AND SO, at last, we understand what building your house on someone else’s home means. It means living on top of those who were here before you. It means doing everything within your power to prevent them from getting out from under your crushing weight – and standing upright. It means always having someone to blame.
It means packing your poorest, your most desperate citizens, into a handful of ramshackle South Auckland suburbs. Requiring them to send their kids to substandard schools. Providing them with hospitals that start falling apart even before they are finished. Denying them an effective system of public transport. Paying them the minimum wage. Crowding them into sub-standard accommodation. Policing them harshly. Imprisoning them in shamefully disproportionate numbers. Offering them little, if any, rehabilitation when they are in jail.
And now, as if all this beneficence wasn’t enough, it means expecting them to co-operate fully with the authorities in the fight against the Delta variant of Covid-19.
And amazingly (given their treatment) most of the Māori and Pasifika residents of South Auckland are doing exactly that – co-operating fully. In spite of being shut in behind a complex motorway system that might almost have been designed for the purpose of keeping South Auckland out of sight and out of mind. In spite of all the evidence indicating that when Covid arrives it heads straight for the poorest part of town. In spite of Māori and Pasifika community workers warning those charged with managing the Covid-19 pandemic that the official messaging was all wrong for their people. In spite of everything the Pakeha powers-that-be did, or, more accurately, failed to do, the Māori and Pasifika residents of South Auckland are getting tested – and vaccinated – in their tens-of-thousands.
And inevitably, it isn’t enough.
Maybe, if successive governments had spent the last thirty years building the sort of state housing that the soon-to-be-dismantled Housing Corporation was perfecting in the early 1980s, then the people of South Auckland would have been sheltered from the Coronavirus in decent, publicly-owned and properly maintained homes.
Maybe, if those same governments had worked co-operatively with South Auckland not-for-profits and cultural institutions to design and support a system of health delivery attuned to the needs and preferences of Māori and Pasifika families, then, when Covid-19 arrived, those same families would not have fallen prey to misinformers and conspiracy theorists.
Maybe, if both National and Labour had entertained the truly radical notion that entrusting local communities with the power and the resources to teach their children in a way that made them proud of their successes, rather than ashamed of their failures, then the talent and entrepreneurial spirit abounding in those same communities might have been invested in something more personally and socially rewarding than criminal gangs.
But, because those past governments didn’t, our present government is continuing the practice of crowding individuals and families into motels and boarding-houses. It is difficult to imagine an environment better suited to the spread of a virus – especially one as infectious as the Delta variant of Covid-19. (Concentrating so many of the gangs’ actual and potential clients in these places must also be acknowledged as extremely helpful – although not to public health, or personal security.)
And all this must have been known. In the ministries of Social Development, Health, Education and Corrections. In the Police. Politicians must have known about it, too. How could they not? When, every day, the victims of their “Look markets – no hands!” policies were beating a desperate pathway to their electorate office doors? But knowing something, and doing something aren’t always the closest of neighbours. Often they’re as far apart as Devonport is from Otara, and Remuera from Otahuhu.
And, truth to tell, all of us living in the House of Middle-Class Pakeha know that our wealth and comfort comes with a hefty price-tag. It’s just that we’ve learnt how to defer calculating the cost by keeping the decaying communities of the poor, rank with the stench of deprivation and discarded dreams, as far away from our leafy suburbs as possible. Out of sight, out of mind, works every bit as well for the “boguns” and the “boofheads” of working-class New Zealand as it does for Māori and Pasifika communities – better, in a way, since working-class Pakeha lack the conscience-tugging combination of ethnicity and indigeneity.
But, guilty consciences are difficult to live with. Especially when it becomes clear that all the te Reo speaking and name-changing that guilt-ridden Pakeha can be bullied into accepting will not make one South Auckland family richer or better housed. Unfortunately, where consciences turn sour, prejudices tend to flourish. Once the idea takes root that leafy Auckland is being kept from its pleasures by homeless Māori and Pasifika, the demands will not be slow in coming for South Auckland to be locked-down, ring-fenced, and left to stew in its own Covid juices.
It is then we will discover just how securely the House of Pakeha has been built on the home of Māori. How willing tangata whenua truly are to go on carrying its weight – and accepting its blame.
Well, yes. The impact of the virus on the poor and homeless is unspeakably sad. And it is an indictment on the Ardern government that they have been indolent, callous and ruthless in not addressing homelessness. Previous governments have been just as bad, but they’re gone now, and it is the current effete lot who must be called to account- and not answer with waffle about Aotearoa and who we are – it’s what they are that matters.
