Patrick Gower - Hero of the week

If you’ve ever been affected by the P epidemic in New Zealand, and it’s my bet that in some way you have, the documentary by Patrick Gower that aired on TV3 last Tuesday night was a must watch program.

Not only did this excellent show delve into the underbelly of local dealers and gangs who import and distribute the insidious drug into New Zealand, it highlighted the way in which P, also known as pure, ice or meth, is brought into the country by international cartels that are making a killing.

Gower, who also did a pretty good job of investigating New Zealand’s marijuana scene prior to the cannabis referendum, put himself in some very dubious situations to get the P story...and what a story it is. From the elation of border enforcement officers uncovering concealed meth imports to Mexican cartels boasting about New Zealand being such a good market, the Patrick Gower on P doco was an in-depth and well-balanced piece of broadcasting that every Kiwi adult should watch.

However there was one part in particular that means Gower wins a Hero Award, his advocating for a health based approach. The often-contentious reporter made a very good argument for why the system should give P addicts a chance to get clean, including an inspirational story about Jessie who had beaten, with some help, her P addiction.

On Tuesday, Stuff reported:

Patrick Gower delivers heartbreaking and shocking stories in important meth doco

REVIEW: Journalist Patrick Gower admitted it would be viewers’ Netflix-fuelled fascination with the criminal underworld which would get people tuning in for his latest documentary.

And his access behind bars in New Zealand, and in video calls to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, certainly delivers parallels to the likes of Narcos or Ozark. But the real story uncovered in Patrick Gower: On P is from Jessie, a young mum in Moerewa, who is three years clean.

Jessie clearly loves her kids, and her whānau. They love her, too. But despite all that, she was dangerously addicted to meth for a long time – sometimes ticking up a bill of about $2500 each day, she says.

It’s hard to imagine the true hold of P but she describes the problem with clarity, power and a level head rarely brought to discussions about drugs and gangs. 

Gower also reported on a pilot program in Whangārei called Te Ara Oranga whereby the Police, instead of charging people, allow addicts to be referred to medical professionals with the expertise to help them kick the habit.

With an estimated 140,000 regular P users in New Zealand this isn’t just a good way for the Government to save money, but the only way to address what has become a somewhat insurmountable drug epidemic that the justice system simply cannot deal with by itself.

Extending this pilot across all of New Zealand so that addicts can get the medical assistance they require is something that must happen if we’re ever to address the harm that P does to our communities. 

The only real question is whether the Government is brave enough to do what is right?

Juliet Moses - Arsehole of the Week

It’s no surprise that Juliet Moses was the antagonist who caused people to walk out from the Anti-Terrorism Hui yesterday.

Having crossed paths with the deluded fanatic before, there is no doubt that Moses knew exactly what she was going to do before she got up on stage.

After all, the spokesperson for the NZ Jewish Council and self-proclaimed Zionist is an old hand at making people angry, especially amongst New Zealand’s Muslim and LGBT communities.

The outspoken extremist's history of provocation and disinformation in well-known, so you’ve really got to wonder why anybody would allow her to speak at a hui organised to counter terrorism in the first place?

The event organisers should have been aware that Moses, who often propagates falsehoods on behalf of the Israeli regime, would once again try to grind her old broken axe. Her bias should have been even more evident to organisers being that she had recently been gleefully blaming Palestinians for the escalation and continued bombing of woman and children in Gaza.

Yesterday, Stuff reported:

Walkout at counter-terrorism hui in protest over 'insensitive' speech

New Zealand's anti-terrorism hui has been marked by a mass walkout from members of the Muslim community.

The country's first hui on Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism in Ōtautahi involved experts discussing the evolution of terrorism risk in New Zealand, online extremism, the role of media, and the consequences of hate.

The country's first hui on Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism in Ōtautahi involved experts discussing the evolution of terrorism risk in New Zealand, online extremism, the role of media, and the consequences of hate.

The walkout happened today during a panel addressing the causes of terrorism after a comment from NZ Jewish Council spokesperson Juliet Moses about the Israel-Palestine conflict sparked a commotion.

…

"Hezbollah and Hamas, their military wings are proscribed terror organisations in New Zealand but we saw a rally in support of Hezbollah on Queen St in 2018."

Her remarks caused a strong response from members of the Muslim community including victims of the Christchurch mosque attacks, as people shouted: "Free Palestine."

Her remarks were also entirely incorrect! The march she is referring to had nothing to do with Hezbollah, which clearly shows that Moses is a deceitful propagandist that nobody should ever believe.

