User:InfantGorilla/Comments:Australian Prime Minister accused of poor leadership on climate change

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Hi, my name is Matthew Tukaki and I am quite confused. I do not recall speaking to a journalist from the Australian on this subject, I am the former CEO of Drake (something noted in a press release on a business survey released as part of a media release) and I am the current CEO of SansGov. Can someone explain how a quote from me can be inserted into an article after it has been published?


I'm looking into this. The publication of the article was in error, and not a competent review.

For example, in the initially published version there are the following sources listed:

  1. AAP "Gillard pitches to both sexes" – The Australian, July 24, 2010
  2. James Massola "Julie Gillard accused of failure of leadership on climate change policy" – The Australia, July 23, 2010
  3. James Massola "Greens label Julia Gillard's climate policy rubbish and lacking in leadership" – The Australian, July 23, 2010
  4. Emma Rodgers "Gillard defends climate change 'gobfest'" – ABC online, July 23, 2010
  5. Tim Leslie "Climate panel a 'cynical delaying tactic'" – The ABC, July 23, 2010
  6. Phillip Hudson "Libs, Greens slam PM Julia Gillard over lack of leadership" – The Herald Sun, July 23, 2010
  7. Julian Drape "Gillard grilled as protester walks free" – The Sydney Morning Herald, July 23, 2010
  8. David Olsen "Julia Gillard’s climate change policy welcomed by business" – Dynamic Business, July 23, 2010 

The first, which I assume is the one you refer to, is not as-stated The Australian. If you check the link you will see it is actually the Sydney Morning Herald. It contains no mention of you.

The second, and this particular link[1], will likely enlighten you as to what is going on here.

Brian McNeil / talk22:20, 27 July 2010


Hi Brian, thanks for that - it is a little confusing because my team have also discovered that a quote I made in the article has ended up on a number of newswires, one of which ended up on http://www.crwenewswire.com/?p=66243 . I have asked them to correct it. Also, the reference has been made on several chat sites (notorious for political operatives spreading viral messages) - so this one concerned me as well, although I could not see the link.

Its not the first time someone has attempted to quote me on a wikipedia page if that is what has happened.

Thanks for looking into it. Matt

Tukakimatt (talk)23:17, 27 July 2010


Matt, unfortunately our comments system keeps publishing your IP address. Can you get in touch via email, and let me know more about instances where you might have been inappropriately quoted elsewhere on a wiki?

Brian McNeil / talk23:01, 27 July 2010


Hi Brian, I have just added an account. My email is matthew dot tukaki a-t sansgov d-o-t com .

The first instance occurred several years ago when I was involved in a legal challenge over business method patents. I was quoted as opposing the patent type which was completely incorrect and the company we were opposing used the quote. Thankfully for me, my comments were on the record thanks to Senator John Tierney who made note of them in a speech to the Australian Senate back in 2005, or thereabouts. I forget the actual wikipedia site, but it had something to do with patents.

More recently, after my election as Australia's Representative to the UNGC (United Nations Global Compact)a quote that was apparently attributed to me as opposing climate change science was pulled from a newswire after the publication checked the speech I gave at a UN conference in 2009 - i think the more public you become, the more you find people who misquote you, or not only take your words out of context, but completely re-invent them.

Finally, there are those who take those recreated quotes and send them our virally on sham articles.

Lets just say it is a lesson I am learning very quickly!

Tukakimatt (talk)23:17, 27 July 2010


A contributor to this article found a quote attributed to Matthew Tukaki as supporting Gillard's policy at a site called Dynamic Business:

   * http://www.dynamicbusiness.com.au/articles/articles-news/julia-gillard-climate-change-policy-1838.html 

That person added an excerpt from it to the draft Wikinews article while it was in development, and incorrectly described your affiliation with Drake.

Our article has now been blanked for reasons unrelated to your quote, but it won't be restored unless it is largely rewritten by a volunteer.

(Articles are developed and reviewed in public on this website, so other websites can quickly syndicate our errors as well as our successes. CRWE Newswire seems to indiscriminately collect content from across the web, including Wikinews, without attributing it.)

InfantGorilla (talk)23:39, 27 July 2010


Thanks both of you - it is good to see the quality of review well and truly underway on wiki

Tukakimatt (talk)23:54, 27 July 2010


CRWE have been taken to task over their syndication, but for different reasons. They genuinely took something that had been marked as published on Wikinews; people are supposed to be able to do that. This issue is a consequence of a failure to follow process here on Wikinews. The required cleanup following such failings is messy, I hope appropriate lessons are learned from this incident. And, again, apologise that you've been forced to have people chasing this round the Internet.

But, these problems did exist before web access was commonplace; think Marianne Faithful, and a certain brand of confectionery.

Brian McNeil / talk00:45, 28 July 2010