PREPOSTEROUS, PERVERTED OTAGO VICE-CHANCELLOR

 

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Far too flattering 

Preposterous. Perverted. Those are not the only words to describe ex-Finance Minister (feel free to insert your own pejorative) Grant Robertson's appointment as Vice Chancellor of Otago University. Some horrid, cynical conspiracy theorist theorised yesterday on Facebook that this sad man would monopolise the entire first segment of TvOne Spews last night. And the Marxist Mainstream Media proved the conspiracy theorist right. Again.

Otago alumni will be appalled. Taxpayers who will fund Robertson's Parliamentary pension and now his Vice-Chancellorship will be appalled. Kiwis who suffered, and still suffer, and will suffer from Robertson's Covid scam will be appalled. Universities are supposed to serve the truth, not lies and liars. This is a horrible blot on New Zealand's escutcheon.

But mostly it's Almighty God Who is offended - by Robertson's intrinsically disordered sexuality, by his 'husband' Alf, by his dalliance reported last year with cute boys in the Philippines which somehow completely escaped the attention of the Marxist Mainstream Media who know better than to bite the Labour hand that fed them.  

  

Vice Chancellor Grant Robertson? He's not Qualified & Does not Deserve the Job. What an Awful Message to Send Kiwi Students: NZ is not a Meritocracy!

Big Media are reporting that their mate, former Finance Minister Grant Robertson "will retire from Parliament next month as he becomes the vice-chancellor of his alma mater Otago University". 

What an outrage. Vice Chancellors are meant to be distinguished scholars. Meant to have a PhD. Meant to have had a lifetime of researching & teaching at the highest level. Our former Finance Minister has done none of those things.

 

It took me 15 years to train for my job at Auckland University. It is impossible for a guy like Robertson to have a clue about what it takes to publish an academic paper, teach a great course, or attract the interest of a major business or philanthropist in one's field, without having been through that 15-year learning process. Does Otago think it is an extension of the NZ Labour Party? That the academic ideal of a search for the truth doesn't matter? That education is so politicized it's best to have a politician running it?

 

Otago already became politicized when it got close to Labour via folks like Michael Baker supporting the Ardern-Hipkins-Robertson Covid elimination "strategy". Hang on. Robertson has said in a Press Conference he is qualified because he "had once been a student at Otago". It's a national embarrassment.

What is this game of former members of parliament getting jobs they are not qualified for? What kind of message does it send our young people studying hard at school and in tertiary institutions? It doesn't matter how much you study or how smart you are? Better to become a politician if you want the top job at a University paying $500,000? Research is a waste of time?

 

It's who you know, not what you know if you want status and to earn big bucks? If you know people in Wellington then people will employ you hoping you can use your networks there for them? We're no longer a meritocracy? The University of Otago Council should resign. The whole lot of them.

By the way, here is a small part of the CV of the Vice Chancellor of Melbourne University, the main competitor of places like Otago and Auckland in our region of the world:

 

Professor Duncan Maskell

Professor Maskell holds a Master of Arts and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Cambridge. He is a research specialist in infectious diseases. Professor Maskell’s career also includes the University of Oxford, Imperial College London and Wellcome Biotech. In addition to academic & university leadership roles, Professor Maskell has enjoyed an active entrepreneurial career, co-founding four biotech companies among his accomplishments, including Arrow Therapeutics, which sold to biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, and Discuva, which sold to Summit Therapeutics.

 

Why should your children go and study at Otago University any more - wouldn't they be better off going to Melbourne or Sydney where the Vice Chancellors actually have experience in research, teaching and academic leadership?

 

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• MIKE'S MINUTE: THE RECORD ON GRANT ROBERTSON

Mike's Minute: The record on Grant Robertson

• ON AIR
• MIKE HOSKING BREAKFAST
• OPINION

Author

Mike Hosking,

Publish Date

Wed, 21 Feb 2024, 11:09AM

There are several questions you can ask about Grant Robertson bailing now. 

1) Why not on the night, or shortly afterwards? 

He seemed to give some indication post-election he would hang around for a while to see how things were travelling. 

But the clue was there last year when he pretended that you couldn’t be a Finance Minister and an electorate MP at the same time, despite having been a Finance Minister and an electorate MP at the same time. 

I've watched him this year at question time. He has fired a couple of probing inquiries to Nicola Willis but the gusto, the wit, the energy, and the joie de vivre is well and truly gone. 

In fact, the air has gone out of the tyres of the whole party. They look flat, bored, bewildered and with eight press releases so far and a poll that has Chris Hipkins dropping 10% in preferred Prime Minister. 

Some of which is to be expected. They got hammered, they got rejected, and they got a message over an approach to life I suspect came as a genuine shock to some of the more idealistic of them. 

2) Who wrecked the economy the most? Muldoon or Robertson? 

As much as National are playing to the crowd over what they have been left with, it's actually real. In some cases, it's dangerous. 

This country is in a number of fiscal areas in a shocking state and that is on the former Finance Minister. 

His co-conspirator, Ms Ardern, you will note is long gone, never to be questioned again. So, in that respect I suppose you could say he deserves an element of credit for hanging around the place to watch the outworkings of the vote. 

But politicians are measured in legacy and records. 