Yesterday, Scoop reported:

Juliet Moses Attack On Palestine Solidarity Protestors At The Christchurch Counter-terrorism Conference Was Wrong

Press Release: Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa

The New Zealand Jewish Council spokesperson Juliet Moses should never have been invited to speak at a counter-terrorism conference in the wake of the terror attack against New Zealand Muslims on 15 March 2019.

As a mouthpiece for the Israeli Embassy, Moses uses every opportunity to make false smears of anti-semitism against the Palestine solidarity movement and anyone who calls for sanctions against Israeli to make it comply with international law. She did this today with her opportunistic attack on Palestinian solidarity protests at the counter-terrorism conference.

Today, Newshub reported:

Alternative Jewish Voices 'horrified' by NZ Jewish Council's 'Hezbollah' comment at anti-terrorism hui

An alternative New Zealand Jewish group says it's "horrified" by comments made about the Israel-Palestine conflict at NZ's first annual hui to combat terrorism.

Muslim community members walked out of the inaugural hui in Christchurch on Tuesday, after NZ Jewish Council spokesperson Juliet Moses said leaders needed to be consistent in censuring terrorism.

"We need to hear leaders condemn all support for terrorism and all terrorism equally whatever the source, target and circumstances, and even when it is not politically expedient to do so," she said in a speech.

…

"We are, additionally, horrified to hear Jewish Council spokesperson Juliet Moses double down on her claim that she was expressing the sentiment of our national Jewish community," the organisation said in a statement.

It was "wrong" to use the hui for such statements, it said.

"We feel for those who have been hurt but we are heartened to hear that the hui will continue with its mission.

"Such statements are wrong, period; and it was additionally wrong to bring those politics into the anti-terrorism venue in particular."

Gamal Fouda, the Imam of the Al Noor Mosque targeted in the 2019 Christchurch attacks, said on Facebook the comments stereotyped "New Zealand Muslims of supporting terrorism".

This isn’t Juliet Moses’ first rodeo either. Through trial and error she knows exactly what to say to illicit a reaction from the victims of terrorism. However her campaign to cause conflict in New Zealand didn't end there. Despicably Moses immediately became moderate once her hurtful diatribe had been successful, which is an old tactic used by manipulative arseholes to try and gain the high ground.

That’s essentially why Juliet Moses wins an Arsehole of the Week Award. She intentionally insulted people in the audience to try and stop the hui from working towards what it set out to achieve, peace. Let’s hope that she isn’t provided with an opportunity to express such hateful lies again.

David Seymour caught telling lies

Act Party Leader David Seymour

It really bothers me when the NZ Herald reports the claims of certain right wing politicians as the truth without any fact checking. Not only do they encourage dishonest politicians to continue to lie, they also degrade the standard of reporting we get in New Zealand.

Of course I’m not just talking about the shockingly bad reporting from the NZ Herald when they rushed to print Simon Bridges’ claims that he witnessed a gang fight at Tauranga hospital.

Last month the Herald also reported as fact Act Party leader David Seymour’s claims that a Whangārei primary school was forcing its students to make speeches that acknowledged their white privilege.

On 16 May, the NZ Herald reported:

Tackling racism in Aotearoa: Should white privilege be taught in schools?

A student at a Whangārei primary school had to stand up in front of their classroom and say what they had done to acknowledge their white privilege.

Act Party leader David Seymour says this is just one example he's heard from concerned parents about what he calls "racialised education".

…

Seymour said discussions around race and inequality were important, but he was concerned topics such as "white privilege" at a primary school level would in itself be "divisive".

"What are teachers supposed to say to a 'white' child who may have no money or food at home, be abused, face a learning challenge, or any other challenge? How is it that their colour makes them privileged regardless of their individual circumstances?"

 

Of course Seymour has made this story up to pull at the heartstrings of his racist Act Party supporters. There was no primary school student who had to denounce his or her white privilege in front of the whole class. Just like Simon Bridges' now infamous gang fight, it is a figment of a right wing politician’s imagination…or in other words a lie to try and gain people’s attention.

But worse than that, Seymour has used this lie to attack programs that are in fact working to address racism and inequity in New Zealand. This is because the Act Party doesn’t actually believe discrimination against Maori exists. In fact the Act Party believes that trying to address racial discrimination in Aotearoa is racism in itself. But what else do you expect from a political party that accepts donations from white supremacists?

