Mike King needs to get his shit together

If there is one thing that we need more of in New Zealand, it’s good people who actually give a damn about preventing suicides.

That’s because despite a small reduction in 2020, our already incredibly high suicide rates have been getting even worse over recent years, which clearly points to a lack of adequate services and an increase of things that disproportionately effect those most at risk, like poverty and inequality.

However what we don’t need is people using their own failings to have a go at a Government who clearly cares about suicide prevention and is working hard to reduce those terrible statistics.

On Tuesday, Newshub reported:

Mike King lashes Jacinda Ardern over funding for Mongrel Mob rehab scheme but not Gumboot Friday

Mike King has hit out at Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern over funding a Mongrel Mob-run rehab programme, but not his charity Gumboot Friday. 

…

But King slammed the Prime Minister after his pleas for funding were turned down.

Last month, the Ministry of Health rejected funding for Gumboot Friday, which was founded by King and provides free counselling for young people. The ministry said Gumboot Friday's funding application was outside the timeframe for procurement, meaning it could not be funded. 

In a Facebook video posted on Monday night, King criticised the Prime Minister for giving the Mongrel Mob programme funding, but not his charity.

On Thursday, Newshub reported:

Mike King slams National for 'pretending' to care about Gumboot Friday, 'offensive meme'

Mental health campaigner Mike King has lashed out at the National Party, accusing them of 'pretending' to care about his charity Gumboot Friday. 

It comes after National MP Chris Bishop posted a meme on his Facebook page on Wednesday mocking Labour for funding a meth rehab but not King's charity. The meme was also shared by Simeon Brown. 

... 

On Monday, King slammed the Prime Minister's choice to fund the meth programme but not his charity, despite missing the funding deadline.  

In a Facebook video, King said he didn't have an issue with the programme being given money, but he took issue with Ardern taking credit for it despite telling him she couldn't be involved in deciding whether his charity got money or not.

If King didn’t have a problem with the Government funding a Mongrel Mob run meth rehabilitation program, then why did he complain about it on Tuesday?

"When I asked you to have a conversation about it in the Koru Club, you looked me in the eye and you said, 'Mike I cannot get involved in this, we have a fair and equitable system and I cannot be involved in funding decisions'.

Even though they're related, a drug rehabilitation program obviously has different funding criteria than suicide prevention services. King must know this, which makes his complaint even more dumbfounding!

However what really makes me wonder if King has his heart in the right place and isn't simply using suicide as a political weapon here is that he never applied for funding in the first place.

Yesterday, Newshub reported:

Mike King addresses 'misinformation' about Gumboot Friday funding, says he never applied

Mike King is blasting the Ministry of Health for its "blatant lie" that the mental health advocate failed to get his funding application for Gumboot Friday in by the deadline - arguing that in fact, he never applied at all.

In a video posted to his Facebook on Friday, King addressed what he says is misinformation circulating around the funding of Gumboot Friday, and urged people not to believe it.

"The fact is, I have never applied for funding for Gumboot Friday - we have never put in an application and if you haven't put in an application, it can't be late."

This is no joke. Surely the comedian should have actually applied for funding before going on the news to complain about not receiving any? We wouldn’t then have numerous right wing propagandists jumping on the bandwagon to have a crack at Labour about Gumboot Friday missing out.

Now I don’t mean to join the pile on, but King really does need to get his shit together. Because this type of flakiness obviously doesn’t help anybody who might be considering suicide. They will be taking these types of complaints and the mainstream medias misinformation at face value, and may even believe that there’s no help available at all.

You've also got to wonder how exactly we're meant to have the conversation about suicide with such a large amount of blatant disinformation going on?

Notwithstanding what the right wing wants us to believe, the Labour led Government has in fact been working towards solutions to turn the tide. First they had an inquiry that resulted in the He Ara Oranga report, a suicide prevention action plan and a dedicated Suicide Prevention Office. They also established the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. Combine that with increased funding for mental health and addiction services and we should soon be seeing a gradual reduction in our world leading suicide statistics.

