Category: Social Issues
It is disappointing that two government initiatives announced over the last week aimed at reducing New Zealand’s appalling rate of child abuse, appear more focussed on criminalising law-abiding citizens than changing those government policies that are at the heart of the child abuse crisis. The first is a change to the Crimes Act, being promoted by the Minister of Justice Simon Power, that will criminalise people associated with families with at-risk children if they don’t report their concerns to authorities.[1] The second is a longer term Green Paper project, led by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett, that will look at the introduction of 'mandatory reporting', whereby teachers, doctors, and other professionals associated with children will be criminalised if they fail to alert authorities to suspected ill-treatment.[2]
Highly sexist, intellectually eclectic, and champion of numerous public health campaigns, the founder of Plunket, Sir Frederic Truby King is a difficult customer for the modern mind to understand. But some coherence can be brought to bear to King’s mercurial career when seen in the light of the influence of the British libertarian philosopher, Herbert Spencer.
With the general election now less than 12 months away it is time to reflect on whether the National Government has lived up to expectations in the first two years of its term.
In the late 19th century, New Zealand gained a reputation as the ‘social laboratory of the world’. This was largely as a result of our adoption in 1898 of a pay-as-you-go pension scheme, which was in sharp contrast to the insurance-based contributory scheme introduced almost a decade earlier by the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.
One of the most volatile pieces of law in our society is up for review again. The public has till 29th of October to make submissions on the review of child support led by Revenue Minister Peter Dunne.
The rescue of the 33 Chilean miners, trapped half a mile underground for almost ten weeks, has been a remarkable story of human innovation and progress. In another age, they would have all died. But technology and international cooperation banded together to create an inspirational feat of recovery, which some have called a ‘smashing victory for free-market capitalism’.[1]
Last month an estimated 280,000 students and their parents were badly disrupted by the strike action of members of the Post Primary Teachers' Union. Some 16,000 teachers went on strike, affecting 450 intermediate and secondary schools. The protest was part of a planned programme of industrial action being taken by the PPTA over stalled pay negotiations with the Ministry of Education. Eight rolling strikes are scheduled between now and Christmas as well as further action next year. In addition, teachers have been told to refuse to attend all meeting after 5pm, including staff meetings, parent interviews, and student tutorials.
History tells us that when a government takes on a trade union, there can be only one outcome. In 1912, William Massey’s government famously crushed a strike by Waihi gold miners. The following year, the same administration recruited special mounted constables from rural areas – dubbed “Massey’s Cossacks” because of their riding skills – to subdue striking waterfront workers.
According to Saturday’s Herald, the co-leader of the Maori Party, Pita Sharples, is trying to save a Black Power gang house from being demolished by the city council because it caters for the spiritual and cultural needs of Maori. He claimed that the Mt Wellington property - which had been the Black Power headquarters and hub of a $1.5 million cannabis ring before being seized and sold under the Proceeds of Crime Act – was sometimes used as a marae.[1]
What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?
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