Despite the Act Party’s campaign of disinformation the Ministry of Education is clearly on the right track with Te Hurihanganui. We should expect this programme to be extended into other schools to ensure historical injustices are rightfully taught to children and adults alike.

National wants to convert farms into pine forests

It really hasn’t been a good time on the opposition benches lately. Not only have we had the various National Party scandals to ensure a decline in their public support, they’ve also entirely misread the room when it comes to the Climate Change Commission’s final report and the Government’s Clean Car Policy.

There is now a somewhat robust pathway to slash emissions so that New Zealand can become carbon neutral by 2050. Of course the right wing don’t like it, mainly because most of them are climate change deniers.

Everybody else on the other hand knows that New Zealand needs to start pulling its weight when it comes to climate change mitigation. While the opposition flails about with arguments that often make no logical or scientific sense, the Government is getting on with it.

The right wing’s attempt to score political points over climate change, by essentially advocating for a do nothing approach, looks even more ludicrous in the wake of recent flooding. Many farmers will understand that these huge consecutive storms are linked to climate change and with their industry dependent on a sustainable future, will hopefully realise that supporting the Government to reduce emissions is the way to go. This would also seem to put farmers at odds with the National Party. 

National is claiming that the ETS, which has been made largely ineffectual by numerous amendments, can get us to net zero by 2050 all by itself. The thing they aren’t telling people, including farmers who are purported to be core supporters, is that around 400,000 hectares of farmland would need to be converted into pine forests for their ETS only plan to work.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the planting of trees to mitigate the effects of climate change, but this is something that the National Party campaigned against in the lead up to the last election. The other issue here is that New Zealand doesn’t need more pine forests than we can ever hope to utilise, especially when we haven’t even got our wilding pines under control.

The Climate Change Commission's report stated that the ETS wouldn’t deliver a desirable low emissions future even if it was increased to $50. The ‘unconstrained removals’ scenario would come close to meeting net zero by 2050 but mean a very small reduction in gross long-lived GHG emissions.

This would also encourage more exotic forests than NZ could ever hope to process or sell overseas.

So if the National Party’s submission to the Climate Change Commission is to be believed, I wonder if Judith Collins has informed her farming friends that National wants to take over their farms with pine forests?

National is falling apart

You’ve really got to wonder what possessed MP Simon Bridges to blatantly lie about gang violence he claimed to have witnessed yesterday.

Perhaps he was just a bit desperate for some attention being that the headlines haven’t be very flattering for the National Party lately.

His belief that misleading the public and police was a good idea was clearly misplaced.

Yesterday, the NZ Herald reported:

Simon Bridges witnesses 'gang fight' in hospital carpark - police dismiss gang link

"Patched" gang members today took over the entrance to Tauranga Hospital and were involved in someone being "badly beaten up" in the nearby carpark, National MP Simon Bridges claims.

Bridges has taken to social media with an experience he said he witnessed after going to visit his elderly father at the hospital this afternoon.,

On a post to Twitter, he wrote: "Patched gang members had taken over the entrance and someone was being badly beaten up in the carpark in a gang fight."

In a further post, he wrote: "I say this because so many want to downplay this gang thuggery and violence. There have always been gangs but nothing like what we see today.

"It is at epidemic proportions."

A police spokesperson said they were called to a "report of disorder" at the Tauranga Hospital carpark at 3.15pm.

Police said it followed an incident where "a motorist was involved in some sort of altercation with a couple in the car park".

"One police unit attended, spoke to the parties involved and advised there were no issues."

The police spokesperson said initially that there was nothing on their file to suggest it was a gang fight.

It also appeared that there were no arrests.

So there was no gang fight. Just a sad politician lying to attain relevance.

Bridges misleading the public into believing that gang violence is becoming worse under a Labour led government just shows how desperate the National Party actually are.

This follows other notable instances of the right wing recently being in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Yesterday, Stuff reported:

When politicians change their minds

EDITORIAL: The National Party has not had a good time recently. If it’s becoming hard for even political pundits to keep track of the gaffes and scandals then spare a thought for the ordinary punters.

A sordid story about former candidate Jake Bezzant​ has raised questions about vetting procedures, MP Paul Goldsmith​ has courted controversy with his views on the benefits of colonialism, the leader is outpolled by a retired predecessor and Parliament’s longest-serving MP, Nick Smith​, has left for reasons that remain mysterious.

 

It’s a pity the political pundits aren’t digging a bit deeper into these controversies. For starters the public deserves to know what Nick Smith actually did to force his resignation?