Sure, not much of that unprecedented $1.9 billion the Government allocated to support the mental wellbeing of New Zealanders has gone out the door (23% allocated with 6.6% spent to date), but this is light years ahead of anything National ever did under John Key.

So just take a deep breath there Mike King. Because if you don’t do the mahi and get your funding applications in on time, you’ve got nobody to blame but yourself.

Where to get help:

1737, Need to talk? Free call or text 1737 any time for support from a trained counsellor

Lifeline – 0800 543 354 or (09) 5222 999 within Auckland

Samaritans – 0800 726 666

Suicide Crisis Helpline – 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)

thelowdown.co.nz – or email team@thelowdown.co.nz or free text 5626

Anxiety New Zealand - 0800 ANXIETY (0800 269 4389)

Supporting Families in Mental Illness - 0800 732 825

How to survive 14 days of self-isolation

So you’ve recently returned from overseas, come into contact with someone who tested positive, got a bit of a dry cough yourself or perhaps just want to self isolate for 14 days to avoid other people who might have COVID-19. Here are a few tips and tricks to help get you through the Pandemic.

As we all know, humans are social creatures. That’s why it’s imperative to not just go cold turkey and cut yourself off from all human contact. So tip one is make sure you have a way to reach out and contact friends and family. It’s likely they’ll appreciate having someone to talk to as well.

Have you purchased some toilet paper yet? Seriously though, self-isolating means not going to the shops every 10 minutes so make sure you have enough supplies to last 14 days. When buying in bulk for a couple of weeks, it’s best to stick to the things you normally like to eat. However easy to prepare meals and a bit of snack food is worthwhile as well. Tip two is to run the gauntlet and stock up from your local supermarket, or better yet order online. Make sure to request a non-signature delivery.

So you’ve doubled your weekly shop, but other essentials should take precedence as well. Along with collecting any medications you might require, make sure you have a few self-care items to help maintain a healthy mind and body throughout the 14 days. Products that boost your immune system are also a good idea.

Have you done the housework yet? Cleaning surfaces with a good disinfectant will reduce the chances of spreading COVID-19 to anybody you live with and also help whittle away the time. So make sure you’ve got a good supply of essential cleaning products and some nice soap to regularly wash your hands with.

Unless working from home, you’re likely to have a lot of spare time on your hands. Therefore it's important to have a good form of entertainment. Thankfully we’re spoilt for choice these days with numerous streaming services. You might also like to download a few e-books if going to the library is out of the question.

Even if you don’t realise it at the moment, you’re likely to be a bit stressed about COVID-19. Reading books isn’t the only way to unwind and help take your mind off of things. Try some regular meditation and deep breathing and maybe even a daily regime of light exercise. This will help maintain not just your body, but your spirits as well.

So onto my eighth and final tip, which applies mainly to the elderly or people with pre-existing health conditions. Please contact health professionals if your symptoms worsen. You can do this by phoning your GP or calling Healthline on 0800 358 5453.

Anne Tolley in breach of Standing Orders

It appears that despite a large amount of disinformation being propagated about what the law change actually means, the Abortion Legislation Bill will pass into law during its third and final reading.

However the slow process into law hasn’t been without controversy, namely David Seymour’s Supplementary Order Paper that wanted to do away with Safe Zones around abortion clinics similar to those already in place in countries like Australia, Canada and the USA.


Yesterday, RNZ reported:

MPs vote to remove abortion clinic safe zones from Bill 

ACT leader David Seymour's proposal was voted for in two parts - the first, to have the definition of Safe Zones removed from the bill, was narrowly voted down 59 votes to 56. 

However, MPs seemed unprepared for a second vote on the substance of his changes - doing away with all the provisions that would put safe zones in place. 

Up for debate were 150-metre safe zones that could be established around abortion clinics on a case-by-case basis, to prohibit intimidating or interfering behaviour. 

That second vote was on removing all the legal provisions for safe zones, including the ways in which the police could administer them so as to protect women from harassment as they sought abortions. 

