Child killings
The three-page spread in the New Zealand Herald on Nia Glassie (November 19) is an indictment of a systemic failure rooted in the restructuring of our institutions of state in the 1980s, specifically the abolition of the Department of Maori Affairs in 1987. The whakapapa of the Department of Native Affairs linked it to the massive land-purchasing policies of Donald McLean in the 19th century. In the second half of the 20th century, when little land remained, the Department of Maori Affairs turned to delivering social programmes in welfare, housing, education, health and economic development to Maori to justify its existence.
Maori welfare officers visited neo-urban Maori communities in hotspots such as Otara, Mangere, Porirua and Te Atatu. They liaised with Maori committees, Maori wardens and the Maori Women’s Welfare League to ensure families struggling to survive were supported and helped with budgeting advice and the care of children.
The objective was to have one Maori warden for each block of a suburb. The wardens got to know the families and brought those in trouble to the attention of the Maori committees, or the Maori Women’s Welfare League. The system worked well until Maori Affairs was abolished and Maori were expected to be serviced by mainstream departments. It is no accident that we have seen the rise of child abuse and the killing of innocents in the past two decades.
Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples came of age under the system described above. For this reason, their appointment by John Key to deal with social problems besetting struggling families is an inspired one.
Ranginui Walker
(Mt Eden, Auckland)
Recidivist criminals
I refer to Joanne Black’s “A living nightmare” (November 15). We allowed Peter Howse to accrue around 80 convictions before he was properly dealt with. The question has to be asked: recidivist criminals have chosen to give the two-fingered salute to society, so why are we so determined to give them a fair go? I believe a combination of cowardice and misplaced religious guilt has led to the point where by giving recidivist criminals repeated chances, we seem more concerned about their possible Saul-like redemption than we are about the shattered lives and suffering of their victims.
At-risk people and first-time criminal offenders must be given the full benefit of the mentoring and life-skills schemes that struggle to get funding at present. Experience has shown that most people’s lives are turned around by these programmes and very few go on to commit criminal acts against others.
The very few individuals who still choose to commit criminal acts against others should be kept away from society until they actively seek help to change their destructive behaviour. How much of their lives they wasted would be entirely their choice. When help has been sought, every possible resource should be made available, with particular emphasis on life skills and job training. Working towards compensating victims should play an integral role in the offenders and victims recovery.
A finite prison sentence without the requirement for behaviour change and compensation for the victims fails the offender and completely disrespects the vast majority of people who choose to live a life free of crime.
David W Palmer
(Reikorangi, Waikanae)
(The Parole Board declined to release Peter Howse after a hearing on November 11 – Editor.)
Fixing MMP
Jane Clifton’s perspective of MMP following the election highlights several of its inconsistencies – changes need to be made because it is hardly fair and democratic in its present format (“Need for speed”, November 22). The 5% barrier is a real hurdle for any small party trying to get established. If it was set at just 1%, it would not only remove the advantage one small party has over another by winning an electorate seat but would help ensure the survival of some of these parties.
Currently, due to funding limitations, there is very little likelihood of any of the minor parties growing in size and stature and threatening the dominance of either Labour or National.
To remove many of the anomalies of our MMP system, we should consider abolishing the electorate seats and allowing just a single vote for a party. Representation on a geographical basis has no real advantage for any population in a small multicultural country like ours other than to encourage pork-barrel politics. The duties formerly performed by an electorate MP would be shared and this would give all members equal status in the eyes of the public.
David Boskett
(Stanmore Bay, Whangaparaoa)
The new netball
The main thrust of Barrie Gordon’s diatribe against netball appears to be that it is not aggressive enough (“The feminine mistake?”, November 29). I assume that he will be satisfied when there are as many fist fights on the netball court as there are on the rugby field.
John Northcott
(Warkworth)
Take my advice
I was greatly impressed by Ted Clarke’s lifelong lecture to his son (“Take my advice”, November 22). The sentiments expressed succinctly summarise the problems besetting much of the world. The cult of consumerism overwhelms us. We no longer recognise the difference between need and want. We continue to plunder the world’s irreplaceable natural resources with contemptuous disregard for the long-term consequences. Corporate greed and ruthless exploitation of the public at large are widespread and commonly regarded as normal and acceptable.
Sooner or later the world will be called to account. Self-correcting mechanisms (whether by natural or man-made disasters) will come into play and reduce the world’s population to, say, one or two billion: then we can start all over again.
Jerome O’Malley
(Blenheim)
Other scandals
In his review of Daddy Was a German Spy and Other Scandals, David Cohen chides me for not getting the facts of my own life right (“Daddy dearest”, November 29). He refers to a passage in the book where I recall a conversation I had during a trip home in 1982 with “Froggy” McIlroy, a teacher from my old primary school in Dunmurry. In the course of the conversation I tell Froggy all the different things I’ve done since leaving Northern Ireland, including having worked as “a media adviser to a couple of Labour prime ministers”.
Cohen writes: “But in 1982 surely he was still some years away from coaching his two most famous political clients, David Lange and Helen Clark? Edwards should have known better than to strike such inauthentic notes in this account of family matters.”
The two prime ministers referred to were in fact Norman Kirk and Bill Rowling, both of whom were clients of Peter Debreceny’s PR company, Media Consultants, where I was employed as a media adviser after the 1972 election. In that capacity I gave advice – generally not taken – to Kirk and, before and after Kirk’s tragic death, to Bill Rowling. This was certainly not on the scale of my later involvement with Lange or Clark. But it did happen.
If I may mangle my metaphors, the trouble with getting on your high horse when you haven’t a leg to stand on is that you’re bound to come a cropper.
Brian Edwards
(Auckland)
