Deborah Coddington: Rankin's family affair is fair game for media

There's something unedifying about someone who courts the media to promote themselves then turns on journalists when things go sour. Witness La Rankin this past week.

On Monday she singled out Paul Holmes and Michael Laws as the only pearls among a media which had "stooped to new lows" and were "largely worthless".

Glaring at TVNZ's Janet McIntyre on Sunday, she ordered reporters at large to "stop being a gutter press".

Rankin's used the media for years, and good on her. It's no use fighting for causes if you're not prepared to be interviewed. She has appeared in various women's magazines sprawled among fluffy cushions, reinvented herself as a media coach and motivational speaker, done a stint as an agony aunt on How's Life? and glittered across Dancing With The Stars.

Finally, backed by wealthy Auckland men, she fronted For The Sake Of Our Children Trust, ironically formed to halt family break-ups.

I don't doubt Rankin's energy, her determination to raise awareness about abuse, or her genuine concern for children, but she seriously misjudged her ability to manipulate the media over her appointment to the Families Commission. As soon as she pontificated "little New Zealanders are best brought up with mum and dad", journalists were going to turn around and ask about her family background.

Years ago, while Rankin was crossing and uncrossing her lovely legs, journalists such as Janet McIntyre were working their butts off researching dreadful stories on child abuse.

McIntyre did stories on child murderer Michael Curran, and the brutal, fatal bashing of James Whakaruru. You go into these homes and feel sick as you realise that the kids cowering around the corners are just one blow away from a similar fate as the child at the centre of your story.

Does Rankin dump the Listener in the gutter? Does she remember Pamela Stirling's gut-wrenching story on Hinewaoriki Karaitiana-Matiaha, when the editor sat at the kitchen table interviewing the family, fearing for her own safety?

Rosemary McLeod, David McLoughlin, Lesley Max - not equal with Holmes and Laws?

This country has dozens of journalists who have contributed far more than Rankin to the battle against child abuse, but I doubt they'll hold their breath waiting for an apology. That's not Rankin's style.

If she is as politically incorrect as she claims, she would know it's often the Children and Young Persons Act - which dictates that children stay with mum and dad even when mum and dad are hitting them - that often results in their death.

Sometimes it's best for little New Zealanders to be brought up with mum and mum, or dad and dad, or a million miles away from anyone remotely related to poor little New Zealanders.

But then Rankin's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. She claims to be a "threat to the left" but I don't recall her bringing down the Labour Government.

As one observer remarked, when she gave evidence in her personal grievance case against the Government, counsel for the State Services Commission, Alan Galbraith QC, cross-examined her into a cocked hat in no time.

Rankin started the nastiness. She stood up and declared Helen Clark unfit to pass laws about bringing up children because she was childless. She called Cindy Kiro a waste of space.

But actually, it's her ignorant dismissal of others' ideas that makes her unsuited to the Families Commission. It has nothing to do with her marital status. Her own behaviour this past week has demonstrated she's totally unsuitable.

Why? This I know: when you've had several marriages, you hurt families. Some people hate you forever. They have every right to hate you, and at every chance they'll put the knife into you. They are not nasty, ugly, leftie people; they are grieving because of you. So you suck it up and you don't whinge. You are not a threat to them, and you are not courageous. It's just a price you pay.

At a time when many New Zealand families feel trampled on, when parents struggle to bring up their children, the Government has blown a chance to appoint a commissioner who could really help.

But the Children's Commissioner chair is still vacant. By Paula Bennett's standards, we'll probably get Sir Robert Jones - nine kids from four wives. Someone thrust a decent list under Key's nose. Here's a starter: Celia Lashlie, Lesley Max, Katherine Rich, Rev Hone Kaa, Dame Margaret Bazley, Nigel Latta or Rhonda Pritchard.