Apathy in the face of disaster

Warning: This article contains topics that might trigger right wing snowflakes!

Unless you’ve had your head buried in a billabong for the last four months you’d of heard about the Australian bush fires. The fires have been unprecedented, with approximately five million hectares (12.35 million acres) of land burned nationwide. More than 1,000 homes have been destroyed and 9 people have now tragically lost their lives.

The world is watching with ever increasing unease about Australia's climate change related disaster. Not just because the fires aren't under control, but because the Australian Government is sitting on its hands while their country burns.

Youth environmental leader Greta Thunberg succinctly summed their apathy up in one of the most iconic tweets this year:

Not even catastrophes like these seem to bring any political action. How is this possible?
Because we still fail to make the connection between the climate crisis and increased extreme weather events and nature disasters like the #AustraliaFires
That's what has to change.
Now. https://t.co/DQcZViKJQz

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 22, 2019

So what are Aussie leaders doing to help fight these fires? Well going on holiday of course.

On 22 Dec, The Guardian reported:

Scott Morrison says Hawaii holiday was like taking 'that extra plumbing contract' on a Friday afternoon

In a series of interviews on Monday Morrison cited family commitments as the reason for his decision to holiday in Hawaii during the crisis, comparing himself to a plumber forced to choose between a Friday afternoon job or seeing his family.

Morrison returned to work on Sunday, cutting short the holiday by a day after the deaths of two volunteer firefighters on Thursday, but insisted he would not “panic” by increasing Australia’s ambition to fight global heating.

Asked about his judgment in taking the holiday, Morrison said the fires had been going since September – citing his earlier visits to bushfire areas – and “still have a time to run yet”.

Even before the bush fire season had officially started the fires had ravaged much of the Australian east coast causing widespread damage. That stark reality wasn’t enough for Morrison to stick around though. Instead he set about annoying environmentalists by saying burning and exporting more coal wouldn’t make any difference to Australia’s fire season. He then went on holiday to Hawaii.

Australian Prime Minister - Scott Morrison

With an ever-increasing body of evidence available you would think that a Prime Minister would make the simple connection between these unprecedented bush fires and climate change increasing temperatures in Australia. Not Scott Morrison though. He’s been steadfastly ignoring the numerous scientists and their warnings that a hotter, drier climate would contribute to Australia's fires becoming more frequent and intense.

So why would Morrison ignore the warnings and advice that Australia must curb its GHG emissions? Well money of course.

On 23 Dec, AFP reported:

Australia PM defends coal as climate-fuelled bushfires burn

Under-fire Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday rejected calls for "reckless" and "job-destroying" cuts to the country's vast coal industry in the face of a deadly climate-fuelled bushfire crisis.

Morrison's conservative government has fiercely defended the lucrative coal industry in Australia, which produces a third of global coal exports and provides work in swing electoral districts.

"I am not going to write off the jobs of thousands of Australians by walking away from traditional industries," Morrison told the Seven Network, in one of several morning interviews rejecting calls for further action.

"What we won't do is engage in reckless and job-destroying and economy-crunching targets which are being sought," he told Channel 9, responding to calls for more climate-friendly policies.

While Scott Morrison cites the potential job losses from the lucrative coal industry for not reducing Australia's record breaking coal production level, he blatantly ignores the many thousands of jobs that will be directly lost because of these bush fires. He also fails to consider the lost productivity because of record-breaking pollution levels.

On Dec 2, The New York Times reported:

Australia Burns Again, and Now Its Biggest City Is Choking

State officials have warned of the dangers. The New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage said that “our network has recorded some of the highest air pollution ever seen” in the state.

In November, the department recorded 15 days of poor air quality, far beyond the monthly norm.  On Monday, the levels of PM2.5, the most harmful form of pollutant, were 22 times the accepted safety level — the equivalent of smoking more than a pack of cigarettes a day. Pollution levels were expected to reach similar heights on Friday.

Even compared to the terrible fire seasons of 1994 and 2001, “this event,” state officials said, “is the longest and the most widespread in our records.”

