Pictures just in from the Pike River Mine news conference in Greymouth attended by dozens of media from all around NZ and the world. High interest. Pressure mounting given the rescue cannot yet get underway.
Effort being put into supporting the families and continuing to analyse the air quality in the mine to assess when is the safe time to send rescuers in.
Pictures supplied by Labour’s Damien O’Connor who has been there since Friday night. Labour Leader Phil Goff (pictured in foreground) arrived this morning.
Twitter feed can be accessed at www.twitter.com (#pikeriver). Updates are coming thick and fast.
Our thoughts and hearts are with the (29) unaccounted for miners at Pike River. And their families. The community will be in shock.
Phil Goff has just made a public statement.
He says:
We know the Govt and emergency services will do everything humanly possible to rescue those caught up in this disaster. We hope and pray the miners can be reached and recovered as soon as possible.
Damien O’Connor is at the mine site.
It’s times like these that the spotlight comes on the ability of our media to respond quickly to report a crisis.
My advice is to go sign up to Twitter. www.twitter.com It’s easy. Once you’re there do a search on #pikeriver and you’ll get plenty of updates. Click follow on the people and news media organisations who seem the most onto it.
GreerMcDonald from Fairfax is the tireless social media journo. She works long hours and does constant live updates.
dchengnzh (AKA Derek Cheng) from the NZ Herald is also doing live updates.
I understand Sky News is covering. TV3 had a live feed by about 9.30pm (approx). TVNZ still doesn’t. Not good enough.
Also go to facebook and join this group http://www.facebook.com/PikeRiver (Update: At 11pm when I posted this more than 1400 people have now signed up to this page. Within half an hour another 500 had joined)
While everyone’s been obsessed with the Hobbit there’s another battle looming that could have the same end result – the government rushing off to change labour laws to prevent workers accessing rights.
Today, the Service & Food Workers Union is in the Court of Appeal defending the right of disability support workers to be paid the lawful minimum wage during periods they are required to remain on the employers premises on-call to the 4 -5 intellectually disabled residents they are supporting (known as a sleepover).
Last December, the Employment Court confirmed its decision that being required to stay on the employer’s premises during the night to support people with intellectual disabilities was “work” and should attract the minimum wage. The court described the responsibilities during sleepovers as ‘weighty’ and ‘critical to the business of the employer.’
IHC, the National Residential Intellectual Disability Providers, Business New Zealand and the Department of Labour put forward the argument that if the requirement to pay $12.50 an hour was averaged over a pay period employers could offset higher paid periods for those where rates below the minimum hourly rate were paid, but the Court disagreed.
Now the government’s joined the appeal, with AG Christopher Finlayson appearing alongside the employer (IHC). They will argue that it is possible to average the minimum wage across a pay period and thus it is possible to earn just $3.00 an hour for some hours worked.
The AG will be arguing that the Court’s decision to have these workers paid properly for sleepovers will be a catastrophe for the NZ economy because it will destroy the system of salaries, commission and piece work.
But just in case they lose, the government is currently working on an amendment to the Minimum Wage Act to overturn the Court judgement and allow “averaging” and legal rates of pay as low as $1.00 an hour.
What’s really behind it is that the government will have to stump up with a whole lot of extra cash for Disability Providers if the Court judgement stands.
No problem bailing out SCF with $1.6 billion, but a big problem paying these workers properly.
So, easy. Let’s change the law. After all, they’ve done it for the Hobbit, so why not?
The Canterbury Earthquake, terrible though it was, reminds us of the courage and resilience of New Zealanders in a crisis.
If only the same courage and strength could be tapped as part of our normal ‘economic development’, NZ would be able to unlock enormous untapped potential.
That same courage was evident in many of our forebears: those who voyaged to NZ by waka or ship, and those hacked down the bush to form arable pasture (often on slopes so steep it should not have been touched, but their courage was undeniable).
Tapping into that same strength of character to unlock future potential is part of the task that lies before us.
