I am trying to enter the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Forum page, it comes up with a message that I need to log in, I have logged in, as a fully paid up member :) otherwise I would not have been able to reach this page. I am trying to open a new discussion, this is very frustrating and I hope it does not represent a Green attitude toward communication.
My issues are as follows and I believe them to be highly significant with a major election approaching.
1. A Constitution and a Bill of Rights. Until we have these in place as absolute law I can never be, or ever feel, a part of Aotearoa New Zealand. I want to belong, I need a place where I am welcome and my quality of life is protected. My family has lived in Aotearoa since the 1840′s and our rights are still not protected. It appears to me that the Crown usurps all. This is my priority. Nothing in this country will change until and unless we have these in place and all Kiwis can feel that they belong and are respected.
2. Employment. When I grew up there was basically no unemployment. When I worked part time before and after school I accepted what I was offered as an hourly rate. It was enough. When I began in the work force I accepted that there was a range of pay rates that reflected my experience and age. I paid my parents rent and I did not buy anything unless I had the money. We have changed all that. At age 24, when I entered the Australian Film Industry, I lowered my age to 20 to get the job and I got the job. I got it for 3 reasons, first I was under 21 :) I was a Kiwi – meant I would work and thirdly, I used my initiative to find where the company was and who they were. Growing up in Aotearoa I had some great women mentors in my life, as a teenager they passed on information that I never received at home. I was respected, trusted and was never out of work. Now, after 43 years of total dedication and a love for my craft I have a great deal to show for it. With the wage rate as it is today young people are being shut out of the market, this breeds unrest and comes back to haunt us big time. I love the old adage “when I got busy, I got better”. Where are the paper, milk runs, where is the introduction to a work ethic? It is fine to be pushing wage hikes, especially for politicians :) when we are in a profitable, self sustaining economy, today we aren’t and I see no drop in wages, simply higher and higher unemployment, more and more social unrest. This has nothing to do with political party color. It is all about attitude, that society owes us, well guess what, it doesn’t! Another issue we have is the over expectation of young people. I look at all the Film and Media courses available and shake my head, where are the jobs, this is NOT Hollywood.
3. Law and Order. We have a major problem in Aotearoa. It is not about education, when I grew up Maori and Pakeha had far less access to the education we have available today. We had discipline. University wasn’t an option. What we don’t have today is zero tolerance. As a child my parents, the education system and the police practiced zero tolerance. We all learned to swim, we all had physical education, we all had home science, we all had to attend sunday school :), we all learned the price of misbehaving. We have dumbed down the system and today the police are the ones who are handcuffed. This is a social issue. I have been told, first hand buy the local police, that politics controls which social groups are to be targeted and which are not. It’s about votes! White collar crime and political abuse are at the very top of the list as we see from the finance and realty sectors. However this is also true in agriculture and local government. Yet it is our youth and minorities, I include all ethnicities in this, that are targeted. It would appear that Pollution and Environmental destruction are acceptable, while graffiti and minor misdemeanors by the young are frowned upon. Again, we need equality supported by a Bill of Rights.
4. Environment. Out clean green 100% lie is going to bite us in the butt big time. Farmers are out of control, our borders are uncontrollable and we are importing, aka supporting the environmental disaster that is known as China. We could well look to a Republican for answers, California’s Schwarzenegger has created some of the toughest environmental laws in the World and we could do well to take a good hard look at California. Where goes America goes Aotearoa? We need to take a good hard look at the quality of our food and the marketing thereof. “Every home needs a garden, every child needs love” that is my mantra today.
5. Social Welfare, this is a killer and the dysfunction comes from the duplication and application of and by Government agencies. Beginning in 1898, with the Old Age Pension, Social Welfare has grown to such a degree as to bankrupt the country’s spirit. ACC for example, is out of control and totally dysfunctional, we need to demand that our Public ‘Servants’, from politicians down and bus drivers up, lift their game and change their attitudes. We need to restore common sense. We need to accept individual responsibility. We need to listen to ourselves and to others, we need consensus. We need a hand up, not a hand out, we need mentoring for young parents and for their children, we have lost our way, we need a return to healthy choices. We need active, unified communities that hold all members accountable. We need to get away from ‘larger is better’. Amalgamation is gutting our society. Divesting community assets is gutting our communities of work and resources. Un-elected officials have far too much power. We need community policing. We need community awareness. We need unified communities. “ No pay, no play”.
6. Finally we need to take responsibility for the public and private debt that is killing our spirit. I hear that Maori are natural entrepreneurs, well let’s empower them, we Pakeha don’t seem to be doing such a great job. We need to bring the focus back to Aotearoa, we need to rein in the dollar, we need to cap public spending and the rising debt and demand, via a full Constitution and Bill of Rights, that Government are the servants of the people and are responsible for the guidlines that control this. We need to lift our game, we need to take a good hard look in the mirror, we need transparent, honest communication, too much of our media is controlled from afar. In other words we need to take back this country, we need to empower the people, all people, to respect those who were here before us and to welcome and respect all immigrants. After all, we all came from somewhere, even Maori. We are all in this together. We are similar but different, we all enjoy a unique individuality, this is one of our greatest assets. Though we all have different beliefs and values, these need to be acknowledged, respected and protected.
Regards, Richard
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About kiwicafe
1955 . . . as a teenager in New Zealand, according to friends :) I talked incessantly of photography & philosophy, in my early twenties I hung out with photographers as I began my film editing career in Australia, I bought a variety of cameras, a faux snapper I guess, more interested in film editing, travel and back deck philosophy through which my curiosity took me from Sydney to New York & Venice Beach. For 45 years have I enjoyed working with some truly great creative directors, writers, art directors, film directors, photographers, producers et al . . . hopefully I learned a thing or two! I did win a bunch of awards and went from Editor of the Year in Australia to one of the top commercial film editors in America, not bad for a skinny kid from New Zealand.
2003 . . . newly divorced, I took the pledge, became 'one of many', an American Citizen & went Searching for Zane Grey's America. For two glorious years I filmed, photographed & blogged my way around the American West.
2006 . . . returned to Aotearoa NZ, restoring a small vineyard and continuing to film, photograph and write. I exhibited & sold some images, harvested a great vintage of both red & white, sold the vineyard, edited a movie or two & now, 2013, I have discovered a whole new journey for myself, via Lou Gehrig's Disease, aka ALS/MND. I continue to practice my love for film | fotography | philosophy as best I can, I am in a good place, there are no mistakes in life!
There’s is not one word of your dissertation I don’t agree with!
It says it all and is absolutely correct. J
Well said Richard , agree totally.