Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • New Zealand Listener

    Code of silence

    Jun 26, 2022 7 minutes
    by YVONNE VAN DONGEN

    It is something of an under-statement to say Michael Laws is no stranger to controversy. In the course of the 65-year-old’s varied career as a writer, newspaper columnist, broadcaster, MP, councillor and mayor, he has wrangled with the political parties he has belonged to (National and NZ First), upset radio listeners and broadcasting regulatory authorities, and outraged colleagues and residents in both Napier and Whanganui.

    When he was elected to the Otago Regional Council in 2016, it’s fair to say there were probably more than a few people clenching their buttocks, waiting for his next offensive.

    When it came, it was relatively mild for a Laws outburst. In July 2021, on hearing that one arm of the council had given permission for a company to dump hard fill into the Clutha River, while another had condemned the act, Laws said the contradictory actions were “extraordinarily embarrassing”. Two days later, he described a report on public submissions on flow scenarios for the Manuherikia River as “bogus” and “crap”.

    In August, then council chief executive Sarah Gardner lodged a complaint that Laws had breached the council’s code of conduct. According to Laws, the complaint could have cost him his role as deputy chair

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from New Zealand Listener

    New Zealand Listener1 min read
    10 Quick Questions
    ❑ Madonna ❑ Taylor Swift ❑ Blondie ❑ Lady Gaga ❑ Paris ❑ Lyon ❑ Orléans ❑ Montreal ❑ Julius Caesar ❑ Hamlet ❑ Cymbeline ❑ Romeo and Juliet ❑ Beatrice ❑ Eugenie ❑ Charlotte ❑ Louisa ❑ Animals ❑ Trains ❑ Plants ❑ Microbiology ❑ Oste
    New Zealand Listener2 min read
    Seeing Red In Church Road
    Lying at the foot of the Taradale hills in Hawke’s Bay, Church Road has since 1990 crafted a host of classy, often great-value, wines. Money helps – the winery is owned by Paris-based Pernod Ricard, one of the world’s largest wine and spirits produce
    New Zealand Listener4 min read
    Good Lord, He Was Scandalous
    by Andrew Stauffer (Cambridge University Press, $50 hb, ebook) Two hundred years ago, on April 19, 1824, Lord Byron died unexpectedly in Greece. Banished from British society for his shocking behaviour towards his wife, Byron had settled in Italy, b

    Related Books & Audiobooks