CAPITAL GOVERNMENT RELATIONS : DEFENDING THE LABOUR GOVERNMENT

Hayden Munro, Neale Jones and Clint Smith all used to work for the Labour Party. They now all work for the same Wellington public relations company. They are all attacking the Wellington occupation as 'fascist'. Just a coincidence?

'Hayden Munro: Anti-vaccine mandate protesters' cause being hijacked by right-wing fringe' shouts the NZ Herald headline. And if you want all the hot details about how the Wellington occupation is a mere pawn in some giant international neo-fascist cunning plan to take over the world or, at least, New Zealand, then you will have to stump up actual money to get over the paywall. Alternately you can read similar ravings in the soclal media - and for nothing.

But who is this man concerned about the neo-fascists that are walking amongst us casting their wicked spells over folk who can't think for themselves? Hayden Munro isn't a journalist. He's a lobbyist for the Wellington firm of Capital Government Relations. He was also the Labour Party's election campaign manager in 2017.

He joined Capital Government Relations in 2020. The CEO IS Neale Jones, another regular commentator in the media, including a weekly spot on RNZ's Nine to Noon show. Last week host Kathyrn Ryan pushed back at his attempt to label the Wellington occupation as 'extremist' and with links to neo-fascist groups. That prompted another Labour supporter Chris Trotter, to step forward and defend Jones and attack Katherine Ryan for having the temerity to criticise Jones, declaring that her behaviour was bordering on the 'unprofessional''. Trotter, like Neale Jones, has also been firing off evidence-free charges of 'fascism' against the Wellington occupation.

Neale Jones was previously Chief of Staff for Jacinda Ardern. He established Capital after Jacinda Ardern became Prime Minster. As commentator Bryce Edwards has observed, Jones continues to dine out on his close association with the Labour Government: 'his social media publicity photo is a selfie with Jacinda Ardern, and he makes mention of his connections to Ardern in his media commentary and pitches to corporate clients, to indicate his closeness to power and decision-makers.'

Capital Government Relations is home to two other ex-Labour Party apparatchiks. It also employs Mike Jaspers who was previously Chief Press Secretary to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, working with her through the 2017 election and into Government. A former TVNZ journalist, he was also  Senior Press Secretary to Minister of Finance Michael Cullen.

Also on Capitol's payroll is Clint Smith who was formerly Senior Policy and Communications Strategist for Jacinda Ardern. He's been spending a lot of time on Twitter attacking the Wellington occupation as 'fascist'. 

Smith is angry that the police haven't gone in and dealt to the protesters and seems unconcerned about the violence that would erupt and the considerable number of people who would get hurt.

He has also been obsessed with attacking Bryce Edwards and four days ago, in a series of abusive tweets he wrote 'whenever you're feeling self-doubt, remember that at least you're not Bryce Edwards - the country's worst political analyst and, now, useful idiot for would be murderers.'

On Sunday he referred to Edwards as a representative of the 'squatters' comm unit'.

It cannot be a coincidence that Munro, Jones, and Smith are all actively involved in attacking the Wellington occupation as some kind of neo fascist event, even though the reality on the ground tells us that it is anything but. But such has been the regularity and frequency of the attacks it is worth considering whether Capital Government Relations is engaged in a orchestrated campaign to vilify the Wellington occupation on behalf of the Labour Government. Or are they just defending the political interests of a Labour Party that used to employ them and remains a potential source of lucrative PR work?

Either way, Capital Government Relations doesn't appear to have any problem accessing the media to promote its negative views of the occupation. 

Bryce Edwards has observed  that this 'jumping' from jobs in Government into jobs in the PR industry is ruled illegal in many countries: 'But New Zealand has barely any rules about lobbying, and absolutely no rules to stop the 'revolving door' of Beehive staffers shifting into lucrative corporate jobs to leverage their political connections and information.' 

Capital Government Relations recently employed Tory Whanua, formerly Chief of Staff for the Green Party.