I want to tell you a story of how New Zealand is, with the best of intentions, failing its own people. Five days ago I was contacted in the early hours by “Mary”, a girl I fostered 6 years ago when she was 15. She was distressed so I went
Ben Waimata In the mid to late 1980s, there were over 60,000 SKS and SKK rifles imported to New Zealand from China. I had one of these rifles, they were cheap and effective, and most of them will be still serviceable. This one half-decade of imported rifles 30 years
Before Stu Nash became a minister he consulted widely on matters. He gave the impression that he cared to listen, and that he cared about what voters thought. He often went out of his way to show that by posting promotional videos showing him being down with the voters. Since
Something is seriously wrong with our justice system when a brutal child rapist is released into the community after serving just seven years of his light ten year sentence despite an assessment of his likelihood of re-offending being described as “a high risk of violent offending and a moderate to
Consider this tale yet another reason why legalising cannabis for recreational use is a bad idea. Believe it or not, a court in France has accepted using cannabis as a defence for a brutal hate crime finding a Muslim man who murdered a Jewish woman while yelling ” Allahu akbar” not
Awareness and voices are raised in criticism of government officials who restricted firebreak cutting and exacerbated the loss of lives, property and animals in Australia’s ferocious bush fires. “We’ve lost two people in my family because you dickheads won’t cut trees down,” Warwick Spooner told Nillumbik Mayor
Was the gun buy-back a success? Unequivocally, no. How do we know it wasn’t a success? Because not a peep has been heard from politicians or Police about how they achieved stunning results through the buy-back. Chris Geddis has his own thoughts on the buy-back in the Hawkes Bay
By Abigail Hauslohner, Deanna Paul and Kim Bellware. The Texas Tribune. “Texas law protecting armed churchgoers draws national attention after White Settlement shooting” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Oh the irony! Imagine if the first person criminalised under the new act was a senior cop in possession of an illegal firearm. I bet he won’t get 5 years imprisonment that the law abiding LFOs are threatened with, especially with an in-house investigation. The officer allegedly assaulted his
My recent posts about this subject (here and here) have resulted in some fascinating comments from readers ranging from “If Grace Millane had survived her ordeal and laid a complaint, would she have been seen as a ‘woman scorned’? After all, she was in his room by choice, the sex
When I wrote the post “Sexual Harassment? Evidently Not”, my main premise was that allegations of sexual impropriety can be so easily weaponised for retribution or for personal or political gain with little or no corroborative evidence and too often, the damage done is irreparable even if later the allegations
Press release: NZ Outdoors Party “After today thousands of law-abiding New Zealanders will become criminals and face up to 7 years jail for possessing what was a lawful and authorised firearm”. Alan Simmons co-leader of the NZ Outdoors Party said “The police attitude is threatening and intimidating with TV adverts
The police seem to have become extremely trigger happy of late. They have just shot a man (admittedly from dodgy Flaxmere), but the report of the shooting should set alarm bells ringing at what seems to be becoming a habit: The man who was shot at Flaxmere Primary School yesterday
Sir Ron Brierley reportedly arrested at Sydney airport, charged with possession of child pornography 7news.com.au/politics/law-and-order/sir-ron-brierley-arrested-at-sydney-airport-charged-with-possession-of-child-pornography
In a recent case involving an Australian woman who murdered her children, there was something particularly notable about public commentary. Almost every commenter expressed sympathy for the murderer, with much sorrowful head-shaking about mental health. Compare that with the response to, say, the man who threw his young daughter to
I’m not a Catholic. I abhor paedophilia. I’m not particularly enamoured of George Pell. Yet, I can’t escape the uneasy feeling that the most egregious miscarriage of justice in Australia since the Chamberlains has been perpetrated in Pell’s case. What’s even more telling is that
