How not to help your cause

I take issue with this sort of shit:

Education minister Anne Tolley may be used to facing protests from school teachers, but on Friday night it was a group of school children shouting and jeering at her (Kawerau Intermediate students and supporters).

The youngsters’ anger and frustration appeared close to boiling over into a direct confrontation at the meeting’s conclusion at 9.20pm, with their attempts to get the minister to explain her actions being stymied.

Mrs Tolley declined to answer a question posed by pupil Kunere Timoti about why she had decided to close the school “when you did not even visit it”. Her response that she was unable to comment on the issue because it had entered a 28-day legal process proved far from satisfactory for the assembled school crowd – and when the meeting’s chairman Mark Longley pulled the plug soon after, it appeared the pupils were on the verge of breaking into a spontaneous haka or finding some other way to vent their anger.

Although there are legitimate questions around Tolley’s refusal to visit Kawerau and front the Intermediate supporters, it is the height of arrogance for those supporters to gate crash a meeting for East Coast voters. Kawerau is part of the Rotorua electorate. The Intermediate supporters have no right to barge into a candidates meeting for East Coast voters, emphasis on East Coast voters, and demand Tolley’s attention and, in the process, distract her from issues that affect the East Coast electorate. This was not an appropriate venue for the Intermediate supporters to attend. Tolley’s first obligation in the above situation is to her electorate. Her obligation to the Intermediate supporters is secondary. The story continues:

Some of the now-shirtless youngsters gathered on the driveway outside the church in an apparent bid to confront Mrs Tolley as she was leaving. However the minister and her supporters remained inside the church.

The caregivers, evidently anxious to avoid an incident involving their charges and no doubt aware it had already been a late night for them, quickly herded them back onto an awaiting school bus for transport back to Kawerau.

Good one. Now you’ve made Kawerau look like a town of nutters. This was my biggest worry when I heard the school was putting on some buses and ferrying their supporters and students to the meeting. I was afraid some one would lose it or, as appears to have happened, a few of the kids have lost it and further damaged the already dim view many people hold of Kawerau.

Which brings me to another point. Why were the kids there anyway? What useful purpose do they serve? Other than to add an emotional element to what should be a dispassionate debate. I think it is tantamount to child abuse that the Intermediate supporters keep using these kids, especially their headboy, in an attempt to garner sympathy.

The Intermediate supporters seem to have cultivated a lot of anger in these kids and that’s unacceptable. Tolley’s going to close the school and what are these kids going to do with that anger when that happens. Smash something up? Rob a house? Tag? Misbehave with their parents?

Anyway, the story goes on:

Maori Party candidate Tina Porou backed out of Friday night’s meeting in Whakatane over fears for her safety.  

“Upon arriving at the church, our candidate was greeted by a group of approximately 200 Mana party and Labour party supporters, apparently targeting the meeting for a protest against the education minister in connection with the closure of Kawerau Intermediate,” party president Pem Bird said in a statement.

“We’d be the last ones to challenge the right to political expression – but there has to be some boundaries in place around public safety.

“My candidate felt there was such a level of tension and anger among the crowd … that it might escalate into a situation which was unsafe. I made the decision that given the volatility of the rally as she described it to me, it would not be wise for her to attend.

“According to her account, some of the young people were particularly riled up and she was not confident that the meeting could proceed without incident.”

Unacceptable. Just unacceptable. The Intermediate supporters really have ruined the candidates meeting. One of less than a handful. They’ve stuck it to East Coast voters sending the message that the Intermediates concerns are greater than those on the East Coast. Oh, the arrogance.

This saga really tops itself off with this:

Earlier this week Rotorua MP Todd McClay made thinly-veiled comments about Mr Aim, who lives in Papamoa.

He said the Kawerau community “would be interested to know” that someone making a lot of noise about the education reorganisation had also sent videos of Kawerau students fighting to television media.

So it was the Intermediate Principal, Daryl Aim, who sent those videos to Closeup and sparked what was the most negative media story I've ever seen on the town. He must be gutted, or possibly ashamed. His actions certainly didn't help his cause. In fact, the opposite happened and the videos galvanised the Minister and local figures to push a head with the reorganisation of education in Kawerau. The irony's killing me. I admire Mr Aim’s shrewdness, but if he is indulging in unfair play he has no right to go accuses the Minister of playing the game unfairly. Pretty disgraceful really. I guess this the killer credibility blow for the Intermediate supporters. I think it’s high time they accepted the inevitable.

Tony Bonne: Will the Police press charges?