I don’t believe that. I believe that Jacinda is the solution.
The solution to what? Her govt of kindness has seen the housing crisis balloon completely out of control…
It takes a long time to turn around a supertanker that’s been bred with the Titanic.
5 years ago 300 people were found to be sleeping in cars in a park in South Auckland. This was the canary in the coal mine . Just the tip of the iceberg.
The rest of the country was oblivious. Where were the investigative reporters like Gower et al back then. Giving Key a soft hand job under his desk while he talked about and spent money on all the ‘important issues’ like changing the flag. That’s where. Go back and have a look at the TV footage and reporting from back then.
Paula Bennett, (the most vacuous of MPs), and Nick Smith’s answer was initially to deny there was a problem or housing crisis. Final with an election on the horizon they resorted to placing them in to motels or tried to bribe them with a couple of thousand dollars to leave Auckland altogether.
What short memories people have.
That said, once in power, the ‘crisis’ needed a crisis meeting and a crisis solution immediately, just like Covid .
A suite of policies should have been brought in immediately to curtail any further rises in the market and prevent further ability by anybody, (in N.Z. or overseas), to game the system. The message needed to be made loud and clear to the banks , real estate agents and so called ‘investors’ that N.Z houses are no longer casino chips.
Of course the speculative bubble would have immediately burst- too bad- and houses today would on average probably be selling for a little over half of what they are now.
Worrying about people who have paid too much their houses if the mark drops is only going to exacerbate the problem . The banks and borrowers understand the risks they are taking. You live by the sword you die by the sword.
In the end , everything gravitates to the mean. Reversion will happen sooner or later and artificially trying to prevent that from happening is a fools errand.
Grant, expect the wrath of The Kraut for raising anything to do with what Key did in the past, apparently it has no bearing on today. Although those 300 people found in cars at least have a solid structure over their heads by a caring government.
The Kraut doesn’t know anything ..that’s his problem …ignorance is blissykins….
That’s not a ringing endorsement Sam.
I am biased. Not because I’m infatuated with Jacinda or some bullshit, but because I forecasted the rise of Jacinda Bang on, 9 months before Jacinda became leader of Labour, th en compared most of the policies for that year and my gut said to me Winston would go left. I mean it was just so obvious for any who took even a cursory look. Not just that, I even said she’d win a Majority, months before corona hit, that was an infrastructure deficit thing. Not just that, I even laid out why National was done for all practical purposes for the next 5 elections the moment 10 bridges got rolled and that See-less would take over as care taker leader of the opposition. So when I say Jacinda is the only solution, I mean it. Its just so obvious.
Name some solutions the current government has brough aside from managing the pandemic.
You must be from some intellectual backwater
You can’t name any?
Yes name them.
Ardern is the handwringer, the empathiser who has done bugger all frankly. Their entire focus is on the next election and getting back in whilst doing little except tinkering.
Had they fronted up immediately and increased benefits (where let’s face it it would all have been spent and stimulated the economy) as requested by 60+ reputable organisations by the time the next election comes around the flow on from the increase would have been obvious, so fewer people could actually complain.
There is always money for rugby and yachting races but apparently never enough to feed everyone despite this being a relatively wealthy country.
Sadly the picture painted that South Auckland is solely populated by Maori and Pacifica is totally wrong. As is the notion it is downtrodden and hopeless. It is not.
It is a vibrant and diverse (possibly the most diverse in New Zealand) community. Spirit is strong. many many examples of this, you will find them if you look. Unfortunately many don’t look. Just sneer.
But as you say state help is not in existence for many. Hence the stronger community spirit.
What South Auckland is fighting is the inconsistency in the lock down scenario. It is OK for a pink haired scientist to go to the beach, but heavens above when two Otahuhu lads front up to Mission Bay for a spot of fishing, they are targeted by Police.
Oh, and by the way, many many “Pakeha” live and enjoy deepest darkest South Auckland.
I would have doubled the salarys of all government employees with a scientific degree of some kind to prevent hoping over into the private sector.
Will be interesting to see what our new tory friends infesting this blog lately will make of this column. Yes it is Roger Douglas’ legacy, and it also NZ National’s toxic adherence to neo liberalism from 1990. There is no way Nashnull gets off the hook on this one! The ghettoisation of South Auckland–where 80% plus properties in Otara are owned by people that do not live there–is the shame of this country along with segregated towns and suburbs all over–Whangarei–Otaika vs Maunu, Wellington–Porirua vs Oriental Bay etc etc.
