Andrew Dickens Afternoons

People are questioning whether or not New Zealand taxpayers should have to pay to rescue foreign tourists from our mountains.
Terry Harch, 29, was airlifted to Dunedin Hospital last Friday suffering frost bite after activating his distress beacon four days earlier.
He spent the following days waiting for a break in the weather until Search and Rescue teams could locate him.
Stuff has reported that the mission cost $150,000.
Andrew Dickens has asked why we should have to pay for it, and whether or not the cost should be borne by the Australian government.
LISTEN TO ANDREW DICKENS ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A long winter of discontent and division feels like it’s settling in.
The latest political poll is evidence that we’re evenly split and also that truth is in the eye of the beholder. The fact that National has held steady and still scores at 45 percent is taken by some to show that the party still has a legitimate claim to authority.
But Labour is within the margin of error at 42 percent. Add on the Greens and you have a 48 percent. A 3 percent margin left over right. And their supporters claim the moral authority. But again that’s within the margin of error. I think it’s only fair to say we are evenly split.
The real winner is New Zealand First who keeps on pulling a 5 percent. It keeps them being the judge jury and executioner. I think it’s also fair to say that the predicted collapse of the coalition is still a ways away and the rise of National is a ways away too as their leader fails to excite the middle.
So we’re stuck. There is no clear winner. The only differentiating factor is your opinion. How you feel.
And depending on how you feel and what opinions you read is the defining trend of the age, which is why logic and facts are the victims.
We are in the age of propaganda. Some say socialism is on the rise. Others say this is the age of strongman autocracy. And both sides are just as sure of their truth and the other sides delusions as each other.
I was struck by this finely balanced division and war of words and ideas and propaganda reading a piece by Business writer Liam Dann in the weekend
Liam was struggling to decide whether we’re heading towards an economic meltdown or not. Whether the drop in business confidence is based on economic truths or not
What he said was that reality is complex and seldom fits easily into party political divides.
And when there is political heat in an issue it gets passionate. And when people argue with passion their ability to process evidence from both sides of an argument seems to diminish. And science has proven that humans create their own reality.
In other words, you’re biased. I am biased. He’s biased. Everyone is biased. Yet despite this, politicians and their party faithful cling to the belief that their opponents are biased and they are not.
And in a time of even balance between ideologies then that’s a recipe for shouting, yelling and accusations.
Liam finished his piece, saying we are all stuck in this life together. And it is short and nobody gets out alive. Spending it feeling angry because someone said something you don't like isn't worth it.
Very true. But it is fair to say this winter of disagreement isn’t getting any shorter

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the more remarkable things happened this week. A Judge actually admitted that he got something wrong and almost apologised.
His name is Judge Kevin Phillips and he is a District Court Judge in Dunedin.
The whole sorry affair started in May last year.
A 16-year-old and his brother were cruising streets of Dunedin looking for a party they had heard about on Facebook and trouble.
First, they shook down another 16 year old. They got him to empty his pockets. They punched him in the face knocking him out and taking his phone and wallet.
Ten minutes later they spotted five students carrying some booze, beer and cider.  So they too were shaken down. The booze was taken and people were hit. And as they escaped, the offender noticed a woman trying to photograph the car they were in.
When this scumball youth appeared in court Judge Phillips granted him electronically monitored bail to his father’s home and orders to receive help and training. Which as it turns out was nearly a fatal mistake.
2 months later while at the training centre the offender noticed the woman who he said had been saying bad things about him and launched a furious assault.
It began with six punches to the face, which knocked the victim to the ground.
As she tried to protect herself, he kicked her in the head as hard as he could and followed it up with two stamps to the temple.
She suffered a cracked cheekbone and eye socket, a broken nose and split lip.
So when this piece of work appeared again in court Judge Phillips admitted he got it wrong. ''It was against my better judgement and I have to take responsibility.'' And he apologised for the 18 year old woman who was beaten up. The defendant was jailed for three years and two months.
So good on the judge, because how many times do we hear of these mistakes but no remorse?
But let’s remember that the offender was 16 and he was offered a raft of intensive services to help get his act together.
But here is the kicker in the tail.
The court heard the man had gone into care at the age of two and was moved 13 times between homes within a year. At 13 years old he was living in a car. Gangs, violence and drugs were the norm. Judge Phillips said ''You're a young man who has had no chance or opportunity in life whatsoever and I feel very sad about that.''
Our child services so often are asked to step in, but you can’t help that they actually make things worse. You can blame the parents but the state also seems good at creating a feral underclass.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A warning to the paparazzi from the Prime Ministers minders.
Parliament Speaker Trevor Mallard is threatening to expel Press Gallery journalists if they take unauthorised photos of the Prime Minister or Clarke Gayford on their return next week.
Newstalk ZB Political editor Barry Soper says Mallard is promising that if his rules are breached, he will withdraw the offending journalist's accreditation and penalise their employer.
Mallard says he wants to make Parliament more family friendly. He has posed in the Speaker's chair holding an MP's baby.
As an example, if the first couple happens to walk behind an interview being videoed with baby Neve, he expects that part of the interview to be deleted.
The Gallery will meet Mallard next week.
LISTEN ABOVE AS BARRY SOPER JOINS ANDREW DICKENS TO DISCUSS THE SPEAKERS DECISION