There’s obviously some juicy reporting to be had with a recording of the idiot being abusive as well as a Parliamentary Service inquiry into the incident.

But instead of the scoop all we generally get on the mainstream news is puff pieces about how he changed his bigoted mind over same sex marriage after his son came out of the closet.

Last week, RNZ reported:

Person who recorded Nick Smith's 'verbal altercation' no longer at Parliament

The person who recorded the row between outgoing National MP Nick Smith and a staffer no longer works at Parliament.

After 30 years, Smith abruptly threw in the towel on his political career on Monday, citing the loss of the Nelson seat and a Parliamentary Service inquiry into a "verbal altercation" in his Wellington office.

Smith said the investigation into the spat that happened last July is ongoing and the best course of action was for him to resign.

He was also under the impression details of that inquiry had been leaked and would hit the headlines on Tuesday, but no such story has appeared and it's not clear why he was told one would be coming.

Other than her Wednesday morning media round, National leader Judith Collins has refused to speak to journalists about Smith's resignation and the investigation this week, only responding to written questions through her media team.

RNZ, however, managed to question Collins as she was leaving a kiwifruit pack house in the Bay of Plenty on Thursday afternoon.

She refused to say if she or anyone from her office had advised Smith a media organisation was set to run a story about the investigation.

As well as the usual backstabbing that goes on within the National Party there’s also Jake Bezzant’s sex scandal that’s been undermining Judith Collins as so-called leader of the opposition.

There’s no question that a number of National Party insiders knew all about Bezzant’s abuse. After all there are numerous victims who have now come forward to inform the public about the National Party candidates issues.

But instead of doing something about the creep the National Party chose to turn a blind eye to his depravities, obviously because the right wing is scraping the bottom of the barrel and lacking in any proper and decent candidates.

Last week, RNZ reported:

Judith Collins distances party from former National candidate Jake Bezzant 'and his perversions'

National's leader Judith Collins has ripped into former candidate Jake Bezzant, calling his actions some of the most disgraceful things she has seen while in politics.

National MPs, including the leader, want changes made to the selection process, after allegations the party's former Upper Harbour candidate posted naked pictures of an ex-girlfriend and impersonated her online.

Collins said she only found out about the allegations on Tuesday.

"I had no idea about what he was actually doing and what sort of fantasist, possibly sociopath, he is. I didn't know about him," she said.

She still had confidence in the party's president, Peter Goodfellow.

Peter Goodfellow is the same guy who hand picked Chinese spy Jian Yang to be a National Party MP, so you’ve really got to wonder if Collins’ faith in him is justified?

Of course Yang wasn't the only National Party MP or candidate that has had to leave politics.

Last week, The Standard reported on:

National’s culture problem

On Monday Nick Smith announced his retirement from Parliament.  A leak of a Parliamentary Service investigation around “a verbal altercation in [his] Wellington office last July” was getting close to the reporting back stage.  And the report was not good.  And the Press knew something about it.

…

His disappearance adds to a growing list of National MPs and candidates who disappeared under a cloud because of what appears to be inappropriate behaviour.  Remember the following? 

Richard Worth and what was it that he did which so incensed the Malaysian Government;

Pansy Wong who resigned after her husband was caught conducting business when accompanying her on a Ministerial trip to China;

Mike Sabin whose activities Cameron Slater said were almost too horrible for words;

Don’t you know who I am Aaron Gilmour who also had CV accuracy problems;

Claudette Hauiti who used her parliamentary charge card for a Christmas trip to Australia and spent approximately $23,000 on MP’s expenses after she had announced she was standing down;

John Key’s ponytail pulling fetish;

The police investigation into Todd Barclay and his use of personal recording devices;

Bill English’s mischaracterisation of the truth relating to his police statement;

The complaints by four women about Jami-Lee Ross’s behaviour;

Andrew Falloon’s resignation for depression caused by the drunken sending of inappropriate graphic material to a woman who was not his wife and was a teenager;

Michelle Boag who stood down from all party positions because of the leaking to National MPs of confidential personal health information;

Sarah Dowie who in her valedictory speech said that she would claw at the windows or walk across hot coals to get out of the National Caucus;

Hamish Walker who was willing to trash the Country’s covid response for political advantage and who racistly claimed that Indians, Pakistanis and Koreans some infected with Covid were on their way to Queenstown while at the same time sending confidential medical information to the media;

National’s Palmerston North candidate William Wood who had photos of himself on Social Media impersonating Hitler.

