Sue Grey - Arsehole of the Week

There really isn’t any nice way to say this, but Sue Grey is a despicable and loathsome person. Not only has she been promoting disinformation about vaccines in order to promote her own lawyers practice, the discredited anti-vaxxer is now at the centre of a controversy whereby she encouraged the parents of a sick baby to delay his life saving operation.

Of course someone who is permanently down the rabbit hole isn’t going to believe what the doctors or science says, which is that blood from vaccinated donors isn’t harmful and won’t vaccinate recipients. Instead, Grey is going to use misinformation to convince a couple of vulnerable parents to put the life of their sick baby in danger to further her own goals.

On Thursday, the BBC reported:

New Zealand places child in anti-vax blood case in custody

A New Zealand court has ordered a child at the centre of a case over blood transfusions from donors vaccinated against Covid-19 be taken into temporary custody by health officials.

The four-month-old boy is in a hospital in Auckland awaiting urgent treatment to correct a heart disorder.

His parents had blocked the operation and sought a court ruling that he receive blood from unvaccinated donors.

But the High Court ruled the operation was in the child's "best interest".

 

Grey and her accomplices went to extraordinary lengths to try and prevent this life saving surgery…an operation that has thankfully now gone ahead and been successful because of Court and Police intervention.

Justice Gault also rejected a request from the parents' lawyer, Sue Grey, that a tailored donor service with blood from exclusively unvaccinated donors be established.

Ms Grey said the long-term effects of the vaccine were "untested" and accused doctors of refusing to provide an alternate donor service for ideological reasons.

So Sue Grey wanted the state to establish an alternative blood donation system for the unvaccinated, which would have taken considerable time and resources to get off the ground.

Meanwhile the babies life was being put in danger because of her entirely unfounded and ideologically driven fears. It's no wonder Grey's political “career” with the failed New Zealand Outdoors Party has been such a disaster!

But lawyers for the state blood service said the establishment of any direct donor service would have been a "slippery slope" and would "damage an excellent blood service".

Citing evidence from New Zealand's chief medical officer, Justice Gault ruled that there was "no scientific evidence there is any Covid-19 vaccine-related risk from blood donated" by vaccinated donors.

The case has become a vector for anti-vaccine activists in New Zealand with demonstrators - many of whom carried placards - gathering outside the court before the ruling was delivered on Wednesday.

The idiot anti-vaccine activists might be annoying, but what really pisses me off about all this is that Grey will likely retain her lawyers status, even though a complaint about similar misconduct was lodged over a year ago.


On Friday, RNZ reported:

Complaint lodged against lawyer and anti-vaccination campaigner Sue Grey 18 months ago unresolved

In May last year Jacinta, whose surname RNZ agreed not to use, lodged a complaint about disinformation being spread or hosted on Grey’s social media site.

Jacinta told Checkpoint it was irresponsible of Grey to promote her controversial views while acting as a lawyer.

…

Law professor at the University of Auckland, Mark Henaghan, told Checkpoint he believed proving Grey had acted unethically was not straightforward.

Henaghan said there was a difference between misconduct and misinformation.

He said a misconduct complaint would require the person to be aware that what they were saying was untrue.

“Misconduct is defined as... conduct that reasonable lawyers would think is either disgraceful or dishonourable, or it’s a wilful and reckless contravention of the rules,” he said.

If this more recent unethical behaviour isn’t considered misconduct, I don’t know what would be?

Clearly Grey has stepped over the bounds of common sense and decency here by convincing two vulnerable parents that blood from vaccinated donors is unsafe, which is entirely untrue. Grey would know that her argument is untrue, but is continuing to promote falsehoods because of the attention she receives. And Grey is receiving a lot of attention, with all the mainstream right wing media working hard to promote her argument as somehow being valid.

Despite the MSM trying to resurrect Grey’s profile, she has clearly breached the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act by actively encouraging these vulnerable parents to stop a surgery that was required to save their babies life. She failed to declare her glaringly obvious conflict of interest for starters; a conflict of interest that should preclude her from taking on any cases whereby vaccination is a part of proceedings.

Unless lawyers and their associates want their profession to have a bad name, they really need to ensure that arseholes like Sue Grey are permanently disbarred. But unfortunately the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal hardly ever strikes off wayward lawyers for their misconduct, mainly because it’s an organisation set up to protect lawyers. Let’s hope they make an exception in this case.

Young people must be allowed to vote

Let me just start out by saying that young people must be allowed to vote. Not because they are more enlightened than previous generations, but because the earlier people become voters, the more likely they will continue to participate in democracy.

We have a serious problem in New Zealand with low voter turnout. Many believe that there’s simply no point in voting, because politicians will always look after their own vested interests first. However when enough people vote for progressive change, then the status quo must change as well.

Today, the BBC reported:

 

New Zealand Supreme Court rules voting age of 18 is discriminatory

New Zealand's Supreme Court has ruled that the country's current voting age of 18 is discriminatory, meaning parliament must discuss whether it should be lowered.

The case was brought by campaign group Make It 16, which wants the voting age reduced to include 16 and 17 year olds.

There is no doubt that young people have the most to lose when it comes to governments dragging their feet over their ineffectual environmental policy. The same can be said for social policy, whereby both National and Labour are happy to tinker around the edges while Rome effectively burns.

Following the ruling, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she personally supported reducing the voting age to 16, but added that "it is not a matter simply for me or even the government, any change in electoral law of this nature requires 75% of parliamentarian support".

Not all parties support the lowering of the voting age.

The centre-right National party opposes the move, while the Labour party is yet to state whether it would support a change in voting age or not.

Of course the opposition are opposing any changes. They are after all playing to their core supporters, namely old rich people who are stuck in their deluded ways. Clearly National and ACT are ageist parties hell bent on repressing the young, particularly when we’re talking about young people from ethnic minorities.

In fact the news that the Supreme Court supported young people’s voting rights couldn’t have come at a worse time for National Party leader, Christopher Luxon. After proposing failed boot camps as a solution to ram raids, Luxon then got on another decrepit high horse to blame parents for their children not attending school.

 

Yesterday, Newshub reported:

Christopher Luxon takes aim at parents, 'culture of excuses' for truancy crisis, but Jacinda Ardern fires back

Luxon's pointing the finger at parents and has no time for excuses.

"You chose to have these kids, you have to wake up at 7am, get your kids to school at 8am," he said.

"You have now got subsidised free lunches, free breakfasts, subsidised period products, subsidised school uniforms.

"There is no excuses. What we have in New Zealand is a culture of excuses."

Last week, Luxon put principals on notice.

He told AM: "There is a mixed standard of leadership across our schools and across our principals that actually means they're not focussing as strongly on getting kids to school as they can."

Talk about a vote loser. While Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern sides with teachers, parents and young people, Luxon is doing all he can to alienate entire sectors of the communities we live in. Young people aren’t the boggy men that the National Party needs to divide and conquer. Instead they will be a catalyst for change to ensure humanities survival.