Don’t be too offended Chris, but this is one of your classic “one in ten” pieces–hard to fault. And what is to be done about it? COVID is so obviously not just the disease of the unvaccinated, it is plainly the disease of the working class, alienated poor.
Bio mass of planet earth: 97% human and their domesticated animals
Natural world: 3%
All the diseases in the natural world has no choice but to jump the species barrier.
If we are serious about halting the spread of this or that pandemic, we will redraw the boundaries of the natural world to a minimum 51% of Planet Earth.
Recent figures indicate that there are more than 200 million insects for each human on the planet! A recent article in The New York Times claimed that the world holds 300 pounds of insects for every pound of humans.
Conclusion, Tho…, Is?
Dave has a severe lack of understanding about geography and the natural world which according to our most esteemed professor Dave, the natural world is made up of, insects.
Just because X number of insects is greater than y number of humans, does not mean that X number of insects live in the natural world and you forgot to add in domesticated animals, professor.
dunno about your figures Sam, but Climate Change is certainly help drive new viruses via extinctions, change of habitat, increases in certain populations (e.g. Bats) and more interaction with humans.
I don’t want to fight with you neither. Let’s fuck these trolls up.
Interesting thought – but it assumes we, as a species, are apart from the ‘natural world’. As a species we could, maybe, liken ourselves to locusts, stripping everything in sight for our own idea of wellbeing. People speak of balance, it’s true. Your estimation of reducing human impact by 46% might help other species, but the politics leading to this are presently unknown. Still … it would probably be good to make better progress in that direction.
Technology doesn’t work in the bush.
Tiger Mountain – re “Yes it is Roger Douglas’ legacy, and it also NZ National’s toxic adherence to neo liberalism from 1990”.
I concur. I recall Ruth Richardson’s spiel about her “mother of all budgets” which trimmed beneficiary payments to provide an “incentive” to find a job, when unemployment was near 11%. Nowadays, neoliberalism is like a noxious weed. Difficult to eradicate. It infests the higher levels of NZ’s public service management and elsewhere. However, it was Bill English who gave beneficiaries a rise years later. Labour had not done anything.Tweedledee and Tweedledum!! The pollies were too busy as individuals raking in the dosh from the property market.
Labours legacy I believe you mean Tiger, Labour being the party that introduced neoliberal “reform” in NZ.
Glad we cleared that up
How very true. At last a realistic view of the tale of two cities. On the back of te wiki o te reo maori gaining a little extra sparkle via another website, come the stories of police intimidation and harassment of a community organiser in Manurewa and their glee at being able to confiscate some KFC. Meanwhile some thousands of richer Aucklanders drive out of town to their holiday homes in Northland, where many maori have been displaced because their homes were deemed to be below par and now crowded into cities.
Must be ‘systemic racism’ LOL
Once again… we reap what we sow.
I think this is the best article I have ever read that Chris has written. As he points out it is frustrating that the anti-covid message does not appear to be adopted by all but given the way those groups have been treated it should not be a surprise.
Thank you Chris, stunningly well said. And the electorate’s response to this abhorrent situation is a rise in support for the the political right.
Was reading the kiwi blog the other day and they’re simply not interested resisting this or that crises because they are controlled by market forces and there’s simply no profit in it because profit is all about short term gain.
John key was somewhat correct. The government could have stepped in and “produced its own vaccine much earlier but pharmaceuticals just wasn’t interested because there would have been less profit in it, but the government isn’t allowed to step in because of rogernomics and ruthinasia, dogma that this blog broadly outlines.
To those that follow the deities of business, the government is the problem but of course the government is the solution when corporates and the wealthy are in desperate need.
But when the fate of the entire population is of concern, the government is the problem, not the solution.
They could have issued Ivermectin (out of patent, so cheap as chips) to all and we’d have had NO problem.
Plenty of evidence from around the world, but social media and NZ propaganda media will NOT tell you about it.
That is one definition of an, echo chamber.
Now more than ever we need to unify and 90% vax will help achieve that.
a couple of well written articles lately , not to say others arent .
i all so think its saddening because im not denying whats written here isnt true .
in regards to ” death cult capitalists ‘ and their summing up as : evil –
well yes Collins goes full Trump
https://twitter.com/StrayDogNZ/status/1443362523890139139
and thats who she will be appealing to – ‘ death capitalists , the disaffected etc .
some good comments Sam , Bert , et al
Cheers
Such a brilliant writer when the focus turns to the raw politics and economics of poverty. Clearly articulating that poverty is not racial but class based – something that is too often overlooked.