I can’t be sure that I have captured everyone.  But to that impressive list we can add Smith and Bezzant and I suspect Hipango’s employment relations practices will come back to haunt her.

All of this makes the National Party unelectable, especially while people like Peter Goodfellow are continuing to select candidates. He appears to be going out of his way to find people without morals in the vain belief that National can cover up their transgressions...and if that's not a losing strategy, I don't know what is.

They Are Us film should be made

Rose Byrne to play Jacinda Ardern in controversial movie ‘They Are Us’

Framing is always an important aspect of media reports, especially when it comes to politics. In fact the way a story is framed can often determine whether a topic gains popular support or receives widespread public outrage.

That’s been the case with a proposed film called They Are Us, which will obviously be about the Christchurch mosque shootings that occurred on 15 March 2019 during Friday Prayer, terrorism that shook New Zealand and dare I say the world to its core.

Not only did many mainstream media outlets in New Zealand report on the film in a way that fostered resentment towards the Prime Minister for the pivotal role she played after the terrorist attacks, they also took a lopsided approach to how the film might portray Muslims.

Yesterday the NZ Herald reported:

Christchurch mosque shootings: They are not us, and it hurts to be props in a Hollywood movie

As a Muslim, I have never had any faith in Hollywood. It is an industry that for decades was the only source of information for billions of people on Islam and Muslims, and what they saw were monsters marionetted on screen to sell cinema tickets.

Grotesque antagonists screaming nonsensically, cloaked in black, firing AK-47 rifles in the air before getting mowed down by Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone or Harrison Ford or whatever heroic white saviour was in vogue that year.

Look, I get that Mohamed Hassan has misgivings about old Hollywood movies that typecast not just Muslims, but many ethnic minorities, in a bad light. However the fact that the producers of They Are Us have stated that the film won’t be promoting Brenton Tarrant’s terrorism should put his mind at ease.

Besides, the script has been written by a Kiwi, which should somewhat allay any fears that the film will somehow promote hatred towards Muslims. I mean if any director sought to blame the victims of the mosque shootings, they would likely need to get a job flipping burgers.

And here we are again, being spoken about but not spoken to. Our intimate and devastating trauma packaged and sold by yet another twinkle-eyed Hollywood producer. Our voices are irrelevant. Our bodies props on a set designed to tell someone else's fable.

Even I am surprised by how much this hurts. How angry it makes me. But it's a reminder the pain is still fresh. These wounds have not healed. I write this from a place of utter exhaustion. I am tired. I do not want to deal with this today, but here we are again.

The problem with Hassan’s argument is that a movie informing people of that horrendous day and the governments excellent response to it is more likely to help foster global awareness about racism rather than promote white supremacy. It is more likely to keep the atrocities of a racist gunman firmly in people’s minds, events that if told correctly could help deter such terrorism from happening again.

This is important because only through awareness can we hope to heal the hurt that has been caused by this type of ignorance and racism, and part of fostering awareness is a portrayal of these tragic events in popular media such as film. The alternative to that is silence, which will only be a solution towards more suffering. After all, silence is the abusers friend because it allows people to forget or ignore what has occurred.

Many of the details surrounding this film are still yet to be revealed, including whether Jacinda Ardern approved her likeness being represented on screen, how many of the Christchurch victims were consulted, and how the rest feel about their story being told in this way.

What seems clear is the gleeful tone of the press release, the passing mention of community consultation that feels like an afterthought added by a legal team to stave off social media backlash.

Obviously the PM doesn't need to approve of her likeness being represented on screen, but there are further misconceptions here that also need to be addressed.

Firstly, the directors clearly did consult family members of the terrorist attack and the film hasn’t yet been made, so any assumptions about what it might portray, outside of what has already been published by the producers, is all a bit hasty.

It should also be stated for the record that a number of Muslims played a pivotal role in confronting the gunman and saving lives, which any director would be remiss if they failed to incorporate into their film. For Hassan to believe that a Kiwi director will disrespect these heroes is his fear and not reality speaking.

Furthermore, presuming that Muslims will be used as some sort of prop to promote Jacinda Ardern, when her own commendable response to the tragedy is promotion enough, completely disregards the professionalism and previous work of director Andrew Nicoll.

Demanding the arts be silent about New Zealand's worst terrorist attack will only foster ignorance...and ignorance is what white supremacists like Brenton Tarrant rely on to spread their hatred.