It’s not just the human cost that should be counted either.

On 29 Dec, The Evening Standard reported:

Nearly 500 million animals killed in Australian bushfires, experts fear

Around 480 million animals are feared to have died in the bushfires sweeping Australia, including nearly a third of the koalas in New South Wales's main habitat.

Ecologists at the University of Sydney estimate around 480 million mammals, birds and reptiles have been killed, directly or indirectly, by the devastating blazes since they began in September, The Times reported.

This includes almost 8,000 koalas, which are believed to have burnt to death on the state’s mid-north coast.

So what will it take to get Scott (Scumo) Morrison to act in the nations and environments best interest…one of Australia’s cities burning down? Clearly a change in Government will be required in Australia before we see any meaningful reduction to their coal exports, which account for a whopping 7% of GHG emissions worldwide.

There is no question that increasingly hotter temperatures are fuelling these fires...and despite underfunded fire-fighters best efforts, the numerous infernos look set to continue destroying homes and livelihoods across Australia with little to no intervention from their climate change denying Prime Minister, Scott Morrison.

The Spinoff is a bit shit really

Call me old fashioned, but I like my sport to be played fair and on an even field. In fact there’s nothing worse than a game where the ref fails to umpire properly and one team is flouting the damn rules.

The same goes for politics. If journalists don’t do their jobs properly, politics becomes a complete shit show! That’s because without politicians being held to account they can pretty much get away with doing and saying whatever they want with impunity. In this regard biased reporting puts the entire political system and our democracy at risk. After all, a misinformed population cannot be expected to vote for or act in their own best interests.

Like previous years, the need for independent oversight and scrutiny from the press has never been greater. But unfortunately 2019 hasn’t seen any increase in balanced reporting. Instead, so-called journalists have again attempted to mislead the public into believing falsehoods with numerous examples of prejudiced and downright dishonest reporting often being the norm not the exception.

Toby Manhire - freelance writer and editor of The Spinoff

A good example of this was displayed when The Spinoff claimed in September that the Labour Party had attempted a cover-up of an alleged serious sexual assault, a claim that turned out to be entirely untrue.

On 18 Dec, Radio NZ reported:

Sexual assault allegations against ex-Labour staffer 'not established'

As part of her inquiry, Ms Dew conducted several interviews and considered 28,000 Facebook and text messages between the complainants, the respondent and others.

There was a "a serious allegation of sexual harassment" made against one of the Labour Party volunteers at his home, along with other allegations of sexual harassment made by the complainant and two other female complainants.

"The most serious allegations, those of sexual assault, were not established," the report said.

"The assault is alleged to have occurred in February 2018 at the respondent's home. However, there is insufficient evidence that the events occurred as alleged by Ms 1, at any time during February 2018.

"Her evidence was incorrect in several critical respects in relation to the events of that evening."

The report also revealed the two people had been in a "consensual personal relationship" for some eight months by February 2018.

On Dec 19, The Daily Blog reported:

TDB 2019 Media Awards  - Worst Journalism 2019 

The Spinoff published a damning one sided expose hit job alleging serious sexual assault, this led to feminist journalists and right wing Pundits to declare that not only must Jacinda have known about this sexual assault, but that she actively covered it up as well. 

It was a vicious character assassination against Jacinda based on nothing more than woke mantra and rumour.

A real good old fashioned witch trial.

When this erupted in the media, huge pressure went on Labour to cauterise this wound and Nigel Haworth lost his job and a review immediately called. To confuse matters, Simon Mitchell, Lawyer and Labour Party uber insider swore that the claimant had never sent the documents she claimed she did.

Pathetically The Spinoff hasn’t bothered to respond to Bomber Bradbury's post. Likewise, the Dew report confirming that the Labour Party wasn’t informed of the alleged serious sexual assault hasn’t resulted in any retractions of the lies that The Spinoff published.