The sooner our politicians realise this and vote accordingly to give young people democratic parity the better.

Wayne Brown - Arsehole of the Week

You’ve got to wonder at the mental capacity of Auckland Mayoral candidate, Wayne Brown, after he was exposed airing his childish grievances about senior NZ Herald reporter, Simon Wilson. I mean what exactly makes Mr Brown think that such disgusting comments are warranted, let alone to Newshub reporters who are duty bound to expose the arrogant narcissist for what he truly is?

Yesterday, Newshub reported:

Auckland Mayoral candidate Wayne Brown caught on camera saying he wants to glue pictures of journalist on urinals so people can 'pee on him'

Auckland Mayoral candidate Wayne Brown has been caught on camera calling a NZ Herald journalist a "prick", saying he was going to glue "little pictures of him on all the urinals" so people could "pee on him" if elected.

Brown made the comments while Newshub was filming with him this week and were played during Newshub Nation's Auckland Mayoral debate on Saturday.

His comments were directed at NZ Herald journalist Simon Wilson.

When asked about the comments during the debate, Brown told host Rebecca Wright: "I didn't mean to say it and I certainly didn't mean to do it in a way that would become public... and I'm sure he's said a few things about me that he probably didn't want to have public either."

The comments were made while Brown was being filmed as part of an interview with a Newshub journalist and he was wearing a microphone at the time.

The really sad thing here is that Brown’s egregious comments aren’t going to automatically disqualify him from being a mayoral candidate. That’s the unfortunate nature of politics in New Zealand…that you only need to be a wealthy white guy to gain a large chunk of unwarranted and unearned support from a largely self-centered electorate.

However Brown’s advisors, Matthew Hooton and National Party aligned strategist Tim Hurdle, must be rolling in their ideological graves right now. With another campaign disaster on his hands, Hooton in particularly is getting a name for himself as the man without the Midas touch. In fact the only good campaign move Hooton has ever made was to resign from Judith Collins’ clutches.

The right wing obviously has a serious problem with online campaigning, which seems highly adept at exposing their inanity and defunct belief systems. However the power of the Internet is somewhat limited when we’re talking about a NewstalkZB listening voter base that prefers to reside in privileged ignorance!

There’s no doubt that right wing supporters will dismiss Brown’s juvenile statements just like they ignored National Party MP Michael Woodhouse’s similar immaturity. But only the truly deluded could forget how Woodhouse proudly posed with a toilet seat that displayed former Labour MP Clare Curran’s face on it.

In 2020, the NZ Herald reported:

Labour MP Clare Curran reveals 'traumatised' impact of 'dirty politics' campaign

Outgoing MP Clare Curran says an image of a National MP posed with a toilet emblazoned with her face on it left her feeling "traumatised" and suffering from "humiliation".

Curran announced last year she would not re-stand at this year's election, closing a 12-year career in Parliament.

The outgoing Labour MP has revealed the alleged dirty politics she said was targeted with, and the toll it took emotionally as her political career came tumbling down, in an interview published today on The Spinoff.

The worst of it was in 2012, when she was sent photos from the National Party's Mainland Region conference, one showing fellow Dunedin-based MP, National's Michael Woodhouse, posed with a blue toilet seat with her face emblazoned on it.

The seat was reportedly used as a trophy for a debating competition.

In my opinion, those who revel in the sewer should have no place within our political institutions. In fact such gutter politics must be relegated and consigned to history. That’s why Wayne Brown should do the right thing and bow out of the race to become Auckland’s next Mayor. He won’t, which clearly makes him a complete and utter Arsehole!

It’s time to improve squatter’s rights in New Zealand

 

There is something that most Kiwis have in common. We usually care about each other and want to see everyone have a chance at a successful life. One of the exceptions to this rule is of course landlords, who more often than not will bleed their tenant’s dry, or simply evict them out of spite.

As I’m sure you’re aware, the Labour government recently implemented their Healthy Homes Standards, which became law on 1 July 2019. Many slumlords were so outraged about these improved standards, that instead of adhering to the affordable requirements to provide a warm and dry place for people to reside in, they simply evicted their tenants.

This has inevitably increased the number of homeless people in New Zealand, including those who now live in vehicles.

Yesterday, 1 News reported:

Number of children listed as living in cars more than 200

The number of children living in cars has gone up dramatically since the Government came to power.

Those on the ground are blaming rent prices and are pleading with the Government to do more.

The number of children listed as living in cars has gone from 51 at the end of 2017, to 228 in June this year.

The numbers are pulled when people apply for help from the Ministry of Social Development. People are asked where they're living and if they have children.

The number of people living in tents also climbed, with 21 at the end of 2017, up to 84 this June.

One of the solutions to this growing problem would be to increase squatter’s rights in New Zealand. We have lots of empty houses, many of them becoming derelict because of disuse and vandalism, and we have lots of homeless people who cannot afford to rent a house because the welfare system doesn’t provide enough money to those without an address for service.

Prior to 2013, taking possession of an abandoned house used to be legal in places like England and Wales. This meant in times of crisis, such as after the Second World War, people could still find accommodation and survive. But unfortunately the real estate industry has achieved too much influence over our politicians. The door was shut on the homeless in Great Britain, even though allowing people to occupy unused dwellings so they don’t become exposed to the elements is entirely the right thing to do.

The alternative is to have rough sleeping and more children living in vehicles, whereby they will struggle to attain an education and sustain their well-being, which will have lasting negative effects for them and society in general.

$4 million worth of mansion in Oriental Bay sits abandoned.

 

Similar to the Tories in England, unfortunately the National Party in New Zealand isn’t proposing any solutions to this growing problem. In fact their policies would make things worse. Along with proposing harsher sanctions on disabled beneficiaries, which would assuredly increase the number of people who cannot afford to pay their rent, the blue "teams" current leader, Christopher Luxon, is only interested in throwing stones at Jacinda Ardern.

Along with providing homeless people with more resources to attain a roof over their heads through improved squatter's rights, the Government should also implement an Empty House Levy to ensure property owners who aren’t utilising their assets properly are penalized appropriately. We don’t want lots of homeless people on the streets while perfectly good houses remain empty…and we don’t want Kiwi kids living in cars either.

Kelvyn Alp - Arsehole of the Week

Even if you only have a cursory interest in politics, it’s likely you’ve heard of an outfit called Counterspin Media, which is a disinformation programme that propagates fake news and encourages people to undertake severe acts of violence. Based along similar lines as Infowars, Counterspin is run by a trumped-up little fascist named Kelvyn Alp and (to a lessor degree) his misguided partner, Hannah Spierer.

 

Wikipedia reports:

Alp is a director of and programme host for Counterspin Media Limited. Counterspin streams on the Steve Bannon-led GTV network, whose content has been described as "a significant source of fake news and misinformation".

A Counterspin contributor interrupted a press conference by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in November 2021, loudly shouting misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, leading Ardern to temporarily halt the event.