That vote, to delete sections 15 through 17 of the bill, was taken in a voice vote only, and it passed - rendering the definition of 'safe area' redundant in the law.

It doesn't make much sense that the house would vote for safe zones, but then vote to remove the parts of the legislation relating to the enforcement of safe zones. Surely this is an error in how the vote was conducted or counted?

Deputy Speaker Anne Tolley passed it on a verbal vote. 

Green MP Jan Logie immediately asked for clarification on what had happened. 

"Can I just check the vote and how it evolved around David Seymour's SOP (Supplementary Order Papers) and what the outcome of that vote ... I just wanted to check and to see if I needed to change my vote". 

Tolley advised it was a "vote on the voices" and the "amendment was agreed to". 

Logie sought leave for a personal vote, but this was rejected.

What a shocker! So not just an error in how the vote was counted, but a calculated move to incorrectly administer the voting process.

This is clearly a breach of Standing Orders that require a personal vote to be held on conscience issues when one is called for, particularly when there’s confusion about the outcome of the verbal vote or the result is close.

The only logical reason National's Anne Tolley wouldn’t allow a personal vote to be held in this instance is because she doesn’t want women to be protected through the implementation of safe zones around abortion clinics.

The House of Representatives still has a way to rectify this voting error caused by an apparent anti-abortionist abusing her powers. But this would require the speaker putting their own personal beliefs aside to allow another vote to be held on the second part of David Seymour’s SOP. I have no doubt that it would also be voted down.

Clearly the majority of MPs are in support of safe zones and an intentional error by Anne Tolley shouldn’t usurp their or the will of the people they represent.

Jonathan Coleman - Asshole of the Week

Jonathan Coleman is the most out of touch Minister currently in the National party. Not only did he blunder his way through the last budget, bungling the funding for DHB’s not once but twice, the ostrich with his head buried firmly in the sand is now shirking his Ministerial responsibilities.

Considering that there’s been a number of preventable deaths occur recently in our Hospitals, which have been linked to underfunding, this is entirely unacceptable. The Minister of Health must be available to provide the public with comment when things go wrong, especially when they go wrong because of government error.

Today, Rachel Smalley for the NZ Herald reported:

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman's arrogant, out of touch

I asked Health Minister Jonathan Coleman to come on the programme this morning to respond to some of the failings of Waikato Hospital, if you tuned in yesterday, you would have heard an interview with the Waikato DHB.

The DHB was damning of the health minister and said Waikato Hospital had a funding shortfall to the tune of $32.5 million, and it was a life-threatening situation.

And the DHB described a culture of spin coming from the ministry and the minister, and said everyone was under pressure to talk positively about a situation that was anything but. That pressure, the DHB said, comes from the top.

The health sector is far too important to simply try and cover up what's going wrong.

Yesterday, another tragic story. A baby who died at Waikato after the mother's caesarean section was bumped. There was only one theatre and an acute case took priority. And on Tuesday, you may remember, Waikato Hospital was forced to again cancel all elective surgery.

And yet the minister won't talk about this. It's one week out from an election, health is polling as the single biggest issue for New Zealanders, and all Jonathan Coleman will say about Waikato is "the key thing is, the hospital is coping".

The hospital is coping? Hospitals are clearly not coping as is evident by the numerous reports about their failures. Most are at capacity and under pressure staff in some of our largest Hospitals are turning patients away.

Clearly hospitals aren’t coping because in real terms their budgets have been cut by the National led government. They can no longer provide people with the services required, which is causing real pain and suffering including some deaths.

Last Friday, Radio NZ reported:

Mother of alcoholic man failed by Canterbury DHB 'disgusted' by his care

The 47-year-old died of alcoholic liver disease two days after being discharged on the orders of a doctor who had concluded he was soiling himself on purpose.

In his report released yesterday, Coroner Michael Robb noted that nurses and security guards questioned the decision, saying Mr Jones was too ill and had nowhere to go.

After lying in the bus stop for several hours, Mr Jones was brought into the emergency department, but not assessed.

