 'Eddie' has now suddenly changed her tune. She's pleased that it will be Harre who will be the one sacking the unfortunate council workers!

'There’s a lot of redundancies and upheaval tipped in that area so I’m glad it’s someone from our side of the fence handling it,' she wrote on The Standard when the Harre appointment was announced on Monday.

Apparently Laila Harre is not one of those 'oligarch cronies turning their cold values into something Aucklanders don't want.'

But the question is this: Having consistently attacked the 'supercity' project, how does 'Eddie' reconcile this with her support for Laila Harre - the woman who will be overseeing the considerable number of redundancies that will result from the business-driven council 'reforms'?

What excuses will she come up with? How will she explain her support for a woman about to add a few more hundred workers to the dole queue while at the same time castigating the government for not doing enough about the growing unemployment figures?

'Eddie', like the political party she works for, has serious credibilty problems.