The Police are due to announce the outcome of their investigation into Whakatane Mayor Tony Bonne. Bonne was under investigation for election overspending after spending $20,928 on his mayoral campaign – the legal limit is $20,000 – Police also investigated concerns that Bonne did not declare all of his expenditure and some costs were inappropriately written off. From the Whakatane Beacon:  

Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Standen, appointed by Eastern Bay police area commander Sandra Venables to investigate the indiscretion, said his completed file went first to Bay of Plenty police headquarters, then national police headquarters to be peer reviewed.

The file had been returned to Detective Inspector Tim Anderson, the Bay of Plenty district crime manager, for him to “finalise the outcome”.

Mr Standen said Mr Anderson was on leave but he believed the investigation was in its “final stages”. Within the next fortnight he expected a result would be announced.

This indicates, to me at least, that a robust investigation has occurred and proper process has been followed. Electoral offences should be treated as crimes – a crime is a crime. More often than not the Police take a relaxed approach to electoral offences. I think it is relevant to restate my thoughts from earlier in the year: 

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Although the amount overspent is small, a mere $928, it represents a blatant breach of the rules and brings into question the legitimacy of Bonne’s election win. The second placed candidate, former United Future MP Judy Turner, was within 600 votes of Tony Bonne. Did $928 spell the difference between Judy Turner and Tony Bonne? Did undeclared and inappropriately written off expenditure spell the difference between Judy Turner and Tony Bonne? It is impossible to know for sure, however it is conceivable that it did.

Tony Bonne pleads ignorance. He claims that he did not know the limit was GST inclusive. This is a piss poor excuse. The Electoral Commission makes it quite clear that GST is included. Tony Bonne, as a former Mayor, should have at the very least a fair understanding of electoral rules. I find it rather odd that a former elected representative and experienced election campaigner overlooked, or did not know, that the election spending limit is GST inclusive. Is it not prudent and sensible to at least ‘assume’ that the limit is GST inclusive?  If you remember National also deployed the ‘GST excuse’ in 2005 and the excuse was just as laughable then as it is now.  

Clearly Tony Bonne has breached the rules and, in my opinion, attempted to play the system. There is room for forgiveness if it becomes apparent that it was all an honest mistake. However, if the opposite is true then Tony Bonne must step down. His mayoralty is stained and there is growing feeling that his election win was illegitimate. The people of Whakatane deserved an honest election – sadly they did not receive one.   

On ya Todd

I was skimming over the Whakatane Beacon on Wednesday and came across this:

A building and construction scheme providing job training and education for Kawerau youth will reopen this year. The scheme was originally run by Kawerau College but closed at the end of 2010. Kawerau mayor Malcolm Campbell, Kawerau Enterprise Agency head Helen Stewart and Rotorua MP Todd McClay campaigned to the Tertiary Education Commission to bring it back.

“This is an excellent result for Kawerau and I am grateful to all those who have put time and effort into making sure that the programme can continue” Mr McClay said.

“Through the continuation of this scheme many more young people in Kawerau will be given the chance to gain a qualification and get a foot on the job ladder.”

The point I want to make is that Todd McClay is a decent electorate MP. I like Steve Chadwick and she was, by all accounts anyway, an excellent MP for the Rotorua electorate. However, and I am surprised to be thinking this, Todd McClay is just as good and possibly better. McClay has a Kawerau electorate office (Chadwick did not) and he makes a genuine effort to get out in the community. I am not aware of many other tangible gains McClay has made on behalf of the Kawerau community, but the perception that he cares about the community may be enough to pull him through this election. Kawerau is a solid Labour town, probably one of the most Labour friendly towns in New Zealand, so I didn’t expect McClay to give the town any attention at all. However, it appears that McClay actually understands what it means to be an electorate MP. Of course this isn’t enough to make me vote for him, but I appreciate his efforts.  

Ngati Awa move in the right direction

It is good to see an iwi come out in support of a socially beneficial enterprise. From the NZ Herald:

Te Runanga o Ngati Awa in Whakatane has become one of the first iwi to put its hand up publicly to buy state houses, which the Government wants to sell

But iwi chief executive Jeremy Gardiner… told a Community Housing Association conference in Henderson he would buy them only if he could pay a price based on their current rental income, not their book value.

"If we go to the Government and say we want to buy them, they will say they are worth $80 million. No one is going to pay that because they don't generate a return to justify that.

"They are worth $19 million based on the current rentals. That is a reasonable purchase price. That gives us some flexibility."

Although, in principle, I disagree with the sale of state homes, it is a welcome change to see iwi swing behind a government initiative other than private prisons and mining. This is ultimately the privatisation of an essential government service, a remission of responsibility on the government’s part. Selling sate homes will reduce government bureaucracy, eliminate on-going costs and provide a one off cash injection. It is a short term exercise aimed at cost cutting.

