In all seriousness . . .
Sometimes the news is no laughing matter. PHILIPMATTHEWSsummarises the week.
Ihaka and Leon
In the 19th century, drowning was referred to as ‘‘the New Zealand death’’, given the treacherousness of the coasts and rivers encountered by settlers.
In the 21st century, it can seem that the New Zealand death more accurately describes an epidemic of violence against small children. There were two Christchurch cases in the news this week. Ihaka Stokes, aged 14 months, died in an ‘‘extremely violent assault’’ that Detective Inspector Greg Murton told media was the most serious attack on a child he had seen. In the second case, police charged the mother of Leon Jayet-Cole with failing to provide medical treatment.
The 5-year-old boy, who had autism, died in May after being admitted to hospital with serious head injuries. The boy’s stepfather, James Roberts, has been charged with murder.
What did Key do?
Remember back in May, after the Budget, when Prime Minister John Key said that removing the $1000 KiwiSaver contribution would not ‘‘make a blind bit of difference’’ to enrolment levels? Remember how he said that the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) had told him that?
It sounded strange at the time, but hey! Now, what if we told you that, this week, Treasury released documents that included the IRD advice and that it said something different?
That it actually expected ‘‘lower numbers of KiwiSaver members’’? Now, what would you call that? There must be a word for it.
Party at Gerry’s
Weird scenes inside the rebuild goldmine. Since 2012, Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has hosted a small party for media and other friends when the All Blacks play in Christchurch. Apparently it’s a fun event, not that this reporter has been invited. Anyway, this week he canned it after claiming that one recipient of an invitation had implied ‘‘an improper relationship’’ between Brownlee, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) and Fletcher Construction, which sponsors the party and has also recently been announced as the winner of a $800 million tender to build houses in central Christchurch. It’s his party and he will cry foul if he wants to.
Winter is coming
Winter is coming. Indeed, it is here and getting worse. Christchurch is in the grip of a long and tedious cold snap. Gisborne was almost cut off from the rest of New Zealand by snow and ice. Gisborne! We are one nation under extreme weather.
Nine long years
The Government cancelled Environment Canterbury (ECan) elections in 2010 and has promised and then delayed the return of actual democracy to the people of Canterbury ever since. Are we allowed to have it back yet? Please? Soon, they say. Well, in
2019. At this stage, anyway.
Eight long months
You need some light relief after stories like those. Thank goodness for Phil Rudd, erstwhile AC/DC drummer and regular entertainment at the Tauranga District Court. Fairfax reporter Tony Wall was there when Rudd was sentenced to eight months home detention after making threats to kill and being caught with drugs. That means Rudd will miss seeing his old band play in Auckland and Wellington in December. They cruelly went on without him, hiring drummer Chris Slade who also replaced Rudd for a time in the 1980s and 90s. Judge Thomas Ingram may have claimed that no musician is irreplaceable, not even Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, but reports from the UK say that AC/ DC without Rudd and founding guitarist Malcolm Young is not quite cutting it.