Alex Casey - Senior Writer at The Spinoff

Such unwarranted silence is in stark contrast to their previous vociferous attention seeking. Without a second thought for those who might be impacted, opinionated hacks like Andrea Vance, Tova O'Brien, Toby Manhire and Alex Casey loudly beat their war drums for Labour Party resignations like a bunch of crazed zealots! Too invested in their own false narratives to properly contemplate just how prejudiced their misinformed reckons were, these “journalists” lacked impartiality on a scale never before seen in our faltering fourth estate.

Even now, after an extensive investigation and comprehensive report showed their accusations were false, some journalists still claim Labour mishandled the serious sexual assault complaint, which according to them is the reason party president Nigel Haworth resigned. Apparently the MSM still view Haworth as insignificant collateral damage not worth a second thought or upholding things like journalistic integrity over. God forbid they actually apologise to him for their numerous incorrect accusations that destroyed his previously unmarred career as the Labour Party president.

The investigation clearly shows that Haworth hadn't failed in his duty to the Labour Party or the alleged victims. Instead Haworth resigned because he admirably didn’t want to see his party mired in a relentless, vindictive and unfounded smear campaign orchestrated by unprofessional journalists whose attack articles lacked any semblance of objectivity.

Paula Bennett wrong to condemn PM

Warning: This article contains sensitive topics some people might find offensive.

It seems rather tedious to have to reiterate this on the eve of Christmas, but people are innocent until proven guilty under New Zealand law. Evidently certain journalists and politicians have forgotten this basic tenet of our Justice System. Of course people can make assumptions, but the media and Members of Parliament in particular must ensure that they aren't simply broadcasting beliefs that are based on mere speculation.

I am of course referring to the findings of an inquiry into the allegations of sexual assaults and harassment that recently rocked the Labour Party to its core, an inquiry that was the result of certain media and National Party politicians mercilessly going on the attack against Labour without verifying the facts first. 

Sadly for those who jumped to conclusions, Maria Dew QC recently summarised:

Sexual assault allegation – not established 

1.15. The allegation of sexual assault made by Ms 1 against the respondent is not established. The assault is alleged to have occurred in February 2018 at the respondent’s home. However, there is insufficient evidence that the events occurred as alleged by Ms 1, at any time during February 2018. Her evidence was incorrect in several critical respects in relation to the events of that evening. 

1.16. The investigation also found that Ms 1 and the respondent had been in a consensual personal relationship for some eight months by February 2018. The time Ms 1 and the respondent spent together in his home or her flat, during the evenings in that month, arose out of their personal relationship. In this event, the New Zealand Labour Party Code of Conduct and Harassment policies do not govern their personal relationship.

As some people seem to be a bit confused about this finding, please allow me to clarify. It does not mean a sexual assault did not occur. It is not the place of a QC to make such a determination. Instead that is the role of the Police and ultimately a Court of law.

The problem is that without the alleged victim making a formal Police complaint (here's how to report rape or sexual assault), published speculation about somebodies guilt or innocence is just that, speculation. A trial by media on the basis of misinformation promoted by unscrupulous politicians doesn't help anyone. It certainly didn't help the alleged victims in this case.

Deputy Leader of the National Party, Paula Bennett

A lack of any due process unfortunately didn’t stop Paula Bennett from trying to condemn Jacinda Ardern about the alleged sexual assault complaint, a complaint that hadn’t actually been made to the Labour Party at all. The facts be damned! Bennett smelled blood and knew that her media lackeys would lap her rhetoric up like there was no tomorrow.

Cover-up they yelled, too hungry for a scoop and reckless with their own credibility to even properly check the veracity of the claims made. For most of us however, even before the investigation was concluded, it was pretty obvious such an unrelenting public attack on the PM was unwarranted. The report just confirmed that our suspicions were correct.

The remainder of her evidence about reporting this allegation orally in her 9 March 2019 investigation committee interview, is rejected as improbable when assessed against the weight of other witness evidence to the contrary. On the balance of probabilities, the emails Ms 1 sent to the Party on 9 March 2019, to both Mr Simon Mitchell and Ms Lacy, did not contain any attached document detailing her allegation of sexual assault by the respondent.