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I suppose with Leighton on holiday you could say we’ve all had a break from being told that resilience is something modern New Zealand lacks. So maybe it should fall to me to hand out some resilience calls. A little bit of 'harden up snowflake and stop moaning' stuff.
Firstly, the Shortland Street Down’s Syndrome plotline stoush where supporters of Down Syndrome children are upset, particularly with the distressed mother character who in a moment of fear and emotion wails about the possibility of having a munted child. Now it’s confronting, for sure, but it’s the reality. It is absolutely part of the process and the thinking that happens when you first learn your child has an issue to deal with.
To depict the situation as a happy uplifting experience and to block any discussion of the possibility of abortion would do a worse disservice to people trying to understand what parents go through. Ask any parent who discovers an in utero defect in their child and dealing with the initial anger is part of the process. I know one couple where the mother railed about her deformed child to be but found the will to carry on. That child is now in their twenties and is well loved and wanted.
This is an ongoing plotline and we’ll wait to see where the parents go with the process. By the way, soap operas are not just television. They are life writ large which is why they’re so popular and why the best plotlines are mired in real life and real emotion.
On the furore of Winston Peters saying “Kick Fatty Out” about Gerry Brownlee in the house yesterday. Well, it deserves a tut-tut for the Acting Prime Minister to use such language in the house but to get all up in arms about sizest language is a little rich. Winston and Gerry are grown up people who are more than capable of sorting things out amongst themselves if Gerry took any offence. It’s not on to call a fatty, fatty if you don’t know them. And it’s none of your business if someone calls someone they know well Fatty.
And one other point on resilience. Yesterday we were talking about the woes of the construction industry and there was considerable moaning about the growing Health and Safety industry and imposts. I asked the question whether it’s any worse or better in other countries as they mostly appear to have better safety records than New Zealand. Well, I had a number of replies overnight saying the same thing. It’s more stringent overseas. One writer said that we’re 5 years behind Australia and I quote “Almost every site you walk on in Auckland would almost certainly be shut down if we were in Aussie.”
We have a very vocal sector of society who moan. Harden up. Deal with the Health and Safety issue, reject mad claims, but stop moaning, because it’s not going to kill you. Unlike the accidents that killed 40 people at work last year

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Winston Peters’ brief time as Prime Minister is nearly over, but he’s waded in to what might be his most controversial topic yet.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull raised eyebrows after revealing on social media that he eats pies with a knife and fork, as opposed to simply picking it up with his hands.

It’s time we admitted there’s nothing wrong with using a knife and fork to eat a pie. Discuss. pic.twitter.com/O28x3lStXJ
— BenFordham (@BenFordham) July 26, 2018

One Twitter user suggest Winston Peters should be sought for comment on it - and the Acting Prime Minister threw his two cents into the arena.

In support of @TurnbullMalcolm, I don't give a rat's derriere what people think I'll eat a pie with a knife and fork. Some pies are very flaky, and sometimes you want to put sauce on.
— Winston Peters (@winstonpeters) July 31, 2018

Is this un-Prime Ministerial? Andrew Dickens and Political Editor turned Food Critic Barry Soper debate above.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I thought I ought to discuss this waka jumping scenario today.
To be fair, I haven’t talked about it or run talkback on it because it seemed to me to be one of those no-brainer policies that everyone would agree with.
Because, after all, a party MP is elected either by an electorate or through the list system and a fundamental part of the decision to appoint them is that they align themselves with a party, it’s policies and the fellow members. If that MP decides to leave that party then the MP is also abandoning a significant amount of the mandate that put him or her there in the first place. Enough for me to say, quit and seek a new mandate.
But this morning Mark Mitchell was on with Mike Hosking and explaining why anti waka jumping laws are a bad thing. So here is his example. He said that the people of Rodney elected him knowing he was part of the National Party.  If the National Party then changes it’s policies so much that he feels it no longer represents the mandate that it received, he felt that he should have the right to call them out, quit the party and stay in the job as the true voice of Rodney.
For a moment there I thought fair enough and then the alarms bells started ringing again. What if it wasn’t the party that changed but Mark Mitchell.  Does the electorate have the same right to say you’ve changed, you no longer represent us and throw him out? Of course not. If that was the case I wonder if any politician would ever serve a full term.
At its heart, a person who thinks waka jumping is OK is a person who thinks they know better than the electorate they serve and better than the party they joined. It’s more than a little narcissistic and arrogant. No wonder the Greens thinks it’s a great idea as they’re a party full of people who know best.
If you want to waka jump then quit and get a new mandate from the people you claim to serve. Mark Mitchell this morning says why should the country be burdened by the cost of a by-election?  To that I say, it’s the price of democracy. And maybe bearing that cost in mind might make you think twice before deciding you as an MP know better than the electorate or the party.
Also from this morning is the Pauline Kingi affair over the inquiry into Wally Haumaha. Maybe Tracey Martin is just ignorant. I’m on Linked In.  I know that to endorse anyone or anything you have to press a button. I’ve never endorsed anyone. Dr Kingi must have pushed the button on Wally unless she gave her log on to someone else.
She’s already copped criticism because she is investigating the process of selection of senior public servants a job she has done. In other words, she’s being asked to judge the work of workmates. That’s also a bit dodgy.
But my big question and one no-one asked this morning is why Tracey Martin is so determined to keep Dr Kingi. Me, I’d just say sorry Pauline, not your fault, move on and find someone else, preferably one from the private sector.  Meanwhile, if I was Pauline Kingi I’d quit and run for the hills away from these amateurs.