Alp was an agitating force at the Convoy 2022 New Zealand protest, calling for the protestors to storm parliament and arrest MPs, while making multiple references to killing them.

The thing you need to keep in mind about failed politician Kelvyn Alp and his band of disinformation merchants is that they’re essentially cowards! Instead of actually working towards change, Alp tries to manipulate others into doing his dirty work for him because he’s too gutless to put himself in the firing line.

In effect Counterspin Media preys upon the disaffected and mentally unwell with extremist views designed to cause other people harm. But worse than that, Alp and his cohorts pretend to care about other people’s legitimate grievances to elicit support for their own objectives…far right objectives that will not help to resolve any problems New Zealand is currently facing.

Along with a number of other deluded and dangerous operatives, Kelvyn Alp’s activity to undermine our society was recently exposed in an excellent NZ On Air funded documentary called Fire and Fury, which was a look behind the scenes of the Parliamentary riots.

 

Our latest @StuffCircuit documentary, Fire and Fury: who's driving a violent, misinformed New Zealand - and why. #FireAndFury https://t.co/wqbAscI7KE

— Paula Penfold (@paulapenfold) August 13, 2022

 

What really clinched it for Kelvyn Alp winning this week’s Arsehole Award was his response to this entirely factual documentary. Instead of acknowledging any wrongdoing on his part, the conceited Alp went online and bleated for three hours in a live-stream…a diatribe where he even reiterated his threat to kill New Zealand politicians.

 

Last night a number of the conspiracy grifters featured in @NZStuff's Fire & Fury doco joined a three hour Counterspin Media episode to criticize the programme.

Here's Kelvyn Alp on the episode doubling down on his threats against the government: "I reckon you should hang them." pic.twitter.com/dfjh36o6qc

— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) August 14, 2022

 

In my humble opinion, Kelvyn Alp, who is assuredly a complete and utter arsehole, needs to be shut down before he encourages some poor deluded fool to actually kill someone.

New Zealand, we have a problem

Dear Aotearoa, we have a major problem that is inhibiting our success, namely racism. Destroying old and young alike, racism in New Zealand is the silent assassin, a killer that permeates through every facet of our society.

On Thursday, the NZ Herald reported:

Cricket: Black Caps great Ross Taylor's racism claim outlined in new book

In his autobiography Black and White, which is released today, the Kiwi-Samoan star reveals he faced racially charged "banter" in the dressing room from teammates.

Taylor, who retired from international cricket in April after a career spanning 16 years, doesn't specify at what level of the game he experienced the racist comments.

"In many ways, dressing-room banter is the barometer. A teammate used to tell me, 'You're half a good guy, Ross, but which half is good? You don't know what I'm referring to.' I was pretty sure I did. Other players also had to put up with comments that dwelt on their ethnicity," Taylor writes.

If you don’t believe Taylor that racism is a problem in New Zealand, then look no further than our opposition parties who recently had to backtrack on their ‘one person, one vote’ political tropes, because it was revealed that property speculators who own multiple houses in different districts have additional voting rights.

On 31 July, Scoop reported:

National Will Restore Equal Voting Rights

A National Government will restore the basic principle that all New Zealanders have equal voting rights, National’s Justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith says.

 

The Act Party also reported:

Prime Minister refuses to acknowledge one-person one-vote

The idea that one person should have one vote, and every human being is born alike in dignity isn’t one that should be so difficult to answer for anyone who believes in a functioning liberal democracy.

A few days later, 1 News reported:

MPs' views on multiple property-owners getting extra local votes

New Zealand has a rule where some ratepayers who own property and pay rates in different local body areas can have additional votes at the local body elections.

...
 
Deputy National leader Nicola Willis: I think the principle of one person, one vote is critically important, but what we are seeing with the issue of people who are resident in two jurisdictions is that they are not being afforded anymore vote in that jurisdiction than someone else. These are the sorts of issues I would be interested in seeing how many people are actually in that position. But my view is they're not actually altering the proportionality of representation in that region.

ACT's Brooke van Velden: The ACT Party's point is that we always go back to one person one vote, we do believe in one person one vote, so if this is a particular area that is causing concern, we are open to looking into it but I don't think it is the problem that it looks like, really anyone bringing this up on Twitter is just trying to deflect from the Labour Party's problem that we actually have a cost of living crisis, crime is going through the roof...

I don't think this is a real problem.

So it's ‘One person, one vote’ when we’re talking about the Labour led Government moving to improve Maori representation. But it's ‘One person, MORE THAN ONE VOTE’ when we’re talking about rich predominantly white citizens who own numerous houses.

Talk about a lack of consistency and self awareness from both the National and ACT party representatives.

You only have to read a few reports detailing how people of colour are more likely to be arrested, prosecuted and receive harsher sentences than their Pakeha counterparts for similar crimes to know that there’s a terrible injustice that’s being perpetrated in this country.

However, just in case you needed any further convincing that we have a racist society that is supported by racist institutions, along comes another born to rule National Party MP, Sam bloody Uffindell.

With the help of three of his accomplices who used wooden bed legs, Uffindell attacked a 13-year-old boy, bashing him while he was sleeping and leaving him with serious potentially life-long injuries. In fact they beat their victim black and blue, and there are apparently photos to prove it. But instead of calling the police for such a vicious and cowardly assault, his school, King’s College, covered up this dastardly and criminal act.

The National Party also covered up their knowledge of this crime during and after Uffindell’s selection as their candidate, something that would never have happened if this bully were a person of colour.

Now a National Party MP with all the perks, Sam Uffindell, who wasn’t even properly expelled for the serious assault on a 13-year-old, then went on to intimidate numerous students at his new school. The bully then harassed his university flatmates, smashing up their house during one incident in a drunken and drug induced rage, which led to one flatmate having to escape through a window for fear of her own safety.

Sam Uffindel, the underwear sniffer, obviously got away with this atrocious behaviour because of the colour of his skin and his privileged background.

On Wednesday, Newsroom reported:

National’s hypocrisy over Sam Uffindell’s behaviour

If a Māori kid who was over 6ft tall committed the kind of assault Uffindell committed and it hit the headlines, National would be calling it thuggery and demanding he be locked up.

…

Uffindell may no longer beat kids up in their beds in the middle of the night. But he still aspires to grasp at the power to beat up others who he considers beneath him. This is a guy who now wants to wield the power of the state against people who have already been victimised.

Our jails are also full of people, the majority of them Māori, who have been beaten up by those who represent the state. One government report found that 83 percent of young male inmates had been in state custody as children. What good did that do them as children?

The revelations about yet another National Party MP being a bully couldn’t have come at a worse time for National, and in particular their current leader, Christopher Luxon. Not only was Luxon’s beneficiary bashing policy announcement at their latest conference an eye opener, he also had to go into damage control in regards to National’s vetting process and his own knowledge about Uffindel’s extensive history of abusive behaviour.