Police took him to the Christchurch City Mission, where he began vomiting blood.

He was then readmitted to hospital, where he died two days later.

The Canterbury DHB is also hurting from a $13 million funding shortfall.

But if that death wasn't bad enough, the Minister has also refused to provide proper comment on the preventable death of a baby at Waikato Hospital.

Yesterday, the NZ Herald reported:

Waikato District Health Board members irate at learning of baby death in news

A Waikato District Health Board member wants to know why the board did not know about the death of a baby at Waikato Hospital until the Herald broke the story yesterday.

Dave Macpherson said the board was not advised of "this terrible case" which happened in September last year - not December as previously stated - and he was now concerned there would be other serious cases the board did not know about.

"Had we been informed that the reason the baby died was due to a lack of delivery suites, after the hospital 'bumped' the planned C-section to cater for an acute case, we would have had the chance to address this problem earlier," Macpherson said.

But why had the problem occurred in the first place?

Macpherson outlined several areas where this is happening in his DHB:

• The Minister of Health Jonathan Coleman and board chairman Bob Simcock claiming that Waikato DHB could deliver a "break-even" budget for the 2017-18 year, when it is facing a $32.5 million deficit.

• Several delays in producing a report into chief executive Dr Nigel Murray's work expenses where concerns were raised over unexplained spending. The board was told in mid-July a report would take two weeks, but Murray remains on leave two months later as the investigation continues.

Not only is underfunding causing some serious problems in our Hospital's that the Minister is intentionally ignoring, but there’s also a report about potential fraud being delayed. I wonder who would benefit from such a delay until after the election?

Attempting to cover things up and failing to front while Hospital’s are clearly not coping is a sure sign that the Minister isn't fit for duty.

Jonathan Coleman is an out of touch fossil that needs to be consigned to the history books. That’s why he wins this week’s Asshole Award. If his continued failure in the health sector isn’t a good enough reason to change the government, I don’t know what is.

Coleman confused over mental health inquiry

You may have noticed some great billboard’s that put pressure on Health Minister Jonathan Coleman to launch an inquiry into our failing mental health system.

These were made by ActionStation, which can best be described as an apolitical, non-governmental organisation concerned with social and environmental issues.

Yesterday, the NZ Herald reported:

New billboards take a dig at Coleman in his own electorate 

New billboards have appeared in Dr Jonathan Coleman's Northcote electorate overnight - challenging the health minister over his decision to not launch a mental health inquiry.

The billboards look very similar to the minister's own campaign billboards with a picture of Coleman and accompanied by the words "77% of Kiwis want a mental health inquiry (But not me) - Dr Jonathan Coleman, Minister of Health".

…

But Coleman has responded by saying it is that time in the election cycle and said he was standing by his decision not to review the mental health service.

Coleman said ensuring New Zealanders gained access to the right mental health services was an ongoing priority for the government and it would continue to invest in it.

This is ridiculous! Coleman is basically confusing ActionStation with a political party.

He’s also confusing the government’s failure to properly conduct an inquiry into mental health with existing government funding.

Coleman dismissing people’s concerns about mental health services because he thinks it’s an election cycle issue is not acceptable.

Clearly New Zealand needs an inquiry into our failing mental health services. It appears we also need a change in government to get one.

National party delivering misery

We should all realise by now that the National party and their coalition partners haven’t been a very good government for New Zealand. Nearly every statistic concerning our society has worsened since they first gained power in 2008. But a couple of statistics stand out a bit more than the others for all the wrong reasons.

Yesterday, the NZ Herald reported:

Attempted suicide police callouts increase by 6 per cent a year  

Family violence and mental health jobs are time-intensive for police. On an average day officers will attend 74 mental health-related callouts, with each taking, on average, three hours to resolve.

The Police Association has called the surge in mental health jobs an "indictment" on the wider mental health service, and says police are being left to care for the vulnerable.
...

Since 2009, there has been a 51 per cent increase in total mental health callouts.

If the National party was really delivering for New Zealand as they claim, we simply wouldn’t be seeing such terrible statistics that clearly show they’re a negligent government.