Our world is changing. The old solutions will not work for tomorrows problems. The old certainties have gone. The era of guaranteed markets in the UK for our sheep and beef has gone. The era of free and easy credit has now gone.
We are told we face a ‘decade of deleveraging’. All around us we see growing signs of despair.
Just as in the 70’s we were called upon to diversify our markets, in the 80’s to deregulate our economy, and in the 00’s to rebuild our torn social fabric, Labour is now called upon to rise to a new challenge in a new era. Just as Mickey Savage did in the 1930s, we are being called upon to find a better way.
NZ is currently meandering through the aftermath of the global financial crisis. We are beset by malaise. We lack confidence. We appear unable to define our own future, and even lack awareness of our own potential and character.
So NZ falls back passively on its proximity to larger Asian growth centres, its traditional bulk agricultural base, and its relationship with its nearest neighbour Australia.
These are undeniable strategic advantages, but if any are a substitute for owning our own future, they will ultimately undermine our national wellbeing and identity.
Our relationship with foreign investment has to change. As it stands we are becoming more and more deeply indebted to foreigners. We have been through a phase of selling state assets to cover the interest. We are now selling our land at the rate of dozens of rugby fields a day. But still our national debt keeps rising.
It was not primarily ‘the government’s’ fault. Most of this debt is private debt. Most of it fuelled the private binge on property consumption (it was never really ‘investment’ despite the temporary up-cycle in which much of it happened).
That we need more foreign investment is undeniable, but it must be channelled into genuinely value-creating and productive activity and not simply transfer the ownership of existing assets to foreigners making our future income deficit worse.
A new conversation must begin – one that starts from the proposition that we wish to own and govern our own affairs.
Opening the Taste of Japan 2010 festival in Auckland, we had the opportunity to firstly taste the pure and fresh Japanese sake (??). Photo credit: Paul Stevenson
Congratulations to the New Zealand Japan Society of Auckland on its 50th anniversary!
Thousands of Aucklanders enjoyed the Logan Campbell Centre event on Saturday, where the organisers “walk you through a unique time” from Oshougatsu (New Year) through to Oomisoka (End of Year).
I conveyed Labour Leader Phil Goff’s regards in my speech by starting with “Go sh?tai itadaki arigat? gozaimasu!”
My efforts to try to deliver a short speech in Japanese seemed to have met the approval of both the Consul General Ishida and the Society’s President Stephen Duxfield.
Special features of the one-day event included visiting musicians, dancers and calligraphy artists from our sister city in Japan, Haiku (poetry) competition, Japanese art exhibition and Tatami workshop to make our own miniature tatami mat.
The Society was established in March 1960 in Auckland by the former Ambassador of Japan S. Ishiguro and A.G. Hardy Hon. Consul of Japan. Mr Hardy was known as Captain Hardy a member of the Northern Steamship Co, which was an agent of Nitto Line (later Nippon Line). Mr Hardy was Hon. Consul for Japan for a long time until the appointment of the first Consul of Japan, Mr Isaburo Mukumoto in 1968. The first President of the society was Mr Owen Rainger (see www.nzjapan.net).
As Mr Duxfield said that “the society stood the test of time and gained credibility as we adhere to our core aims to serve the broader community.”
Last night was the second South Dunedin’s Got Talent contest. Held at the historic Mayfair Theatre (in South D) it’s become a highlight of the South D entertainment calendar.
It grew out of an idea to celebrate what’s good in the community not just talk about the problems. I’m proud to have kicked it off, but even prouder that it’s taken a life of it’s own. All I did last night was turn up and say thanks to a bunch of people and hand out a few prizes.
Oh and I got to have my name in a rap song about South D. Cool!
The talent this year was even better than last year. Firedancers, tap dancers, hiphop groups, ceroc, a Tina Turner impersonator, drag queens (well they were dressed as drag queens) doing “I will survive” and some fantastic singers. It was electric, it was funny, it was about community.
And of course talent.
South D rules.
