Talkback radio likes to bash the working poor as well as beneficiaries. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Jeremy Parkinson. He thinks the country can't afford to raise the minimum wage, but it can afford tax cuts for the wealthy. Oh, and bail out his boss as well..
Last night I ventured into the land of talkback radio and stumbled across Radio Live's Jeremy Parkinson preaching from his right wing pulpit again.
Parkinson is not a regular host on the low rating station but fills in for other hosts when the need arises. Yesterday was a public holiday so Parkinson was filling in for the regular host on the 10pm-1am.
Parkinson's regular job is producer ( glorified receptionist) on the 9-noon show hosted by the awful Michael Laws. So you know the political views you're going to get from our mate Jeremy ain't liberal.
One of the staple activities of talkback hosts and their followers, when not complaining about dogs, is bashing beneficiaries.
Parkinson has done his share of beneficiary bashing in the past but last night he extended his 'enlightened' views to the working poor.
'We can't afford to raise the minimum wage,' trumpeted Jeremy, who is not happy with Labour's election promise to raise the minimum wage to $15. Jeremy will be voting National in November.
This is not the first rime good old Jeremy had a go at campaigns to raise the minimum wage having previously decried the Unite Union's campaign to have the minimum wage raised also to $15 an hour.
But, according to Parkinson, while 'we' can't afford to help out New Zealand's working poor and their families, 'we' can afford to give tax cuts to the wealthy!
Jeremy doesn't like people disagreeing with him though.
His favourite tactic to stifle contrary views is to cut off the offending caller mid sentence then proceed into another monologue about why he, Jeremy Parkinson, is always right about everything.
During the half hour or so that I listened he employed that tactic on three callers. Then he played some boring Roy Orbison song because Jeremy thinks he's a cool cat who knows what music is all about.
Parkinson - and Radio Live generally = are , of course, on very shaky ground when they indulge in beneficiary bashing and tell us what the country can and cannot afford.
Radio Live is owned by debt-ridden Mediaworks which earlier this year was given a $43.3 million loan from its pals in Government to enable it to renew its radio broadcasting licences for the next 20 years.
So apparently 'we' can afford to bail out Jeremy's employer but 'we' can't afford to raise the minimum wage.
'How much do you get paid an hour?' one caller asked of Parkinson. He refused to say.
It'll be a whole lot more than $13 an hour though..
26 minutes ago
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