On family violence, the total volume of calls attended increased by 55 per cent since June 2009, to more than 100,000 a year. Over the same time, calls that eventually saw a criminal charge laid did not increase - callouts that didn't result in a charge increased by more than 100 per cent.

Bill English can't exactly claim that the increased amount of callouts for family violence is because of more reporting, which seems to be their go to excuse for everything.

The increase in this case is because there's simply more family violence going on, likely because of financial hardship and housing pressures.

This is just another good reason to vote for a political party that will actually work to fix New Zealand and not the National party who has been making things worse.

National culpable for youth suicide

The youth suicide rate in New Zealand is atrocious! Every year it stands as an embarrassing failure of our system to look after and value young people properly. But why have things got so bad? Well one reason is a government that doesn’t really care. National is more concerned with token gestures to try and save face rather than actually putting money where it matters.

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

More kids in crisis being turned away by public system

Now a deep-thinking 13-year-old, Max has a message for Prime Minister Bill English.

"My mum tried really hard to get me help. She rang many places, places that advertise that they are available 24/7, places that advertise that they are there for you if you need them.

"Nobody was. Nobody believed my mum that I was 10 and had been serious about killing myself," he wrote in a letter to the New Zealand Herald.

People looking for help and not finding it is an all too regular occurrence under National.

"I worry that the taxes we are paying aren't going to the places they should and we will continue to see a rise in child suicide because of this. I hope we can get Bill English to listen to us," Max wrote, signing off with a smiley face. 

Almost 2000 young people like Max were rejected or quickly referred on from specialist mental health services in New Zealand last year. That number, contained in documents released under the Official Information Act (OIA), grows every year.

It’s little wonder that New Zealand remains a world leader on youth suicide. If the government is failing to properly fund mental health and other frontline services and this is worsening people’s circumstances they’re in fact culpable for people committing suicide.

Under Section 179 of the Crimes Act it's illegal to assist someone else to commit suicide, which is arguably what the National led government is doing. They’re assisting hundreds of vulnerable people to commit suicide through a lack of proper funding for prevention services.

Former wards of state demand inquiry into abuse

More than 100 former wards of the state gathered at Parliament on Wednesday calling for a full Government inquiry into the abuse they suffered whilst in state care. Mihingarangi Forbes was there.

Children sicken under National

Nine years of a National led government hasn't been good for New Zealand. As well as more homelessness, incarceration and suicides in Aotearoa, the right wing's neoliberal agenda has caused Kiwi kids to become sicker, both physically and mentally.

Today, the NZ Herald (not online yet) reported:

Depressed kids: 15,000 on meds

The number of children and teenagers on Prozac-style antidepressants has soared 98 per cent in the past 10 years to a total of nearly 15,000 young people last year.

It's a similar article to this 2013 one, when Stuff reported:

Number of 'anxious' kids skyrockets

The rate of children diagnosed by a doctor with mental health conditions has almost doubled over the past five years.

Wow! That’s a huge increased in a very short time. I wonder what’s causing it?

A suicide prevention advocate has slammed the results as bad science and says the definition of a "normal child" has narrowed too far.

However, child psychology experts say the increasing rate could be a symptom of a more anxiety-driven society and improvements in the diagnosis of youngsters.

About 25,000 children have been diagnosed with behavioural and emotional problems, with anxiety the fastest growing condition, according to the Ministry of Health's latest children's health report.

Anxiety, ADHD and depression are the three most common disorders in children, and boys are twice as likely to be diagnosed with mental health problems.

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned in this article is the effects of a bad diet. When finances are stretched it’s often people’s diets that suffer and with more people becoming indebted and struggling to pay the bills, people are cutting back on buying healthy foods.