Until the National Party fixes it’s selection process and ensures that its candidates aren’t more of the same old racist fools, then they aren’t a viable alternative to the current Government. Not unless you want a more divided and racist New Zealand.

Sam Uffindell must resign

You’ve got to wonder why the National Party knowingly hid information from the public about their newest MP, Sam Uffindell. Surely they must’ve realised that their secret would eventually leak into the public domain. New Zealand is far too small for cover-ups of this kind to be effective.

Despite his violent past, which should have automatically disqualified him from a position within a political party, Sam Uffindell was accepted as a candidate for the National Party with the proviso that he phone one of his victims to make an insincere apology.

National initially said that they knew about the serious aggravated assault when Uffindell applied to be a candidate. However their leadership “team” is now saying they only learned of the dormitory attack yesterday.

Uffindell is still refusing to say whether National Party leader Christopher Luxon knew. He also claims to not remember if he used a bed leg in the violent assault that left his victim with serious injuries.

Yesterday, Stuff reported:

National MP Sam Uffindell 'asked to leave' prestigious King’s College after violent nighttime attack on younger boy

 The man said the original incident happened on the last night of term in 1999, inside one of the King’s College boarding houses.

He had been in bed in his dorm room after lights out, when four older boys came in and jumped on him and began beating him, he said. He thought the boys had been using wooden bed legs unscrewed from their dorm.

 

It seems rather incongruous that National holds itself up as the party of law and order while continuously selecting candidates that aren’t suitable because of their unlawfulness. The National Party must ensure that Uffindell resigns and then explain why they have such a low bar for their selection process?

It should go without saying that Sam Uffindell needs to leave politics. He has after all brought the House of Representatives into disrepute. But in my opinion the Police should also investigate the fact that a 13-year-old boy was badly beaten by multiple assailants using offensive weapons. Such crimes should not go unpunished just because one of the perpetrators is now in a position of power.

The opposition is in disarray

What on earth is going on with the main opposition parties at the moment? Both National and ACT have been making numerous flip-flops and miscommunications, clearly indicating that they aren’t a viable alternative to the current Labour led Government.

Of particular note is the duplicitous reasoning given for why they support wealthy property speculators being able to vote in multiple local body elections, while arguing that Maori shouldn’t be allowed to have any say in how our water resources are managed.

'One person, one vote' is David Seymour’s racist campaign slogan; a rule that the ACT party now says shouldn’t apply to wealthy and predominantly white property speculators. It’s pretty obvious that allowing property owners to have multiple voting rights in numerous districts is unjustifiable, and also the main reason why councils have an overabundance of white representatives on their disproportionate boards.

Chris Bishop explaining why the principle of 'one person, one vote' should not apply to property speculators who can vote in multiple local elections: pic.twitter.com/Kgb2vivBaw

— antihobbes (@antihobbes) August 2, 2022

Then we have Christopher Luxon similarly looking like a fool by trying to keep his trip overseas secret. Instead of being upfront about his holiday in Hawaii, presumably to receive advice from John Key, Luxon’s social media "team" misled the public into thinking that he was hard at work in Te Puke.

In fact, the National party is currently all over the place, not only with their online campaigning, but also with their very limited policy announcements.


Today, the NZ Herald reported:

Act, Labour, Greens accuse National policy of stoking inflation as National drops tax policy

National has copped friendly fire from its likely coalition partner, Act, which is arguing that National's tax plan would stoke inflation by cutting taxes and increasing spending at the same time - sending a wave of cash through the economy.

Act isn't alone - nearly every party in Parliament has lashed out at National's bracket indexation policy, which would reduce income tax by raising tax thresholds, for being inflationary.

National disputes the idea that the tax cuts would be inflationary, but its finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis has confirmed the policy was on the bench for now, with the party working up a new tax policy for the next election.

Obviously providing the wealthy with another windfall would be inflationary. Invariably that’s one of the main causes of inflation. It's not just overseas headwinds. In New Zealand the business assistant program provided companies with billions of taxpayer dollars recently. They then posted record profits from what is essentially price gouging. These profits end up in wealthy people’s savings accounts...rich people whose main pastime is to over-inflate the price of our essential goods and services, such as housing.

The National party claiming that it doesn’t need to be consistent with its tax policy is as stupid as claiming women who have abortions should be imprisoned for ten years or that the wealthy should have more voting rights than the rest of us. It’s bad politics and indicates that the opposition will turn on a dime with even the slightest change in the wind.

Winston Peters - Arsehole of the Week

Politics in New Zealand isn’t in a very good place at the moment. Not only do we have the opposition once again undermining our response to the Covid-19 pandemic, right when the number of cases are exploding, we also have former MPs thumbing their noses at the law and claiming that they’re exonerated simply because a judge has failed in his judicial duty.

Yesterday, 1 News reported:

NZ First Foundation donations accused found not guilty

The pair were charged with obtaining by deception and faced a three week trial in the High Court at Auckland.

The Serious Fraud Office revealed details of $750,000 given to the New Zealand First Foundation - a separate entity to the New Zealand First party.

It alleged the men had fraudulently obtained the money.

Through the trial, the court heard from over 40 witnesses about how the foundation had been set up, and from donors who at times said they didn't realise they weren't donating directly to the New Zealand First party itself.

The money had been used for items like a campaign office space on Lambton Quay in Wellington, a software system and an appearance fee for boxer Joseph Parker at a party conference.

The SFO alleged the funds were kept secret from party leader Winston Peters and the board.

Winston Peters then appeared on 1 News admitting that he knew all along about what the NZ First Foundation was up to, after previously claiming he didn’t know.

Justice Jagose released his reserved decision today.

He ruled the money was not a party donation, where the money needs to have been donated to any person who is involved in the administration of the affairs of the party.

The donors obviously believed that the money they were donating was going to the NZ First party. If it was not a party donation, then the accused were misleading donors and therefore committing fraud.

However most of the $750,000 donated was used by the NZ First party and should therefore have been declared. It wasn’t, and therefore the NZ First party is in breach of the Electoral Act 1993, which states:

Party donation means a donation (whether of money or of the equivalent of money or of goods or services or of a combination of those things) that is made to a party, or to any person or body of persons on behalf of the party who are involved in the administration of the affairs of the party.

Obviously somebody working in an organisation set up to accept donations on behalf of a political party should be considered an administrator of the affairs of that party. This is particularly the case when the leader of that party, Winston Peters, has now admitted to knowing that the NZ First Foundation was accepting donations on behalf of his political party.

The Foundation was also misleading donors into believing that their donations were going directly to the NZ First Party. These donors didn’t need to formally complain about being misled, as the defense argued, for this to be considered fraud.

That’s what makes Justice Jagose’s decision here so perplexing! He didn’t bother to get Peters on the stand to either admit his knowledge or commit pergury. If he committed pergury then the accused would have been found guilty. If he admitted the truth under oath then NZ First would need to be charged under the Electoral Act. Instead Jagose failed in his duty and misinterpreted the law, which has clearly allowed for an incorrect ruling to be made.