This means Labour was telling the truth when they said they hadn’t received a complaint about a serious sexual assault. The QC likely checked for any attachments on the emails Mr Mitchell and Ms Lacy had received and found none. We should therefore consider this finding entirely evidentially based.

So a genuine mistake to attach a document (we've all been there) and/or a calculated attempt to discredit the Labour party and in particular the Prime Minister? In my opinion this all stinks of more business as usual Dirty Politics from the National Party. There is no question that Paula Bennett used the vulnerable 19-year-olds situation to her advantage. Instead of informing the Police about an alleged rapist, Bennett selfishly politicised the unsubstantiated claims and in the process ignored the legal rights owed to all those involved.

Clearly it wasn’t in the public’s interest for Bennett to abuse the very foundation of her Parliamentary Privilege by failing to act with honour. Invariably the general public is interested in politicians telling the truth and upholding the law rather than the morally challenged amongst them using other peoples misfortune to try and save their own deteriorating political careers. In this respect and in light of the malicious smear campaign she caused, Paula Bennett has breached her Conditions of Service as a Member of Parliament.

Here’s what she tweeted just after the report was released:

You don’t dump a report at the end of the year, the same day as the press gallery party unless you’re trying to bury it. There are holes through the Dew Report about sexual assault in Labour & questions which need answering. I will not let this be buried.

— Paula Bennett (@paulabennettmp) December 18, 2019

Get that! Labour wants to bury a report that almost entirely exonerates their conduct. Talk about deluded! The realisation that it’s in her best interest for people to be on holiday at the moment seems entirely lost on Paula Bennett...and for this stupidity alone she should resign.


Do you want to talk?

Safe to talk Kōrero mai ka ora sexual harm helpline: www.safetotalk.nz, 0800 044 334

TOAH-NNEST Te Ohaakii a Hine – National network ending sexual violence together: toah-nnest.org.nz

National Collective of Rape Crisis 24-hour helpline: 0800 883 300

National Party train wreck

The National Party has gone through a number of major changes that in my opinion should be viewed as strategic blunders. Firstly Teflon John resigned under dubious circumstances, which likely cost them the 2017 election.

Then Bill English packed a sad knowing full well that National is down and out for the count. With a lack of renewal, the right wing simply aren’t able to compete with a resurgent Labour, Greens and NZ First coalition, and English could obviously see the writing on the wall.

Much of the decline is because National has worn out their credibility and their current leader, Simon Bridges, simply doesn't inspire any confidence. He's about as charismatic as a dead fish when trying to blame Labour for everything and initially even failed to gain a majority in their leadership race.

Obviously Bridges was chosen because of his age demographic being similar to Jacinda Ardern's and not because of any particular skill set. The usually biased media have also stopped going to Simple Simon for comment, mainly because he often cannot remember his lines properly. I mean does anybody actually "like" Whale Oil anymore? What a complete plonker!

You can tell there are already leadership issues within National as well, because of a lack of any effective narrative coming from within their ranks or from their media hacks. In fact much of their propaganda lately is actually undermining Simon Bridges' leadership, presumably to later promote someone like Judith Collins and a more radical right wing agenda.


After a failed leadership bid, Former Finance Minister Steven Joyce also resigned from Parliament. The Novopay debacle, a costly copyright infringement case, a flying dildo and the fictitious $11.7 billion hole just a few controversies Joyce will be remembered for.

On 5 March, Newshub reported:

Steven Joyce threatens Matthew Hooton and NBR with legal action

National's finance spokesperson Steven Joyce is threatening the National Business Review (NBR) and Matthew Hooton with legal action, Newshub understands.

On Friday, NBR published a column in which Mr Hooton was highly critical of Mr Joyce.

A source told Newshub that NBR received an "aggressive" letter about the column, which said it has until 5pm on Monday to retract or apologise.

