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NZCPR CAMPAIGNS
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Dr Muriel Newman
Child abuse is never far from the headlines in New Zealand. We like to think of ourselves as a great country in which to live, work and raise our families. While that is true for the vast majority of New Zealanders, for a vulnerable minority of children living in violent families, life falls well short of these ideals.
There is an old saying that ‘the price of freedom is eternal vigilance’. In a democratic society like New Zealand, that means being on constant guard against those who seek control through unelected power. Right now Iwi Leaders are demanding the ownership and control of New Zealand’s freshwater. That is their new agenda.
The slowing of the economy and the falling of business and consumer confidence, are of concern to all New Zealanders. So let’s look at what is driving these changes, and what can or should be done to restore confidence and growth.
Should fact be the only issue that drives public policy? That is a question that is no doubt being asked by the 24,000 coastal residents in Christchurch whose properties have been designated by their Council as being at risk of sea level inundation because of global warming.
No matter what structural changes to the child protection agency are introduced, nor what new processes are brought in, the problems of abused and damaged children will continue until the government stops paying women who are not in loving and stable relationships to have babies.
Judicial activism is indeed a serious problem in New Zealand. In 2003, the Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias caused a constitutional crisis by overturning the established common law principle of Crown ownership of the foreshore and seabed through a Supreme Court ruling that some customary title may still exist and that the Maori Land Court had the jurisdiction to determine such cases.
Last Thursday, the legislation clearing the way for the referenda on changing New Zealand’s flag was passed by Parliament. The government has adopted a non-partisan approach to the flag consideration project, by involving a cross-party committee of MPs, who helped refine Cabinet’s initial proposals for the new law.
The Department of Corrections has been headlining the news recently, but for all the wrong reasons. A high risk sex offender on an ‘Extended Supervision Order’ committed “bestial” rape and murder...
While David Cameron has high aspirations for a united Britain, things are very different in New Zealand. Here, successive Prime Ministers have turned their backs on equality under the law, focussing instead on appeasement policies that divide our country along racial lines.
Last week Local Government New Zealand held its annual conference in Rotorua. The organisation represents the country's 78 local authorities - 11 regional councils, 6 unitary councils, 11 city councils, and 50 district councils.