This travesty of justice has also allowed Peters the chance to again grandstand, even though NZ First, via their foundation organisation, clearly accepted and hid substantial donations from wealthy individuals, bribes that were given in order to influence the Government’s decision-making process.

So while Winston Peters is gloating, New Zealand is still suffering because of his corruption.

Unfortunately the lynch pin position he held in the previous Government meant that Peters was able to strong-arm Labour into forgoing a Capital Gains Tax, which undoubtedly made the housing crisis exponentially worse. Since then entry level property has become twice as expensive, ensuring that the Kiwi dream of owning a house is just that...an unattainable dream for many. Peters was also able to keep cameras off commercial fishing vessels, which ensured the fishing industry were allowed to continue in their dangerous and environmentally damaging fishing practices.

Many people in New Zealand are worse off because of Winston Peters, which in my book makes him a complete arsehole!

National flounders over Three Waters reforms

Clearly the National Party thinks it’s onto a winner with its campaign against the Government's Three Waters legislation. They’ve even been promoting the current leader, Christopher Luxon (who in 2018 appeared to endorse the very same reforms he now opposes) with photo opportunities of him putting up anti Three Waters billboards.

The problem for National and Luxon in particular is that barely a week goes by without another report concerning sewage overflowing onto New Zealand streets or towns having to cope with unsafe tap water.

What Luxon doesn't seem to realise is that Kiwis have been getting very sick and even dying because of their contaminated drinking water. But instead of National providing any real policy ideas about how to actually fix things, Luxon is busy making a fool of himself by splashing out on stupid hoardings for an election that could still be 21 months away. In fact the blue "teams" promise to repeal Three Waters and effectively replace it with nothing is likely to turn away National's potential audience during the campaign proper.

That’s why the Labour Government and their Three Waters legislation will become the default choice for most voters. Not because it’s particularly imaginative or transformative, but because there isn't even a remote sign of the opposition providing any alternative policy to ensure people have adequate and safe water supplies.

Last Friday, RNZ reported:

National pledges to repeal three waters legislation if elected

National is stepping up its campaign against the government's contentious three waters legislation, as people fed up with a Canterbury town's dirty drinking water plead for a quick fix.

The Opposition party has nailed a billboard in the Waimakiriri district advertising its pledge to repeal the laws, under which the government would take control of drinking, waste and storm water services and assets from local councils.

In the neighbouring Selwyn district, water the colour of weak tea still runs from the taps in the town of Springfield.

A father, who did not want to be named, said the water was so discoloured his family had not filled a glass for months.

"You wouldn't boil it and drink it, it still remains tea-coloured. We've been drinking out of plastic bottles for months," he said.

 

Whilst their negative campaign might appeal to some farmers and a few of their drunken Councillor mates, it’s unlikely to elicit much if any significant support from the wider community. This is because the vast majority of Kiwis realise that something needs to be done about our dilapidated water infrastructure.

Why do we need to do this?

1. Drinking Water

35000 NZers get sick from tap water every year

20% of water is lost on its way to houses (leaky pipes)

2016 in Havelock North: 5500 people (39% of residents) became sick with bacteria in tap water
45 were hospitalised
3 died

2/8

— Moira 🇳🇿 (@moirathemaori) April 9, 2022

By claiming that cash strapped Councils will suddenly do their jobs properly if the public campaigns for improved water infrastructure, Luxon has badly misread the room. Not only is he choosing another hill to die on, the optics of Luxon promoting a do nothing strategy while there are reports of unsafe tap water making people unwell is terribly revealing. In fact it's a misstep of monumental proportions.

If Luxon and his advisors cannot even keep up to date with current affairs, particularly when we're talking about the health and wellbeing of the population, how exactly can they be trusted to run the entire country? The obvious answer is that they aren't an effective or trustworthy opposition and wouldn't be an effective or trustworthy government either.

Luxon keeps contradicting himself

What is it about right wing leaders thinking they can fit their narrative to whatever audience is in front of them? It’s almost like they aren’t aware of how modern day reporting works. Or perhaps they think they can simply bluff their way out of any given sticky situation they’ve created for themselves.

A prime example of this was on display last Monday when newbie National Party leader Christopher Luxon told a predominantly right wing audience that he would get tough on people he described as bottom feeders, namely beneficiaries who’re living in state houses. I’m sure this beneficiary bashing went down well amongst Newstalk ZB listeners, but if Twitter and Facebook are anything to go by the majority of people who keep an eye on politics these days certainly didn’t think his comments were appropriate.

Luxon then did a backflip during an interview with John Campbell where he attempted to explain away his divisive comments. He even claimed that he was all for increasing benefits to ensure people reach their potential. However, after listening to Luxon’s initial interview and considering his previous fervour while attacking impoverished Kiwi’s, Luxon’s claim that he now cared about “bottom feeders” clearly needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

On Wednesday, 1 News reported:

Christopher Luxon explains his 'bottom feeding' comments

Breakfast's John Campbell questioned Luxon about his comments in the bulk of their interview - nine minutes to be exact - on Wednesday.

In part of his interview with Kerre McIvor on Monday, Luxon had said: "I've got to be honest to all of your listeners. This is a fantastic country. This is the best country on planet Earth, but we have to determine we want to realise our maximum potential economically, socially and environmentally, and we want to be a place everyone can flourish. And if you want to have a go and you want to make something of yourself, we don't just do bottom feeding and just focus on the bottom, we focus on people who want to be positive and ambitious and aspirational and confident, right?"

The comments made it to Twitter and Reddit.

Asked first off who he has aspiration for and who he wants to lift up, Luxon responded: "My general theme is look I think we've been playing quite a small, negative, inward, fearful game and I think New Zealand is a place that's about confidence, ambition, aspiration, going forward. I'm ambitious for every New Zealander. I want all New Zealanders to be able to flourish in this country. I want everybody to realise their potential and that's what we're here to do."

Replaying Luxon his Newstalk ZB comments, Campbell then asked him what he meant by "bottom feeding".

"My general theme there, John, was exactly what I just talked about before which was saying - look we want to have confidence, ambition, aspiration for all New Zealanders and we've got to celebrate that. It's important we celebrate that. What I was meaning there was the fact that the reality is we actually believe and want to help everybody who's doing it tough in this country as well and so we've got to care deeply about everybody."

The problem for Luxon and the National Party is that he’s obviously losing his credibility by explaining. Lux Flakes might be getting a bit of media attention, but he’s also offending both right and left wing voters with such mealy-mouthed indecisive statements. Instead he should stick to one statement concerning what the National Party would stand for under his leadership and not attempt to back track all the time.

We witnessed Luxon doing exactly the same thing in regards to his comments about wanting women who require abortions to be jailed and treated like murderers. After a backlash, he then miraculously changed his fundamentalist belief system. It would therefore appear that the new blue “team” leader is attempting to play both sides of the field and failing miserably! Similarly, John Key would often score own goals by using this dishonest tactic while trying to illicit public support. In fact this questionable method was a major component leading up to Key’s resignation and National losing the 2017 election.