The NBR's publisher Todd Scott says Mr Joyce won't be getting either a retraction or an apology.

He told Newshub if Mr Joyce is successful in launching legal action, NBR will subpoena a number of senior National MPs including Simon Bridges and Amy Adams.

Talk about a lack of media skills.

However the bad news wasn't over for the National Party. After more negative headlines about how degraded the public health system became under their watch, former Health Minister Jonathan Coleman also resigned.

On 23 March, Radio NZ reported:

Jonathan Coleman hangs up on hospital rot interview 

Mr Coleman announced yesterday he would be quitting politics to take up a role at Acuity healthcare.

He told Morning Report's Susie Ferguson he had not explicitly been told about the state of the Middlemore buildings. 

...

Ferguson: "That seems astonishing Minister, that if most people in Wellington at the ministry were aware of this, and the Counties Manukau chair knows about it, and the Health Minister doesn't, isn't that stretching incredulity to breaking point?

Dr Coleman: "No, it isn't actually, if people don't tell me I don't know."

Ferguson: "Why would people keep this from you though?

Dr Coleman: "I don't know, but this is not the topic of the interview so I'm a bit disappointed that once again Radio New Zealand ring up and say they want an interview on my exit from politics, and then make it about something else, but anyway, there you go."

Ferguson: "But isn't this quite interesting coming at this particular time when this is a problem that seems to be pretty significant at Middlemore, and you were the Health Minister for some time beforehand. You're saying you had absolutely no knowledge of this.

Dr Coleman: "No, hadn't been told about it. Anyway, have a great day, I'm walking with my kids and I'm leaving politics, so thanks very much Susie, bye bye."

Mr Coleman then hung up.

Perhaps Coleman was working for the private health sector all along?

The National Party is a train wreck full of factions, infighting and political lethargy. As more of National's rot is uncovered, an increasing number of rats will jump off their sinking ship.

The down side is that without an effective opposition in parliament Labour could very well sleep walk to victory in 2020. They may even become complacent about delivering on their election promises.

In the very least the new Coalition Government now has enough breathing space to undo some of the damage caused by nine long years of a socially and environmentally destructive National led government.

Audrey Young: The odds are stacked against Simon Bridges beating Ardern on Budget day https://t.co/U9MlnBoS5P pic.twitter.com/1qzf2WRfAm

— nzherald (@nzherald) May 11, 2018

Bill English is incompetent

When John Key handed Bill English the poisoned chalice of a third term, it was pretty clear that the smiling assassin was getting out while the getting was good. After all, English had been largely left out of most of National’s major scandals over the last few years, unlike Key.

There are a few exceptions of course, like when English ripped off Parliamentary expenses by double dipping on his housing allowance.

But perhaps his biggest legacy is English often gifts government funding to unqualified businesses simply because they have ties to the National party. In fact favouritism for government contracts is one of the reasons National’s budgeting fails to reach surplus. English looks set to continue that corrupt practice by cutting funding to Lifeline, and instead gift a few million to an organisation his wife is running.

Reach further back into National's history, and we see a pro war MP arguing hard for New Zealand's tax haven status to be left alone. Begrudgingly the government has fiddled around the edges, while English continues his party's hopeless record on housing. Homeless Kiwis choose to be homeless, according to Bill.

English's argument against a review of the abortion law is similarly pathetic! And let’s not forget that he used his power of financial veto to kill Labour’s increase to paid parental leave... until the 2017 election race tightened and the National party conjured up the money to pay for their lolly scramble that is.

But perhaps the most egregious of English’s faults is that he believes children with disabilities should be segregated from other students in public schools. He also blames young unemployed Kiwis inability to pass drug tests as a reason why large numbers of overseas migrant workers are required. This is entirely untrue, and attests to the fact that National is happy for there to be 90,000 NEETs doing nothing in order to prop up our low waged economy. His refusal to even acknowledge exploited migrant workers is similarly repugnant!

More recently, English made good on his threat to people's retirement security by announcing an increase in the pension age.