(Pictured above are the South n D firedancers and Spacifix Six Hiphop group from Kings and Queens Highschools who won the event. Watch out Request, who recently won the Gold medal at the World Hiphop Champs in Las Vegas, Spacifix Six is going places)
Sometimes we on the left of politics are accused of being all about rights, and not enough about responsibilities. More often than not those who espouse this view are coming from a highly punitive stance, often about those in receipt of social assistance, and I have no truck with their arguments.
But I do have a nagging feeling that there is something missing from our promotion of a socially just society. It is encapsulated in a quote I read recently from French philosopher Paul Ricouer.
The unjust man is one who takes too much in terms of advantages or not enough in terms of burdens
Ricouer is really talking about the wealthy not paying their fair share, and that will always be of concern to those of us on the left. But equally anyone who rips off the system can be seen in the same light. Earlier this year Phil Goff in his state of the nation speech talked about his abhorrence of those who cheat their fellow citizens, be they the wealthy financiers or those who game the benefit system.
Labour values have always been based on a fair days work for a fair days pay. We talk a lot, rightly, about the fair days pay, and the importance of fair wages and conditions. But we dont talk as much about the fair day’s work.
My thinking about this was tweaked by an article by Anthony Painter as part of the Open Left project in the UK. He talks about the importance of linking social justice and social responsiblity.
I agree, and I would take the principle of reciprocity a bit further, and to a more positive direction. Rather than just being about obligations to the state or employers, I think we on the left need to emphasise our obligations to each other, as neighbours, fellow community members and residents and citizens of this country.
Driving home the idea that “we are all in this together” as the ad says is a core element of the philosophy of social democratic politics. To me this should be a positive sense of obligation driven by the desire to see everyone able to fulfil their potential.
We also need to recognise the importance of a sense of shared community values, of creating a society that does not allow the lost opportunity, resentment and marginalisation of social exclusion and inequality to take hold.
The left needs to take ownership again of the reciprocity agenda. It should not just be about carrots and sticks but based on developing a shared sense of our common good and the role we all play in creating it.
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, where wealth accumulates, and men decay. Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, 1779
This is the by-line to the 2010 book entitled “Ill Fares The Land” by Tony Judt on the growing inequalities of wealth and opportunity around the world.
I recommend the book, which David Cunliffe and Shane Jones each recommended to me. It examines the different outcomes for social cohesion and equality of social democratic cf conservative policies.
It describes well what is obvious to many in Labour. “We have entered an age of insecurity – economic insecurity, physical insecurity, political insecurity. ….. Insecurity breeds fear. And fear – fear of change, fear of decline, fear of strangers and an unfamiliar world is - corroding the trust and interdependence on which civil societies rest.”
There is much in this book which is worth reading. It has relevance to debates about total tax, our unjust tax mix, NZ’s appalling corrections policy, wealth inequality and the reality that our best assets now can only normally be afforded by NZers lucky enough to inherit wealth (and overseas investors from societies with concentrations of wealth).
We now see the differences between left and right playing out most weeks in parliament. This very week in parliament we are considering an Infrastructure Bill which has a rotten amendment by the government. It is another example of the sort of change in society caused by right leaning governments, which are described in the book.
The Bill as introduced by Labour included provisions relating to affordable housing. Now I concede there is a proper debate to be had between Labour and National whether all of those provisions are appropriate. Labour says yes, National no. But there should be no argument about the provisions in the Bill banning restrictive covenants in subdivisions against low cost housing
Make no mistake, in effect National are saying they see nothing wrong in the developer of land being able by private covenant to exclude those who can only afford less expensive housing from a new suburb. These sorts of restrictive covenant are new in New Zealand and ought to be stamped out. Allowing private planning to exclude those less fortunate from living near them is not right. National thinks that gated communities of wealthier New Zealanders are the way to go. It is yet another practical example of National’s right-wing values. It is wrong makes New Zealand a worse country.
It shows what a flawed set of values guides their decisions.
When I spoke to a group of women on Saturday I was forced to recall the appalling hypocrisy that has defined Paula Bennett’s role as a Minister. I had been feeling sorry for myself that morning but was reminded that my concerns paled into insignificance against what Paula Bennett had done to two women in particular and to people on benefits in general. Here’s what I said.