I thought I ought to discuss this waka jumping scenario today.
To be fair, I haven’t talked about it or run talkback on it because it seemed to me to be one of those no-brainer policies that everyone would agree with.
Because, after all, a party MP is elected either by an electorate or through the list system and a fundamental part of the decision to appoint them is that they align themselves with a party, it’s policies and the fellow members. If that MP decides to leave that party then the MP is also abandoning a significant amount of the mandate that put him or her there in the first place. Enough for me to say, quit and seek a new mandate.
But this morning Mark Mitchell was on with Mike Hosking and explaining why anti waka jumping laws are a bad thing. So here is his example. He said that the people of Rodney elected him knowing he was part of the National Party.  If the National Party then changes it’s policies so much that he feels it no longer represents the mandate that it received, he felt that he should have the right to call them out, quit the party and stay in the job as the true voice of Rodney.
For a moment there I thought fair enough and then the alarms bells started ringing again. What if it wasn’t the party that changed but Mark Mitchell.  Does the electorate have the same right to say you’ve changed, you no longer represent us and throw him out? Of course not. If that was the case I wonder if any politician would ever serve a full term.
At its heart, a person who thinks waka jumping is OK is a person who thinks they know better than the electorate they serve and better than the party they joined. It’s more than a little narcissistic and arrogant. No wonder the Greens thinks it’s a great idea as they’re a party full of people who know best.
If you want to waka jump then quit and get a new mandate from the people you claim to serve. Mark Mitchell this morning says why should the country be burdened by the cost of a by-election?  To that I say, it’s the price of democracy. And maybe bearing that cost in mind might make you think twice before deciding you as an MP know better than the electorate or the party.
Also from this morning is the Pauline Kingi affair over the inquiry into Wally Haumaha. Maybe Tracey Martin is just ignorant. I’m on Linked In.  I know that to endorse anyone or anything you have to press a button. I’ve never endorsed anyone. Dr Kingi must have pushed the button on Wally unless she gave her log on to someone else.
She’s already copped criticism because she is investigating the process of selection of senior public servants a job she has done. In other words, she’s being asked to judge the work of workmates. That’s also a bit dodgy.
But my big question and one no-one asked this morning is why Tracey Martin is so determined to keep Dr Kingi. Me, I’d just say sorry Pauline, not your fault, move on and find someone else, preferably one from the private sector.  Meanwhile, if I was Pauline Kingi I’d quit and run for the hills away from these amateurs.

The father of an Auckland who died from a synthetic drugs overdose is calling for the Government to do more to.
Yesterday, Cabinet received a coroner’s report that shows deaths related to the drug rose to 45 over the last month.
Lewis Jones lost his son, Callum, in September last year after taking synthetic cannabis, a drug he was addicted to for five years.
He told Andrew Dickens that his son had been addicted for around five years, and that he had resorted to having Calum committed to a detox centre.
“He was in their care, and then to realise there is no system out there to help these people in rehabiliation, that’s been my biggest... open my eyes.”
He says that police are restricted in their ability to stop synthetic drug dealers due to a lack of policy.
“Why aren’t they putting the restrictions in place to actually prevent people from selling it?”
Jones says that there are limited programs available to help synthetic drug addicts rehabilitate.  
LISTEN TO LEWIS JONES TALK WITH ANDREW DICKENS

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A New Zealander deported from Australia says he supports Andrew Little’s comments taking on the Australian government.
William told Andrew Dickens that he moved to Australia in order to escape the gang lifestyle in New Zealand.
However, he breached the country’s strict rules around good character. He says that he started taking drugs after his wife died, but he was deported because his girlfriend would come to his house, breaching a protection act.
“I went to Australia and spent almost 30 years there. My children are stuck there because of this situation.”
He supports what Little has been saying, and says that more needs to be done over this growing conflict.
LISTEN TO WILLIAM TALK WITH ANDREW DICKENS ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.