The ultimate aim is to leave the place better off than when you found it. The reality for Grant Robertson is so far from that it is tragic. 

He will defend at least some of it because some of it is ideological. But whether it's pipes, trains, ferries or debt welfare the numbers don’t lie and the numbers are desperate. 

He softened it with his wit, humour, and personality. As I have said many times, I always liked him, and I enjoyed talking to him. 

But let the record show the Grant Robertson era was as ruinous as any you will ever see. 

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Our Worst Finance Minister Ever Grant Robertson (the one who created the cost-of-living crisis) wrote on his Facebook Page that "Chippy (Labour Leader Chris Hipkins) is my mate first and foremost. I worked out the other day I have known him for nearly 25 years. I was best man at his wedding".

"Worked out"??? How long did it take him? Well, it involved digits ... Small wonder that Robertson was our worst finance minister ever. 

And what do mates do for one another? Here's what: the government appoints four members to Otago University's Council, which in turn chooses the Vice Chancellor. On 23 December 2021, then Labour Education Minister Chris "Chippy" Hipkins appointed former Labour Party Cabinet Minister, Clare Curran, to the University of Otago Council. Yesterday, on 20 February 2024, it was announced Chippy's mate, Grant Robertson, had been chosen by that same Council to be the next Vice Chancellor (VC), on a salary of $629,000 - Otago's first ever non-academic VC in its 155 year history.

Few Vice Chancellors in the world come from non-academic backgrounds - NZ has selected several in the past, including the VC of Waikato, former UK Labour Party politician, Bryan Gould, who once ran for the Leadership of that party (he was brought up in NZ), and Steve Maharey, a former Labour Party Minister who was VC of Massey. Seems they're all part of the Labour Party Extended Families Association which gets "mates rates" - which in Labour's case means higher, not lower, rates paid by you, the tax-payer, to fund their own.

Politics is about the pursuit of power; business the pursuit of money; universities the pursuit of truth. It's a shame Otago University, with its proud history, has rejected the truth in favor of power and money.

 

There should be a judicial enquiry into this scandalous use of public funds to support a retiring politician who doesn't have the energy to go on in politics (in his own words, "doesn't have much left"), but is taking a job that requires far more energy than being an Opposition MP, at least to do it properly. Let's wish him a happy semi-retirement (as Vice Chancellor).https://www.downtoearth.kiwi/post/keeping-our-education-system-and-universities-in-the-labour-party-family?fbclid=IwAR376Z0ECvMVsh0_dgk5E2dX79cQiOhuNK-n-cwnvABsYbXHdaYUQA73h28

 

Marc Spring uncovered the story below in June 2023. He concluded by hoping Grant Robertson MP would not be offered a knighthood. That was before Robertson did the deals with Otago. But even if he'd had some foreknowledge, would it ever have occurred to Spring that such an ignoramus as Robertson could be granted a Vice-Chancellorship?

The Official Information Request (OIA) Does Not Lie

For the record, Yung & Hung is NOT an accountancy firm in the Philippines. We have checked.

 

Attached to this story is 3 pieces of information.

 

1, The OIA reply from Grant Robertsons office.

 

 

So just what is “Cute boys of the Philippines?”

 

Well that is simple, its an Instagram account with risqué pics of what appears to be young boys. Now before you go silly, the age of those kids in the images has not been verified, but to an average person they appear to be rather young. 

 

Clearly it raises some questions about what the Finance Minister of NZ, Grant Robertson, is viewing in his spare time, or even more concerning, while conducting business on behalf of the NZ taxpayers. 

 

The MSM in NZ have chosen to ignore this story, but yet they with glee report on other similar stories. So surely if our main stream media was reporting in a fair, and balanced manner, then this story should have been news.

 

But, as we know since this current Labour government pumped plenty of tax payers cash into the failing NZ media entities to spread the Covid message, payers cash into the failing NZ media entities to spread the Covid message, they seem to have also purchased some silence, and bought favour. The response letter from Grant Robertson is interesting, and concerning – Robertson says the Instagram account is not held in his ‘Ministerial’ capacity, so therefore its not subject to the Official Information Act 1982. So what we know is that is his personal account. WOW. 

 

Yet, when you check out the Instagram account ‘bio’ of grantrobertsonmp you can that its authorised by Rob Salmond, 187 Featherston Street, WGTN, with a further address of 220 Wilis Street, Wellington, New Zealand.

 

So why is Rob Salmond authorising a private account? 

 

A quick check of Grant Robertson’s instagram account shows he deleted the ‘cute boys of Philippines’ page. 

 

What we know is that Robertson has since deleted following that particular page, but that does (not) excuse the fact he was looking, nor has he given a plausible answer as to why he was. 

 

This site thought that the reply would be to blame a staffer who has access to his Instagram, but that has not happened either. 

 

Perhaps thats why Robertson is not standing in an electorate, he’s happy to be way down the list. 

 

Let’s hope Grant Robertson MP is not offered a Knighthood. https://marcspring.com/index.php/2023/06/07/grant-robertson-and-his-instagram/

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhf-cQuGz7E


"We beseech Thee, O Lord, enlighten our minds with the light of Thy glory, that we may recognise our duties and have the strength to do what is right."

-Collect, Ember Wednesday