Over the weekend, members of the Manurewa Cosmopolitan Club voted down a proposed amendment to their rules that would allow the wearing of headwear in the bar if it is worn for significant religious beliefs.
The Human Rights Commission had been asked to be involved in mediation after Karnail Singh was barred from entering the club in November for not removing his turban.
Verpal Singh, secretary of the Sikh Council of New Zealand describes the decision as “a wake up call to their community” about the need to educate the wider New Zealand society about the importance of the turban, saying the turban is one of the Sikh religion’s principal parts of its faith and that asking people to remove it “is like asking someone to strip down in public.”
I might be wrong, but I imagine that the original Cossie Club rule was put in place in the days when men wore hats and they were expected to remove them indoors.
One Cossie Club member justified their decision by saying that allowing turbans to be worn would mean they would have to let in people wearing hoodies and balaclavas. I think that’s stretching it a bit.
The world is changing and I know it’s challenging and difficult. I hope that there can be some more dialogue between the Sikh community and the Club to get a greater understanding each other’s views – and ultimately, an acceptance that we do have differences in religion and culture in New Zealand and that is a strength, not a threat.
After the beehive-spin induced euphoia wears off and the hangover sets in, middle New Zealand will reach for the Berocca and try to work out what the Budget really means for them.
Not to add to the inevitable headache, but here are a few of the facts of life for the morning after.
For at least 3/4, and maybe 90% of the country, by the time they eat a whopping 5.9% inflation next year (Treasury Budget forecasts, not NZLP numbers!) they will be worse off until at lesst 2012/13. For a family with 2 kids on $72k for example, $55 a week worse off.
That inflation will feed into mortgage costs and rent rises. It will result, quite rightly, in pent up wage demands from workers who have gone without wage rises for the last two years.
While its ok that the middle income brackets got some income tax relief, and would have likely got more relief from us, the tax cuts are way too skewed to the top. You just can’t get around the fact that someone earning a $million a year gets $1000 a week back. That is going to make the haves/have nots gap wider. And that gap will inevitably worsen over time, undermining the Kiwi dream and taking us further from the “fair go for all” kind of place we want to be.
That is made worse by the underlying agenda of shrinking the state and the services it can provide. We have already seen home help for the elderly branded “low quality” spend and cut. Health’s new money in the Budget is, we reckon, about $270 m short of standing still given next year’s inflation forecast. That means more cuts to the services and more pain for the vulnerable.
My personal gripe is early childhood education. What has the Govt got against quality preschool education? Why is it swiping $100m pa from that? Labour will lead in this area and every family with young kids will hear us.
Rebalancing the econmy is way undercooked. Take away the smoke and mirrors of the tax switch, and we are still left with residual taxt incentives for property and LAQC avoidance mechanisms. Proof: LAQCs sheltered $2.3 billion of taxes in 2008. The tinkering in the Budget trimmed only $70m p.a. of that.
There is STILL no credible plan for growth in this Budget. The National Govt seems intent in relying on “passive” instruments. I have no problem with dropping the company rate – provided the fiscal balance can support decent public services (personal view – see “About” on the blog site) – but that cannot be enough to get the export sector going on its own. What about the R and D tax credits?
The strucutral problem remains: we don’t export enough, we don’t save enough, and we don’t innovate enough. As an economy we are short on capital, technology, skills and IP. Budget 2010 does not fix that. Time is short and the job is urgent. When NZ wants positive action, Labour will be ready to lead.
As the bubbly wears off in the Beehive and the Berocca gets passed around the country; the poor, the forgotten middle class and the structural problems of the economy have not been moved forward by this Budget.
It remains a suger-coated tax swindle.
It remains a step back, not a step up, and certainly not a step change.
Last week there was quite a bit of media coverage around some pretty dodgy goings on within some of the pokie trusts. It’s time for the government to get stuck in and clean this mess up once and for all. The Gambling Act of 2003 was a step in the right direction, but there is still a way to go. Under the Act, the profits from pokie machines have to go back into the community for charitable purposes, but there are still too many rorts.