So instead of making contentious claims or aspirational statements that he later sweeps into the bin, Luxon should come up with some actual budgeted policy ideas that don’t simply copy policy the Labour Government has already, or intends to, announce. We need to see a plan of how the National Party proposes to govern New Zealand for them to be considered a viable alternative. Because at the moment all we’re hearing are the unreliable words of someone who appears to be a complete political novice.

Remembering SiBri

It probably won’t even register with most Kiwis that Simon Bridges, who was once leader of the National Party, has resigned. Even with a biased mainstream media promoting him above his station and numerous scandals besmirching his career, Bridges was a largely nondescript and forgettable MP. I mean what exactly did this guy achieve while in power or opposition? Anything? He certainly failed to build anywhere near enough bridges, both figuratively and metaphorically speaking. That’s why it would be beneficial to remind readers about who exactly Simon Bridges was and what he truly stood for.

Bridges, who has cited family reasons and commercial opportunities for taking the wind out of National’s sail by quitting Luxon’s inner circle, is perhaps best known for his role in a donations scandal of biblical proportions. It was one thing to deny his involvement, but a recording of him giving instructions to former National Party MP Jamie-Lee Ross in order to hide very large bribes from Chinese businessmen who were trying to buy influence in New Zealand is undeniably compelling evidence. The High Court hasn’t as yet laid down exactly when the next hearing is to take place, but it’s likely that Bridges is leaving politics precisely because of his involvement in that blatant attempt to hide large sums of foreign money from public and official scrutiny.

However you can kinda understand why he would leave anyway, even without the high court hearing likely to tarnish his career even further and again thrust National into the limelight for all the wrong reasons. Bridges recently lost a leadership challenge to the very unpopular Judith Collins, who predictably sunk National with her very nasty temperament. He also came up short after Crusher had to bow out because of National’s disastrous polling. Despite his right wing credentials, Bridges was forced to capitulate to the untested Christopher Luxon, obviously because he wouldn’t be accepted by National’s mainly white middle class (read overtly and covertly racist) voters. Being that Bridges has way more political experience, this must have been a bitter pill for him to swallow on both a personal and professional level.

But it’s not just the fact that Bridges has been tripped up by his own party. The mainstream media had great expectations that he would one day be able to challenge Jacinda Ardern in the countries most important popularity contest. However, sadly for National, even though he’s clearly a true believer in the right wing’s modus operandi, namely benefiting the rich at other people’s expense, Bridges has fallen well short of the hurdle. This is despite the MSM giving him ample opportunity to try and promote himself as a respectable and upstanding family man. Despite media bias, Bridges has often been his own worst enemy when it comes to public attention. Journalists gave him more than enough rope and he invariably used it to choke his own political career.

What Bridges fails to understand is that even many so-called mum and dad investors will frown upon his blatant greed. We witnessed Bridges’ greed first hand when it was revealed that he wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars throwing elaborate parties for his oil and gas industry mates. We again witnessed his greed when he heavily invested public money into polluting industries at the environments expense. Bridges also opposed the now successful clean car subsidy, because he was in the pocket of the oil barons. Then there were the substantial bribes from Chinese businessmen that Bridges blatantly tried to cover up. All this paints a very compelling picture of a not to be trusted politician, a picture that not even the most talented National Party propagandist could erase from the public’s consciousness.

We were also enlightened to the extent of Bridges’ dishonesty when he claimed to have witnessed a gang fight at Tauranga hospital; something that both the Police and CCTV footage categorically proved was completely untrue. It was a marvel to watch him keep digging like there was no tomorrow. Likewise, we couldn’t believe the bogus arguments Bridges came up with while trying to defend his opposition to a ban on conversion therapy. Despite his youngish age, the out-dated and washed up politician has absolutely no viable justification for such a backwards viewpoint. In fact to call his harmful belief system prehistoric is an insult to dinosaurs.

So after 14 years of obfuscation and legislative blunders in Parliament, Simon Bridges has worn out his credibility as both a politician and religious leader. Everybody knows that God loves all creations, including those that don’t fit the conservative and idealistic viewpoint of ignorant fundamentalists like Simon Bridges. It’s therefore unlikely that we will hear much if anything more from the former MP for Tauranga, apart from a wee High Court reminder of his treasonous bribe taking that is...which is something all free thinking and honest Kiwis should be quietly chuffed about.

The poo protest is over

It really does surprise me that nobody died in the Wellington riot yesterday. There were of course some significant injuries, but it’s testament to the New Zealand Police force’s tactical ability and professionalism plus a good amount of sheer luck that nobody needs to be laid to rest.

The riots have of course brought into question what many people believed in. Not only have long time freedom fighters on the left, some of whom protested during the Springbok Tour where actual Police brutality was dished out, been in support of dismantling the “freedom” encampment, many right wing journalists have now seen the result of their biased reporting against the Labour Government writ large across Parliaments lawn.

Let’s hope it’s a wake up call that they actually listen to.

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

Covid 19 Wellington protest: Riots, fire and violence as police end occupation

Andrew Coster told Mike Hosking police had tried to work with protest organisers but a lack of leadership and cohesion made this impossible.

"We were left with no option to do what we did yesterday to restore the site."

"I'm pleased that we've got to here. I never wanted it to end like that, but we did what we had to do."

Government politicians will also be doing some soul searching over the next few days, not least of all the Prime Minister. What many people don’t realise is that Jacinda Ardern truly believes in her ‘be kind’ moto. It’s not just a nice catch phrase for her.

So when the rabble first started gathering and then turned to serious acts of violence outside of Parliament, she would have been mortified that there were so many disaffected people braying at her door, some with literal pitchforks.

Because of the way the protest was conducted and concluded, other Politicians should now be questioning their actions as well, not least of all David Seymour and Winston Peters. They both knew that what the “freedom” convoy stood for was bogus, but decided to raise their profiles anyway and in so doing legitimised the anarchists. They then took to social media to regurgitate some of the propaganda they’d seen that they thought would sit well with their voter base.

Looking over at the mess left behind at Parliament grounds, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson let out a heavy sigh.

"It's been an incredibly distressing time for Wellingtonians over the last three weeks - not only have they been harassed and spat at and bullied, but they've also seen the city that they love be trashed."

Robertson said we can never excuse what happened yesterday.

"It was appalling," he told Breakfast.

Most Kiwis who once agreed with the numerous causes the protesters apparently stood for will now be questioning that support. Nobody, apart from those who want to see Aotearoa destroyed, will be rejoicing at the chaos and mayhem that erupted in Wellington yesterday. The vast majority will be shocked and dismayed at the level of violence that was on display.

Clearly there are people with malignant intent towards this great country. Many have pointed out that much of the propaganda targeting the disaffected rioters has come from overseas. However it’s people operating within New Zealand that have propagated most of the propaganda...disinformation that has now resulted in widespread carnage.