In any society housing is an essential utility and when housing is, for one reason or another, unattainable, the government should provide a safety net. The private sector is not bound or influenced by any social imperative, unless you consider profit motive a social imperative, and must consider profit above all else. This conflict between social imperative and profit suggests that the private sector is unsuited to providing housing for those who cannot pay market price.

I think Jeremy Gardiner’s comments are reasonable. Given that Ngati Awa is not seeking a return, or at least it appears that way, it would be irrational to demand payment reflecting book value. Furthermore, Ngati Awa already lack the capital required to renovate derelict state homes. Certainly an allowance should be made to accommodate the fact that some houses will need significant attention to bring them up to standard.

So it is reassuring to see at least one iwi move in a positive direction, commercially speaking. I hope a few more follow suit.

Problem gambling in Kawerau

I do not expect people who trade in human misery to have any sense of civic duty, but this is morally contemptible. From the Whakatane Beacon:

The owners of the Kawerau Hotel want to open at 7.30am seven days a week so parents can play pokies after dropping their children off at school.

In an application for a full liquor licence in December, the McCowns said opening at 7.30am would not promote excessive drinking. Instead it would allow parents to use gaming machines after dropping their children at school at 8am.

“If we do not open early we will not get them servicing our machines, parents will just go straight home, have a coffee, do housework and will not come back out until it is time for them to pick kids up from school at 3pm.”

Clearly McCown has spent no time on planet Earth. In most cases gambling does not exist in isolation. Alcohol and cigarettes are often used to cope with the anxiety and depression that gambling, particularly problem gambling, triggers. A 2003 study found that 74% of regular pokie players drank while gambling.

Opening at 7.30am is a sure way to promote problem gambling. It is a form of predation. If the opportunity to gamble in the small hours of the morning exists, then problem gamblers will take that opportunity.

The above quote from McCown says it all really. This is a blatant attempt to increase revenue by exploiting human frailty. Sick. 

Mr McCown did not think longer opening hours would encourage problem gambling, nor would having more gaming machines in Kawerau.  

Mr McCown said the more money that went into the machines, the more would go back into the community through The Lion Foundation – though his own returns were capped.

Longer opening hours will increase accessibility. A restriction on opening hours is one of the few barriers to excessive gambling. In 2008 Kawerau residents spent more money on the pokies than any other town/city in New Zealand. I find this extremely sad given that the median income in Kawerau is just over $17,000 – the lowest in the country. The pokies wreck havoc in Kawerau. Crime, family violence, ill health, family breakdown, poverty and suicidal behaviour can be linked to problem gambling. Kawerau is lucky in one respect though. The Council has adopted a “sinking lid” policy i.e. a cap on the number of gaming machines in the town.

I hate the argument that the more money gaming machines make the more money that “would go back into the community”. This is sick logic. Pokie machines are like a cruel tax on the poorest in society. Where money is sucked from the poorest and then redistributed to pay for some middle class kids new soccer field. The amount of money actually repatriated is minimal as well.   

At peak hours most days he has up to 38 people waiting in the gaming room for a machine. More machines would “reduce the aggro” from people waiting.

More machines will mean more people get a go at pissing away their livelihoods, their childrens wellbeing and the wellbeing of the community.

He would continue to advocate to be allowed more machines, and said if the council continued to block him he would start using machines that supported trusts of no benefit to Kawerau.

Blackmail. Classy.

Problem Gambling Foundation chief executive Graeme Ramsey said the extended hours idea was “crazy”, though not without precedent in New Zealand. Mr Ramsey said 40 per cent of revenue from pokies came from problem gamblers. 

Extended opening hours would only increase accessibility to the machines. Kawerau is consistently among districts with the highest gambling spend per head of population, according to Department of Internal Affairs statistics.

That’s right.

Mr McCown did not think Kawerau had gambling issues and the district’s leaders should focus on “bigger problems” such as fighting and domestic violence.

Yup, McCown is obviously braindead. I wonder if he knows that a woman whose partner is a problem gamber is 10.5 times more likely to be a victim of violence from her partner than partners of a non-problem gambler. Problem gambling and domestic violence tend to go hand in hand. I guess he missed the memo. I wonder if McCown also knows that Kawerau actually does have a gambling problem. Consider this:

In just three months, between April and June this year the 72 pokies in the Kawerau district took in $111 for each of the district's 6921 people: men, women and children — so if you take babies and children and all those who don't gamble out of the equation, just imagine how much some people are pouring into the machines.

And this:

From April, when the monitoring system was installed, to December last year, Kawerau residents put $2,388,710 into the town's 72 gaming machines. That means Kawerau's 7000 people spends on average about $455 each a year on pokies.