Recent revelations that gaming machine proceeds have been used to renovate a pokie room in a strip club, fund lavish meals in fancy restaurants, and encourage gaming venues to switch from one Trust to another prove the point pretty clearly. It’s time to put much more stringent requirements around how the money can be spent so that as much as possible goes back into local community groups and clubs. Times are tough and they really need the money.
Both the current Internal Affairs Minister Nathan Guy and his predecessor Richard Worth acknowledged the problem. It’s time for them to do something about it. They could start by progressing the Gambling Amendment Act currently on the Order Paper and taking a close look at some of the amendments our Green colleague Kevin Hague has put forward. Doing nothing isn’t an option.
We all want better coordinated and connected services, especially for at risk families. Labour was absolutely committed to that. But look what we’ve ended up with.
Today Annette King has said the billion dollar figure Tariana Turia was bandying about gave the impression that Whanau Ora would be a major shift in social policy. Instead National’s stumped up just $134 million over four years.
“The Maori party calls it the first wave of funding. I’d call it more of a trickle,” Annette said.
It’s finally been revealed today that the Government will fund Whanau Ora from the Pathways to Partnership programme.That fund was set up by Labour to fully fund 800 Non-Government Organisations to deliver social services in communities. So where’s the major shift? And where’s the funding to back it up?
There’s a range of expressions one could use. A trickle. Not much chop.
But I personally prefer the damp squib. Growing up, I always imagined it as a damp, grey and slightly smelly dishcloth. But below is actually what it is. Seems appropriate, coz when it’s damp it doesn’t go off.
A squib is a miniature explosive device used in a wide range of industries, from special effects to military applications. They resemble tiny sticks of dynamite, both in appearance and construction, although with considerably less explosive power. Squibs can be used to generate mechanical force, as well as to provide pyrotechnic effects for both film and live theatrics. Squibs can be used for shattering or propelling a variety of materials.[1]
Dr Smith may be good at obfuscating, but its not an admirable skill. This week he claimed the figures used by Phil Goff at question time to highlight the drastic reduction in (mainly) women accessing counselling following sexual crimes were incorrect. They were Dr Smith’s own figures, in answers to parliamentary questions. Phil rounded the historic monthly ACC approvals for October 2008 down from 312 to 300 and contrasted it to the patently unjustifiable 6 approvals in February 2010. Only to the extend of the rounding to 300 – which was to the advantage of the government! - were the figures ‘incorrect’, as Dr Smith stated.
Dr Smith should be criticised for this. He should be held to account. He was repeatedly warned by all and sundry that his plan was patently wrong. Not just by us in Labour - but by numerous professional associations (the Psychologists, the Psychotherapists, the Social Workers), Rape Crisis and many individuals adversely affected by the change. His misrepesentation of the work by Massey University, which he purported to use to justify the changes, was such that they publicly stated their advice was not being implemented.
There can be no doubt the changes were wrong. There can be no doubt Dr Smith has responsibility. There can be no doubt that you don’t need a time and money wasting inquiry to conclude injustice and suffering has been caused. It is abundantly clear that neither Dr Smith nor ACC can justify the over 95% decrease in the number of people being approved for counselling – at a time when sexual crimes have increased.
The Minister’s stubborn refusal to restore the prior rules in the interim while this mess is sorted out sees these injustices multiply. The consequences are very real for the sometimes desperate people currently unable to get help.
Surely the proper thing for the Minister to do is to admit error and restore the prior rules, because the new ones are plainly unfair. Few people in this job like to say Ministers are pesonally responsible for tragic outcomes, but if hundreds if not thousands of sexually abused women are denied counselling, then it is likely that avoidable self harm by some will occur.
Dr Smith needs to admit his error and do the right thing NOW. I’m surprised John Key has not already intervened.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) the Education and Science Select Committee was meant to be hearing my submission on the 51,000+ signature petitions opposing the cuts to Adult and Community Education (ACE). But the government decided to go into urgency to pass wretched Nick Smith’s wretched ACC legislation – you know the one, where we pay more and get less in the way of supportive entitlements to get us working and playing again after an injury. More on that in another post.