Some have pointed at social media algorithms, but the truth of the matter is that brainwashing such a large number of Kiwis has only occurred because of a concerted and extensive campaign by a dedicated and large group of people, an operation that is ultimately designed to undermine our democracy.

But as a society, Robertson acknowledged more needed to be done to stop misinformation being spread in relation to Covid-19 and vaccines.

That included the Government working closely with some of the world's big social media sites to remind them of their responsibilities around such issues.

The information war is real and our intelligence systems have largely failed to curtail its more destructive effects. For instance, it’s terribly concerning (particularly after the Christchurch Mosque shootings) that white supremacists have been allowed to operate in plain site for such a long period of time against New Zealand’s best interests.

Some of these fanatics were even attempting to identify Police officers with the use of high-powered cameras during the Parliament riot. There is obviously only one reason they would want to gather such information, and it’s not good.

I would therefore urge anybody who might be targeted by such extremists to be extra careful about their security. The Parliament riot isn’t the end of their campaign against New Zealand. In fact it could just be the beginning.

Parliament protest has dubious backers

It was concerning to see former National MP Matt King use the Parliamentary grounds “freedom” protest as a platform to launch his new political party yesterday.

Not only have many within the mainstream media been trying to legitimise the so-called anti-mandate protests, we now have another failed right wing politician siding with protestors who've been harassing school children and threatening to murder politicians.
 

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

Covid 19 Parliament anti-mandate protests: Former National MP Matt King confirms plans for new political party

King said the plans were still at the early stage, but those involved were "credible and have political experience". It also had financial support.

He would not say who those other people were, or whether they included former New Conservative leader Leighton Baker. Baker is one of those involved at the protest and seen as a leader of one of the protest groups.

"I believe there is a place in the market for a party that represents a lot of people that are not happy with what's happening at the moment," King said.

"None of the parties in the current political landscape provide a credible alternative to the status quo.

He said he had travelled to Wellington because he strongly opposed the vaccine mandates.

 

Act Party leader David Seymour has also tried to capitalise on peoples discontent by pretending to mediate for the Government. It’s a very fine line to tread. Seymour might be prepared to dance on the head of a pin to placate his white supremacist supporters, who also have links with the anti-Government protests, but thankfully he’s in a very small minority that won’t gain much traction with a majority of level headed voters in New Zealand.

Like the Maori Party, Seymour really needs to distance himself from the out-dated thinking and politicking of his political forbears.

In this regard the Prime Minister has made the right decision to keep her distance. Attempting to directly reason with protesters would only result in a spectacle, a debacle the mainstream media is clearly desperate for and has invariably been trying to instigate. It would also only harden the resolve and somewhat legitimise the protestors various causes. In fact they're unlikely to hear a word the PM says because most are currently too angry and/or deluded to be reasoned with.

Of course Trevor Mallard using a hose on protesters and playing loud music all night like a drunk neighbour wasn’t the right thing to do. This is exactly the unifying attention they needed to keep going. It confirmed their prejudices against the Government by providing an authority figure for them to hate. Mallard is clearly a part of the problem here and not the solution.

Speaking of solutions, what the Government should do is try to limit any further antagonism. They should also ensure that the protestors are provided with the basic necessities of life. Of course the Police need to ensure Wellingtonians aren't attacked and can go about their business. They should therefore be removing the most disruptive protestors when the opportunity arises. But moving protestors on with batons must not occur. Mallard also needs to be closed down to ensure he doesn’t meddle like a drunken buffoon anymore.


Today, Newshub reported:

The conditions of Speaker Trevor Mallard's cross-party offer to negotiate with protestors revealed

Parliament's Speaker Trevor Mallard has gained cross-party agreement on how to deal with the occupation of Parliament, drawing up terms on which politicians will engage.

The cross-party declaration, provided to parties on Thursday afternoon, is based on the premise that if the protestors occupying Parliament clear the streets, remove their tents and stop abusing people, politicians will talk with them.

So if the protestors go away the Government will talk with them? Honestly! If the actual Government doesn’t rein Mallard in soon, he will likely make things a lot worse. He is after all an aristocrat with anger management problems, so not exactly the best person to be engaging with derranged protestors he’s already antagonised.

Despite any immediate issues, the real solutions are of course long term. What we’re seeing here is a failure of our education systems, mental health services and misuse of social media. Firstly, the majority of those protesting clearly don’t have much ability to deduce the truth. Many also display various degrees of mental illness. Once things have deescalated the Police should contact the appropriate services for follow-up to ensure these people get the help they require.

However the main cause of these protests is disinformation. Not only have we seen the direct targeting of vulnerable Kiwis with the inappropriate use of our social media, the scope and sophistication of the misinformation campaigns clearly shows that they’re well funded.

The objective of course isn’t necessarily to end mandates or allow people more freedoms. In fact during the pandemic New Zealand has been one of the freest countries in the world. The true objective is to disrupt the Government to such a degree that they cannot achieve the social and economic change they're working towards. This would likely mean a more authoritative right wing government is elected.

It’s that fact alone and not just that many of these protestors are being obnoxious that should unify the left and everyday Kiwis, including many like myself who believe in peaceful protest, against the common enemy. Clearly the main enemy here isn’t the misguided people who’ve amassed at Parliament over the last week. Instead it's those who propagate disinformation in order to mislead the vulnerable.

Today, the Spinoff published a list of people and organisations who disseminate disinformation that has lead to the social unrest we're seeing at Parliament.

Figureheads and factions: the key people at the parliament occupation

A host of groups and views are contained in the ongoing protest in Wellington, and they don’t all get along. Who are they?

…

At one end of the spectrum of participants and supporters – both on-site and in the online groups that make up their circuitry and inspiration – are many who plausibly insist they are simply anti-mandate, and decry the impacts of the vaccination requirements on themselves and their families. It continues through swathes of people promoting anti-vaccine and “natural healing” balderdash, and to those who menace members of the public for wearing masks, and on it goes through to the most poisonous far-right extremists. A better word than spectrum, perhaps, is continuum, a chain of hands leading from decent people to would-be lynchers. The greatest worry for us all is participants moving the wrong way along that chain – the sight of a fertile recruitment ground for the ugliest, most hateful and dangerous people among us. It is not yet three years, after all, since a terrorist attack in Christchurch shook us from a complacent slumber.

What the numerous groups listed in Toby Manhire’s excellent article fail to comprehend is that New Zealand simply wouldn’t accept the overthrow of the Labour Government in this way. Disinformation campaigns might work to encourage the deluded, but using unjustified causes to try and get the people to storm Parliament en masse and install a regime of ragtag idiots simply won’t work. In fact it will likely illicit sympathy for Jacinda Ardern, who's been the main target for what is obviously misguided anger.

In my opinion, when you have people like Cameron Slater directly encouraging discontent and insurrection against the Government, you know that these protestors are on the wrong side of history. Clearly the spectacle of this propagandist blathering rubbish should be all they need to leave their encampment, which is likely to occur one way or the other in the not too distant future.