And this:

Kawerau is still ranking in the national top four, for poker machine losses. The town's spending dropped by $25,000 in 2009. But it still notched up well over $600,000 dollars. Kawerau was once rated the area with the most gambling problems and losses.

Kawerau has a massive problem with the pokies. If I had my way I would ban them all. This probably won't happen though. So the next best thing is to obstruct McCown and his ilk - tell him he and his machines have no place in Kawerau. The sooner he fucks off the better.

On Kawerau schools

From the Whakatane Beacon:

KAWERAU College principal Steve Lewis believes the town’s children will achieve better educational outcomes if the under-threat intermediate school is taken out of the equation.

Mr Lewis said it was “well known in academic circles” that when a child changed schools they could lose nine months progress. 

“By moving school at age 11 and again at age 13, some children may only make six months progress in those two years.

“While the intermediate may provide some awesome experiences, one more break between primary and secondary results in an unnecessary loss in academic progress.

Firstly, it is probably undisputable that when a child moves school he or she loses up to nine months progress. Even taking this into consideration I still do not support any moves to integrate the intermediate with Kawerau College. Integration should always occur on a case by case basis.

In my opinion it will be a social disaster to send intermediate age children into a high school environment, especially the Kawerau College environment. Intermediate age children are just that – children. Barely adolescent. Any merger between the two schools would expose young children to a toxic environment dominated by apathy, gang aspirations, drug and alcohol abuse, suicide dangers and disaffection among staff and students alike. It is reckless to expose young children to such an anti-social environment when they do not have the intellectual capacity to fully appreciate what they are surrounded by and nor do they have the capacity to determine whether what they are surrounded by is good, bad, normal, abnormal or otherwise.

Intermediate age children at Kawerau College would become prime targets for gang wannabes. A pool of vulnerable children who can be controlled and ultimately moulded. It would be utterly sickening to see young intermediate kids emulating the behaviour of the senior school.

It would take a grossly irresponsible and self interested principal to suggest that the two schools merge. Mr Lewis should consider wider factors. It is not enough to consider the advantages to classroom learning. In my experience most of the learning actually happens outside of the classroom.

Intermediate is a crucial bridge between childhood and adolescence. It is unwise to destroy that bridge and throw young kids in the deep end. I hope the Minister sees sense and opts for option B.

Randomness

I have wanted to blog about an issue affecting the Eastern Bay for a few days now. The problem is nothing significant is happening at the moment. Right now the big issues, in my opinion, are Whakatane Mayor Tony Bonne’s election overspend and the proposal to move the Rangitaiki Ward under the governance of the Kawerau District Council. However, both of these issues are presently in limbo, Tony Bonne’s spending is currently under police investigation and the Rangitaiki Ward proposal is currently before The Local Government Commission, therefore there is not much I can add to what I have already said here and here. With this in mind I scoured the Whakatane Beacon website for something to blog about – anything really – and this story caught my eye.

Whakatane High School’s first roll increase in 10 years has not come at the expense of its neighbours, with Trident High School and Edgecumbe College both reporting similar increases.
Trident principal Peter Tootell said he expected the school to have a starting roll of around 1240, up from 1224 last year.

Historically, Whakatane High School (WHS) has outperformed Trident and enjoyed the largest roll as a result. However, over the past 10 years that trend seems to have reversed markedly. Compared to WHS Trident now enjoys a higher roll and a higher NCEA pass rate. Trident had a 77.5% pass rate at Level 1, 81.6% at Level 2, 76% at Level 3 and 69% of Y13 students gained university entrance. WHS results are considerably lower. Of course you should never take NCEA results at face value. The above figures do not take into account the percentage of endorsements at either merit or excellence level or scholarship passes (endorsements are an indicator of a robust teaching program and a talented student body while scholarship passes are an indicator of individual academic excellence). The figures also do not take into account the mix of internal and external credits (internal credits are far easier to obtain) and the figures are not broken down according to gender, ethnicity and decile. Essentially you can manipulate statistics to tell any story and I think many schools do this. They present you with raw figures which sound very impressive but upon investigation are revealed as nothing great.

He said Trident was inundated with requests from students, particularly from Opotiki and Kawerau, after parents were informed in term 3 of the hostel’s planned shut.
They did not want to go to their local school, preferring to attend school in Whakatane.

Kawerau College has been in decline for two decades I believe. For as long as I can remember many parents have sent their children to WHS, Trident or Edgecumbe College. Others have sent their children to boarding school. This comes down to the fact that Kawerau College is absolutely inadequate – an epithet of mediocrity. This is unfortunate, every student deserves a quality education.

I don’t think there is much of a point to this post. I just wanted to highlight a story I found interesting.