You might have seen this already elsewhere, but it deserves to go up here as well, as a great characterisation of what Anne Tolley has done to ACE in our local communities. It’s PPTA’s clever cartoon:
It’s an amusing antidote to being depressed by the systematic destruction of our ACC system causing heated debate in the House. But whatever it was going to be tomorrow – ACE or ACC – we are all losing. It’s either our easy to access, community-based, second chance education, or our world-class compensation scheme. And people said they wanted a change.
On 12 Feb, the White House released this statement:
The White House Blog
eRead the Economic Report of the President
Posted by Dan Pfeiffer on February 12, 2010 at 12:20 PM EST
Yesterday the White House released the annual Economic Report of the President – a detailed analysis of actions taken by the Administration to address our Nation’s economic challenges over the past year and the President’s plans to rebuild and rebalance our economy for the future.
As part of White House’s commitment to make government more accessible, the Economic Report of the President is now available as an eBook for your Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble nook, Sony Reader and a number of other devices. We are always looking for ways to bring people closer to their government through new technology.
The 2010 Report includes an overview by the President of the Administration’s economic policies and goals, a 300-page analysis of the Administration’s first year and over 100 pages of key economic statistics. Now the 2010 Report isn’t just more convenient, it’s also more environmentally friendly.
The full report is available for download as a free eBook through WhiteHouse.gov or through Amazon, Barnes & Noble or the Sony Reader store.
Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director
This is a good thing to do. Making more information available. Bringing government and people closer.
There’s some heartening signs that this Government is interested in making more data available to people. But in a case like this, the quality of the data is as important as the fact that it’s being released.
If the National Government were to release something like this right now (15 months after the election) what would it say? Not much!
Following on from Trevor’s Minuit post yesterday, with that fab song that stirred the heartstrings about You and me; we are New Zealand, I spent Waitangi Day at Onuku Marae just outside Akaroa. Incredibly beautiful place and I live just up down the road from Otakou Marae on the Otago Peninsula, which is equally beautiful, but different.
The Governor General, Anand Satyanand, gave his first Waitangi Day address in a location other than Government House Auckland or Wellington.
He attended the Ngai Tahu Treaty Festival at the Onuku Marae, where in 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed in the South Island and also the place where in 1998 the Crown gave its apology for breaches of the Treaty in its dealings with Ng?i Tahu.
He delivered a powerful address. Something he said, really stood out for me.
Twenty years ago, the late Emeritus Professor John Roberts, spoke on Radio New Zealand about the sequicentenary of the signing of the Treaty. This was five years after the jurisdiction of the Waitangi Tribunal had been extended to examine historical claims, and a few years before the first historical settlements. There was then some uncertainty from both M?ori and P?keh? as to the outcome of the process.
John Roberts foresaw that the process of bringing order to history’s “tangled web” would inevitably be slow and marred by misunderstanding. However, he believed that the Tribunal would one day be seen as a “proud possession of the whole nation.” More importantly, he also saw beyond the grievances of the past to a shared future. He said:
“Years ago, at a conference on race relations in New Zealand, someone proposed … that P?keh? and M?ori would eventually merge into a new and distinct people. Perhaps in the long run they may, and we shall gain something. But in the meantime we must deal with the reality of difference. My hope is not only that we may move closer and understand each other more fully but, far more than that, we may enjoy each other.”
A new and distinct people. Something to truly aspire to though, if at all, a long way off. We need to “get” each other, and as a nation not sure we are up for it yet. The John Key approach to flags and being relaxed about our relationships are not enough. So the reality of difference is what we must get right for now.
I know it’s not Kiwi, but all summer, courtesy of my two nine-year-olds, I’ve been listening to the Black-Eyed Peas. I became a fan of Will I am during Obama’s campaign when he spear-headed the Yes we Can song.