Carl Loader - Arsehole of the Week

Warning! The topics in this post could be distressing to some readers.

There’s no question that New Zealand still has a major problem with suicide. Even with substantial government funding for mental health services and the Police being provided with more discretionary powers to not record certain deaths as suicides, the number of Kiwis being reported as taking their own lives has remained terribly high.

However, despite the difficulties associated with reducing those atrocious statistics, Government and public organisations must not be allowed to become complacent about nor accept that a large number of Kiwis are being allowed to fall through the cracks to such a degree that they’re choosing to end their own lives.

Furthermore, normalising suicide within our society must not be allowed to occur. In this regard, Aotearoa must not accept in any way shape or form a blasé approach to the issue. We certainly don’t want suicide to become a spectator sport either. But unfortunately that's exactly what has occurred within one company tasked with cleaning up the aftermath.

Yesterday, the Guardian reported:

New Zealand crime cleanup company investigated after posting graphic photos online

New Zealand’s justice ministry has launched an investigation into whether a crime scene cleaning company broke the law by posting images to its social media pages of cleanup sites – including, allegedly, images of suspected suicide sites and of human remains.

The story was first reported by RNZ, which found Christchurch company Crime Scene Cleaners had posted images to its Facebook and Instagram accounts – including graphic images of decomposing human remains, and images of cleanup work in the aftermath of suspected suicides.

New Zealand laws restrict the publication of details relating to suspected or confirmed suicides that suggest the method of death. A death may not be referred to as a suicide until the coroner has made that determination after a coronial investigation.

I would suggest that it's a breach of the law to post pictures of crime scenes and people’s deaths and call them suicides. Not just because the coroner needs to make a determination beforehand, but because it's an egregious breach of people’s privacy.

Yesterday, 1 News reported:

Cleaners post graphic crime scene photos on social media

Warning: Story contains references to suicide, sudden death and assault, and graphic details about human remains.

A New Zealand crime scene cleaning business used by publicly-owned organisations has been posting images of the aftermath of suspected suicides, attempted suicides, assaults, sudden deaths and domestic violence on social media.

…

When asked if the families connected to the trauma cleans were asked permission before photos were posted, Loader said for most family members "they wouldn't know because they haven't been on the scene".

"They wouldn't know what it was, what job it was."

He said "there have been several occasions where the people have given consent for them to be used" but "that was a long time ago".

In Loader's view, the company's social media posts weren't "really heavy-duty stuff".

"We just put the lighter work we do as to put anything really bad on there would be detrimental to everybody," he said.

Some people, however, had commented on the photos, saying they were triggering.

Other online commenters have questioned how disturbing photos came up in their newsfeeds.

Loader said, "If you don't like it, don't look".

When told such posts could appear on a Facebook user's news feed (unless the user had already blocked the account's posts, or the user was under 18) even if they didn't follow the account, he said he was sure Facebook was policing it.

"If it was something of a really bad nature, I'm sure Facebook or some other department would contact us," he said.

What on earth would Carl Loader believe constitutes “something of a really bad nature" if these photos of people’s death scenes being posted online doesn't qualify?

By claiming that the families affected wouldn’t view these photos and that it’s someone else’s job to police his actions, the Crime Scene Cleaning co-owner and manager has cemented his place in history as a complete arsehole!

After posting some photos, the business commented underneath, offering criticisms of caregivers, government services, and people linked to cleans the business had done.

One comment in November 2020 called homeless people "lazy "f******".

Another in June 2020 called some tenants "feral savages".

Asked if such comments were appropriate, when the business has contracts with central and local government-led organisations, Loader said, "We need to encourage public awareness of how we're living".

Carl Loader and his sick employees clearly do not need to post pictures of murder and suspected suicide scenes to “encourage public awareness” of how they’re living. A public forum is not the place for cleanup workers to process their issues. They certainly shouldn’t be trying to blame the victims either, some of whom were homeless at the time of their deaths.

In my opinion, attributing blame solely to the people who commit suicide is half the problem. Many suicides occur because of circumstances well outside of the victim’s control, which makes such despicable views highly damaging, particularly when we need to try and address the root causes that lead to people committing suicide.

To insult the victims of suicide and retraumatise their families with online posts that amount to saying ‘they deserved to die because they were homeless’ is a big part of the problem. In fact this type of mentality and lack of empathy is a contributing factor leading to New Zealand’s terribly high suicide rate.

Unless as a nation we address that dysfunctional mentality, we will never reduce the number of Kiwis taking their own lives.

RNZ also asked if he thought the business' posts could have breached suppression laws and confidentiality policies during police and coronial investigations.

Although Loader said he wasn't "really familiar" with what Crime Scene Cleaners' was putting on Facebook, he was confident police would "definitely" know.

"They haven't told me they're aware of it but obviously they would, they would look at it."

One woman told RNZ she discovered photos of her father's home on Crime Scene Cleaners' Facebook page last year.

He had a hoarding problem and when he died, she brought in Crime Scene Cleaners to clear his home.

She was billed more than $10,000.

The woman said the house was "completely" identifiable in the pictures - there were even photos of her as a girl, on the mantlepiece, in the shots.

She said she never gave permission for photos to be taken or posted, and there was no mention of the business using photos for marketing purposes in the terms of trade she signed and provided to RNZ.

When the house went on the market, people recognised the property from the pictures online, she said.

She was already "incredibly stressed" mourning her father and arranging his funeral, and the photos were "devastating on another level".

She thought Loader's argument - that families wouldn't be able to identify photos connected to their loved ones - was "bullshit".

"It's such a weak, weak excuse for doing something bad. The photo should not be public anyway. You're defending the defenceless."

It’s that attempt to defend the indefensible, just as much as the original crime of posting people’s incredibly private information online, that means Carl Loader wins this week’s Arsehole Award. The families affected by his contemptible actions should sue his arse into oblivion.


Where to get help

Lifeline (open 24/7) - 0800 543 354
Depression Helpline (open 24/7) - 0800 111 757
Healthline (open 24/7) - 0800 611 116
Samaritans (open 24/7) - 0800 726 666
Suicide Crisis Helpline (open 24/7) - 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO). This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends.
Youthline (open 24/7) - 0800 376 633. You can also text 234 for free between 8am and midnight, or email talk@youthline.co.nz
0800 WHATSUP children's helpline - phone 0800 9428 787 between 1pm and 10pm on weekdays and from 3pm to 10pm on weekends. Online chat is available from 7pm to 10pm every day at www.whatsup.co.nz.
Kidsline (open 24/7) - 0800 543 754. This service is for children aged 5 to 18. Those who ring between 4pm and 9pm on weekdays will speak to a Kidsline buddy. These are specially trained teenage telephone counsellors.
Your local Rural Support Trust - 0800 787 254 (0800 RURAL HELP)
Alcohol Drug Helpline (open 24/7) - 0800 787 797. You can also text 8691 for free.