Monthly Archives: Oct 2016

Paul Henry must go

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For decades Paul Henry has been a broadcaster on New Zealand television and radio. He has worked for numerous broadcasters. He has become one of the most recognisable names in New Zealand broadcasting. Unfortunately, because of his (mis)conduct, he is quickly becoming the most divisive.

Paul Henry has an unacceptably long record of improper conduct that besmirches his very public position as a broadcaster. After the latest one, his claims that he never intended to offend anyone are ringing hollow. Singer Lizzie Marvelly had been invited to appear on a forum. She backed out, citing his comments. When one looks back at the litany of gaffes he has made – and his apparent inability to learn from them – one wonders how much longer he can continue. Some of the highlights are below – the full list is a bit too long for this article, and one gets a general idea of their nature anyway:

  1. When former Governor General Anand Satyanand was in office, Mr Henry had an interview with Prime Minister John Key. During the interview Mr Henry asked Mr Key, whom he gets along well with, whether Mr Key was going appoint a Governor General who sounds like and is a New Zealander.
  2. In a broadcast colleague Alison Mau alluded to a Santa themed bikini piece she was wearing under other clothing. Mr Henry asked Ms Mau if she would expose more of the “Santakini”. Ms Mau said no. However Mr Henry persisted by asking children around her if they would like to see the garment in question.
  3. In a television interview, Mr Henry embarked on a piece of unfortunate word play with the surname of the interviewee, Sheila Dikshit. However when Mr Henry introduced her he pronounced it as “Dik-shit”. That in itself was not necessarily offensive as he could have mispronounced the syllables. However he then chose to embark on a bit of word play, in which he quite deliberately commented on her name and played with the syllables in it.
  4. Shortly before former T.V.3. presenter Hilary Barry quit her job at that channel, there was another unfortunate live incident in which he publicly commented on Ms Barry’s breasts. There is never any justification for such commentary ever. A broadcaster who had been in the industry as long as Mr Henry has been would know this full well. This is nothing other than sexual harassment.
  5. Now Mr Henry has committed another offensive act. Just like the Hilary Barry incident, it involved comments about women’s breasts, during an interview. This shows he either cannot or will not learn from his past. Again it is nothing other than sexual harassment – an offence that any lesser person would have been sacked forthwith for committing.

That he has not been subject to serious misconduct proceedings by his employers, is nothing short of incredible. The time for excuses is over. The time for Mr Henry to face the consequences is here. Paul Henry is not fit to continue broadcasting. He has had his chances. He has blown every one of them. Paul Henry must go.

Dodgy methamphetamine tests leave 558 houses empty

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Around New Zealand there are a number of empty rental houses. Some of them are empty because they are not fit to be occupied. Others are undergoing renovations or maintenance of some description.

However there are also 558 houses, which were tested for methamphetamine only to possibly have the testing done improperly according to Labour Housing Spokesperson Phil Twyford. This is a number of houses New Zealand cannot afford to have standing idle whilst waiting for it to be determined whether or not the proper test procedures were carried out. If one were to assume all of the houses that were improperly tested were found to been used as a meth cook house or have had methamphetamine users living in them, testing them alone by a qualified person could have substantial costs involved.

The cost of cleaning up a house with methamphetamine contamination will vary from one house to the next, depending on the duration it was used as such. An extensively affected house may cost tens of thousands of dollars. The effects might not be limited to the physical house itself either, with possible contamination of the grounds of the property as well. The cost of not cleaning up the methamphetamine is even higher. It poses a significant environmental and health threat not just to anyone who occupies the contaminated property, but also their immediate neighbours. Meth labs are highly toxic, and at great risk of having explosions or chemicals used in meth production catching fire on exposure to air or water.

Privately owned properties are one thing, but properties owned by the Government whose maintenance is funded by taxpayers is something else. Mr Twyford wants Minister of Social Development Paula Bennett to account for the $22 million that has allegedly been wasted by her Ministry, against Ministry of Health advice as well as that of scientists. Ms Bennett should also demand accountability from Housing New Zealand and give assurances to any people that have been wrongfully evicted from their rental homes that they will be appropriately rehoused as quickly as possible. Failing that she is perhaps not fit to be a Minister of the Crown.

Where possible the cost of the methamphetamine clean up of properties should be funded by bad money that has been taken in police methamphetamine operations. The Ministry of Health and Housing New Zealand should cover the rest if the properties in question are state owned.

Ross Sea protection long overdue

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It is not often that political news regarding the environment brings a grin to my face. However,  at the moment I am happy in the knowledge that a plan to make the Ross Sea a marine reserve is becoming reality, as a result of an agreement between New Zealand and the United States. After years of negotiations the 25 nations that control Antarctica’s fate, including New Zealand, have reached an agreement to turn a 1.6 million km² area into a marine reserve.