Their One Tribe song below is how I would like to see our future. Acknowledging our differences, but celebrating what binds us.
A couple of days ago I went out fishing – something I love doing. I have fished since I was a young girl, off the wharf at Raglan and then with my Dad, Uncle and cousins in my Uncle’s boat.
As we headed out of Whangamata harbour I saw New Zealanders at play – swimming, surfing, boogie boarding, walking, fishing off rocks, water skiing and kayaking. Our love of the beach is a shared and integral part of our culture and I know I am not the only one who heads to the beach with a great sense of joy.
We are a long narrow island country and no-one is far from the coast (certainly compared to many parts of the world). As a child I learnt to swim at a young age, a combination of my mother’s efforts and the local primary school. One of the things I have become increasingly aware of is that many New Zealanders no longer have that opportunity. In the Maungakiekie electorate for example a number of schools struggle to maintain a pool and teach swimming. Many new migrants come to New Zealand from countries that don’t have the same access to the beach as we do here and so don’t necessarily know how to swim or understand the need to respect the sea. Living in Auckland City means using Council pools costs money, unlike Manukau City that provides access to swimming pools free of charge.
The combined effect of these factors means we have unacceptable levels of drownings. After road accidents and falls, drownings are the highest accidental cause of death. While our levels of drownings have reduced our rates are still twice those of Australia.
Water Safety NZ General Manager Matt Claridge recently made the following comments:
“The 2008 toll supports recent analysis by WSNZ that indicates the drowning toll will rise back to the horrific levels of the 1980’s. Unless New Zealand children learn to swim whilst at school, generation after generation will continually be exposed to a higher risk of drowning. As we know, aquatic activity is diverse and evolving constantly. We also know that 25% of children are unable to get across 25m or manage to keep afloat and tread water. Not enough to suggest they have the skills to save themselves.”
Claridge concludes:
“Swim and survival skills are the first step to preventing drowning. Parents need to understand the importance of children learning to swim, but it shouldn’t be a cost based issue. All New Zealand children should learn to swim whilst at school. To achieve this, children must be able to access a pool, school teachers must be trained to teach swim and survival skills and the curriculum must recognise the ability to swim as an outcome.”
I too believe it is essential that all New Zealanders have the opportunity to learn to swim enabling them to enjoy our wonderful coastline more safely.
As I headed out of Whangamata and saw people enjoying the coast I also thought of the efforts of the Coastguard and Surf Life Savers who help us enjoy our coastline and provide amazing rescue services. And of course I would be remiss if I didn’t note the 24/7 no fault cover we all have from our world class ACC scheme as we enjoy our beach related activities.
Finally, who could not be moved by the tragedy and heroism of grandfather Jackie Wiki and father Felisiano Puleanga who saved the lives of their loved children at the cost of their own.
At the beginning of January, thousands converge on the tiny (but rather spectacular) East Coast community of Tolaga Bay for the annual ‘Pa wars’ - the Ngati Porou inter Marae sports festival hosted by Te Aitanga a Hauiti and the entire Uawa (Tolaga Bay) community. The event is held at Tolaga Bay area school and supported by all the Marae of Ngati Porou and the Ngati Porou Runanga. Events include tennis, touch, swimming, athletics, trivial pursuit, volleyball, karaoke, line dancing, ripper rugby, basketball, chess, golf, euchre, housie, and much much more. There’s something for everyone no matter what your age or ability.
Pa Wars has been going since 1995, and is a time to celebrate family and community “in a fun atmosphere of friendly competition and healthy lifestyle”.
This year I headed up with Phil and his wife Mary, and Rick Barker. We were joined later by Annette and her husband Ray. Parekura was also there judging and helping to run the event. Phil attended last years Pa Wars too and people were really pleased to see him back again this year. I expect the National Party will turn up next year given it’s election year! To see what a great day it was check out the photos I’ve posted after the break.
These are the voices of Labour MPs on issues that we care about - and we'd like to hear what you think too. What you’ll read are the individual opinions of MPs. We won’t always agree with each other and sometimes our opinions may change.