And according to English, nobody knew Todd Barclay’s secret recording of a staffer's conversations could be illegal either. How incompetent would you need to be as a politician to not recall the teapot tape scandal? If anything, National’s obfuscation and lack of accountability over this and many other issues, by ignoring the Official Information Act, has become worse since a change in leadership.

The PM also claimed it was too hard to put a charge on water, while the National party secretly investigated ways to tax water. And despite all the evidence to the contrary, English still maintains that Steven Joyce’s imaginary fiscal hole is real. National's credibility looks shot to pieces after that fiasco.

Continuing on from their previous failure, English made further commitments this year to do nothing about mitigating climate change or reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. National even tried to hide an official report into the costly effects of climate change on New Zealand.

But if all that wasn’t bad enough, it appears that Bill English has also managed to cause, through his incompetence, the Auckland petrol crisis.

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

PM's key infrastructure plan didn't include fuel pipeline to Auckland

The fuel pipeline ruptured by a digger was left out of a "national infrastructure plan" overseen by Prime Minister Bill English despite warnings its loss could "cripple" Auckland transport.

The latest version of the plan developed by Treasury was released in 2015 has no mention of the pipeline from the Marsden Point refinery at Ruakaka to Auckland's Wiri terminal.

The pipeline has been shown as a critical link because it is the only way jet fuel gets to Auckland Airport.

That’s the problem with a government that doesn’t do its job properly… critical infrastructure breaks down.

But the weakness in the fuel supply was clearly highlighted in 2009 when the National Party put Treasury to work fulfilling a campaign pledge that it would develop a National Infrastructure Plan when it first came to power.

English announced the plan as Minister of Finance in 2009, saying it would "plan and rank New Zealand's key infrastructure needs so that projects that provide the greatest economic benefit are prioritised".

But when the Northland Regional Council reviewed the preliminary list produced in 2009, it said "the council considers that the nationally significant issue of fuel supply is currently missing" from a Treasury briefing paper calling for submissions.

Incompetent Bill English and the National party are clearly unfit to be in charge of a country as great as Aotearoa. So let’s get out there and change the government.

National has failed our health system

Along with a number of other worsening sectors in New Zealand, the public health system has become increasingly degraded under a National led government. The statistics clearly show a complete failure to meet growing demand for services, especially in peak winter conditions.

But it’s not just an underfunded health system that's causing harm. The housing crisis has worsened, whereby cold, damp and unhealthy houses are the norm for generation rent. This is causing a huge upswing in preventable diseases. National has also ensured that the cost of living has increased dramatically in proportion to poor people's incomes... again causing dire effects.

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

Number of New Zealand children hospitalised with malnutrition doubles as food costs bite

Malnutrition is putting twice as many kids in hospital compared with 10 years ago, as food prices continue to bite into household incomes.

Child hospitalisation data shows around 120 children a year now have overnight stays due to nutritional deficiencies and anaemia, compared to an average 60 a decade ago.

Doctors say poor nutrition is also a factor in a significant proportion of the rest of the 40,000 annual child hospitalisations linked to poverty - and that vitamin deficiencies are more common in New Zealand compared to similar countries.

There's no denying that National has systematically underfunded the public health system.

Stephen Hoffman waited 10 months for 'urgent' prostate cancer surgery. It spread, & now he has just 5 years to live. https://t.co/32jCb7Gq6U pic.twitter.com/Dp0T4z5n3z

— Checkpoint (@CheckpointRNZ) September 18, 2017

They've also caused poor people to not have enough money to feed their kids.

Is this what fairness looks like? Food cost as a proportion of income in NZ - the imbalance worsens https://t.co/Yywdq9NxuO pic.twitter.com/brHDpWrYme

— Jess Berentson-Shaw (@DrJessBerentson) September 18, 2017

Clearly there’s a disproportionate amount of harm being caused to people trapped in poverty by uncaring politicians. Only a change in government will help to resolve these problems. So come on New Zealand, do your civic duty and vote the bastards out.