However many challenges still remain to be dealt with. The most important ones are:

  1. Enforcing the zone – will it be a joint operation by the nations that agreed to establish it, or will a few nations do most of the work?
  2. Will there be a clause that enables expansion of the reserve
  3. What happens to nations that are caught in breach of the marine reserve
  4. Is the range of marine life – both birds and mammals – that is to be granted protection diverse enough to ensure that the Ross Sea ecosystem is okay
  5. Correlating gas data with known marine currents to see how the Ross Sea ecosystem is performing

The negotiations have not always gone well. In past years, Russia and Ukraine have challenged the New Zealand/American initiative by refusing to support the reserve. Japan, a country well known for its whaling has often put up stubborn resistance to measures that would impede its ability to continue “whaling for scientific purposes”. China, whose vast and rapidly growing population have a huge ecological footprint, caused by decades of spectacular economic growth faces a challenge meeting near insatiable demand for fish.

It is perhaps also important for the U.S. to finish this agreement before the United States Presidential Election on 8 November – neither Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton have said anything about the sustainability of the worlds oceans. This is despite them being significant carbon sinks, whose whale population can take up 2 million tons and significant concern about the destructive effects of acidification.

But for now, let us celebrate the announcement of the Ross Sea Marine Reserve. It is a substantial victory for the seas and everything that live in them.

Exploitation of foreign workers must stop

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Too often we are hearing about non-New Zealanders finding only after being subject to mistreatment that they have employment rights and that there are penalties for the employer if they fail to abide. The most common complaint is underpayment of wages, but other issues such as hours worked and being allowed to take statutory holidays are also common.

The Opposition say that the Government is not taking the issue seriously. More over it is deliberately allowing large numbers of foreign students into the country and then ignoring the deliberate underpayment of them, when they try to find work to sustain themselves here. It is failing to properly check the validity of their visas and a number of scammers are at work knowing there are loopholes which are not being closed, according to New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters.

Many of the people being short changed are from India and and were unaware of their rights before arriving. Their visa agent failed to inform them of their rights and responsibilities, and in some cases may have taken the fee and bolted. And – for those who are lucky enough to get here – when they arrived in New Zealand and found work, their employer failed to do due diligence and ensure their new employee/s know how they should be treated. Others are from China and because of corrupted practices in their country, expectations about what to expect in New Zealand with regards to employment law are lower. None of them are likely to be aware that there are methods of redress that can be taken.

Prime Minister John Key is currently in India negotiating a Free Trade Agreement. Among the issues he should have raised are the scammers at work who issue fraudulent visas. Mr Key should have also told his Indian counter part Narendra Modi that New Zealand will clamp down on the issuing of fraudulent visas. In New Zealand he should be announcing a plan to to require all parties issuing visas to be registered with Immigration New Zealand and have a certificate of compliance that gets renewed annually. New Zealand is better than what I have described above. New Zealanders do not treat people like that – we should know and act better.

Mens mental health: More than a once annual talk fest

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It happens once a year. And then its forgotten again, almost completely, until a year later it is time to raise the issue again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

But the very successful hiding of men’s mental health is not something we should be repeating every year at all. On the contrary it is one issue that needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into the spotlight, and then somehow pinned there until such a time comes when men’s mental health issues are not a problem any more.

But what is it going to take for this issue to be plonked in front of the examiner and made to answer for the appalling state of mental health among New Zealand males? Will we have to march on Parliament in huge numbers demanding a Royal Commission of Inquiry? Will there be mass letter writing campaigns that dump huge amounts of correspondence on the desk of the Minister for Health until he acts?

You see, this is a problem that is costing New Zealand horrendously. But few people want to know about this. And many then say “why can’t men just harden up?” – when we would not expect females to harden up over equivalent issues. And politicians seem to be deaf mute to the whole sorry issue – they must be, because if they were tripping over themselves to act, there would have been an inquiry of some sort by now and the recommendations would be well on the way to being implemented.

So, what are these problems that cause men’s mental health to decline in the first place? It could be many things. It could be schizophrenia or bipolar disorder affecting him at the workplace and making him believe that everyone there is evil or out to get him. Maybe there are family issues at work, like a custody battle that he is losing or a marriage that has hit the rocks. Or even a combination thereof.

We hear of women suffering post natal depression and it seems to be accepted that it is natural. They open up and tell us about it. Sometimes it requires admission to hospital or to a specialized clinic, but no one seems to have a problem with her getting the help.

Sometimes the causes are not something that anyone can control such as a major natural disaster with knock on effects on households and relationships. In post-earthquake Christchurch a spike in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder cases are coming through. Whilst these have been in children who might have been traumatized by seeing someone die or the nature of the shaking, it has also appeared in adults. The cases have prompted an increase in funding for the Canterbury District Health Board to deal with the spike.

But what about crises like being the owner of a farm in strife? The farm is ravaged by drought with tens of thousands of dollars worth of live stock that need feeding, little or no rain has fallen or is expected and you are still expected to pay living costs and expenses? It might horrify people to know that farmers are among the most vulnerable in the community because many of them are isolated and do not necessarily want people to know how dire their situation is.

So, lets have those conversations with our men folk. Lets stop denying this is a problem and address the issues around it. The socio-economic gain from the pain of tackling the problem will be well worth the effort.