The effect of a bad diet on the nervous and mental system should not be underestimated. Here's an excerpt from a study done by the Indian Journal of Psychiatry:

Understanding nutrition, depression and mental illnesses

The most common mental disorders that are currently prevalent in numerous countries are depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The dietary intake pattern of the general population in many Asian and American countries reflects that they are often deficient in many nutrients, especially essential vitamins, minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids. A notable feature of the diets of patients suffering from mental disorders is the severity of deficiency in these nutrients. Studies have indicated that daily supplements of vital nutrients are often effective in reducing patients' symptoms.

Most doctors in New Zealand will treat mental health issues as solely emotional or biochemical. They often don’t treat their patients holistically nor recommend particular nutrients or refer patients onto dieticians.

The other main issue is that healthy food costs more. If you’re on a fixed budget and have some bills to pay, a well balanced diet becomes a luxury that many Kiwi's cannot afford.

The government should therefore change this negative dynamic by taking GST of fruit and vegetables so that young Kiwi’s are more likely to get the nutrition they require. 

Jonathan Coleman – Asshole of the Week

We all know that the National party prescribes to the ethos that doing less is more. They’re unfortunately stuck in a quagmire of neoliberal dogma that is ensuring increased social dysfunction.

Clearly inequality is directly related to the population’s health and wellbeing, so it’s little wonder that New Zealand’s mental health statistics are worsening.

Don’t confront those who’ve caused this increase in societal harm though. Providing information about the stark realities of National’s anti-New Zealand agenda is a good way to get harassed by a minister who’s legally protected by parliamentary privilege.

On Tuesday, the current Minister of Health Jonathan Coleman went on the attack and tried to discredit an organisation called Action Station who are the authors of a report that details what’s going wrong with the mental health system.

With an attitude like Jonathan Coleman's you can really see why there’s little cross party cooperation going on. Coleman has simply dismissed the report outright and the five hundred submitters to it because he believes it's all somehow a big left wing conspiracy. What a complete moron!

Yesterday, Marianne Elliott on the Spinoff skilfully rebutted Coleman’s accusations:

Not ‘anti-Government’ but ‘pro-democracy’

Coleman accused ActionStation of being a group of “anti-government protesters”, and implied that the fact we campaign on a wide range of issues is the problem. Because the only appropriate way to engage in human rights and environmental advocacy is by choosing one issue and sticking with it?

We’re guided by the priorities of our community members, and people don’t exist in silos. Many of the people who want better mental health services in New Zealand are the same people who want to make sure that their KiwiSaver funds are not invested in cluster munitions or land mines. Go figure.

Nope, we’re not anti-government, even when our members think the government could be doing better, or more. But we are pro-democracy, and we think in healthy democracies there is space for debate, critique and, yes, protest. Although protest isn’t a tactic our community employs often. Generally we prefer to start, at least, by using the pathways built into our democratic processes, like making submissions to select committees and presenting petitions to MPs.

It’s unfortunate that things like incarceration and suicide rates have also increased markedly under a National government. Both of these are directly linked to mental health services or the lack thereof.

Sadly prisons are being used as a proxy for our closed mental health institutions and a lack of frontline services, which is giving rise to headlines like this:

Prisoner at risk of self-harm tied down for 37 consecutive nights, investigation finds

The use of restraints on mentally ill prisoners amounts to torture and undermines New Zealand's status as a civilised country, a leading lawyer says.

Nigel Hampton, QC, said a damning investigation into tie-down beds and waist restraints in jails showed the Corrections Department did not appear to have learned from previous inquiries into the care of severely ill people behind bars.

"It's inhumane and it's small wonder that it can be described as torture," he said.

National’s lack of any proper planning and policy implementation concerning our mental health services is a travesty that should not be so easily dismissed by an old throwback like Jonathan Coleman.

Providing a small amount of funding increase in election year (funding that was previously cut) isn’t a long-term solution to New Zealand’s societal problems. The dysfunction of National’s penny pinching and cuts to frontline services will cost the government and tax payers much more in the long run.

Jonathan Coleman’s arrogance and outright dismissal of Action Station’s unbiased report on mental health services clearly shows that he’s part of the problem and not part of the solution. The right wings blinkered view and head in the sand attitude is why Coleman wins this weeks Asshole award. What a prized prick!