NZ’s working and under class are not politically conscious, do not vote (in effective numbers) and have no democratic representation on their behalf. The brief appearance of the Mana Party and the Greens leftward drift were quickly cut off at the knees when they emerged. Those of us in the leafy middle class suburbs who do support the redistributive policies needed – more and higher taxes, better funded and expanded public services and welfare – are for the most part a silent minority.
It’s a rediculous Proposition expecting the poor and underclass with limited wealth to construct their own own corona responses. It’s tolerated politely but the police have been given permission to go full merica on everyone. But you won’t see cop go full merica for someone riving in agony, about to get stabbed, rapped, or to prevent having your car stolen, unless of course if they are, brown. At that point, when brown people are the victim, it will be politely tolerated.
NZ’s working and under class are not politically conscious, do not vote (in effective numbers) and have no democratic representation on their behalf. The brief appearance of the Mana Party and the Greens leftward drift were quickly cut off at the knees when they emerged.
So very true. I need next time to look more carefully at the Maori party policies and see what they have around poverty specifically. Too many people in the Green Party still see the party as simply an environmental party without the social justice arm. They cannot see that these go together.
When I think what the Labour party stood for I see it as pretty sad, middle class elites these days.
True. Especially the bit about successive governments failing to built decent houses for all people especially Maori and Pasifica
Surprise!, surprise!. A virus left circulating, goes viral.
Who would have guessed it?
The government is flat out blamestorming others for their failure to hold the line against the virus, pointing to gangs and rule breakers.
This blame storming doesn’t explain why the virus was being successfully eliminated and declining under Level 4
If it wasn’t for the greed of the death cult capitalists, we would have a rent and mortage moratorium right now, even under Level 3, and the people at the bottom of society would have less incentive to break the rules.
Down with the death cult capitalists! Bring back full L4 Lockdown! with a full Mortgage and Rent Moratorium for the duration of the lockdown! Let’s eliminate the Virus and again be the envy of the world!*
We did it once, we can do it again.
*(instead of just another sad failed basket case)
…..by 1931, it was clear that further intervention was necessary to prevent widespread foreclosures and mortgagee sales…..
….Although mortgage relief was frequently discussed at some length by
contemporary commentators, and by some historians in the 1950s and
1960s, it has been relegated to a few lines at most in more recent works.’
…..This Act also extended to lessees [renters] the same protection
that had been granted to mortgagors,
The modification of mortgage conditions was not new in New Zealand. A ‘mortgage moratorium’ had been imposed as a war measure in 1914,
http://www.nzjh.auckland.ac.nz/docs/1987/NZJH_21_2_03.pdf
It’s definitely worth considering. And the banks have plenty of buffering capacity.
Would just like to mention that the strategy called Elimination means stopping community spread, not eliminating the virus which is, of course, impossible. It doesn’t stop critics of the strategy poo-pooing it by stating the obvious as impossible. I believe this is called a Straw Man and is an insult to the intelligence.
Thanks Chris for this blog. The challenge is enormous. The virus has starkly exposed the reality that no one is safe not even the wealthy in such an unequal world. It will require real leadership to come through this lockdown- if and when we do- with resolve to correct the huge imbalances that threaten us all
Surprise!, surprise!. A virus left circulating, goes viral.
Who would have guessed it?
The government is flat out blamestorming others, for their failure to hold the line against the virus, pointing to gangs and rule breakers as the cause for the virus spreading out of control.
This blame storming doesn’t explain why the virus was being successfully eliminated and declining under Level 4
If it wasn’t for the greed of the death cult capitalists, we would have a rent and mortage moratorium right now, even under Level 3, and the people at the bottom of society would have less incentive to break the rules.
Down with the death cult capitalists! Bring back full L4 Lockdown! with a full Mortgage and Rent Moratorium for the duration of the lockdown! Let’s eliminate the Virus and again be the envy of the world!*
We did it once, we can do it again.
*(instead of just another sad failed basket case)
…..by 1931, it was clear that further intervention was necessary to prevent widespread foreclosures and mortgagee sales…..
….Although mortgage relief was frequently discussed at some length by
contemporary commentators, and by some historians in the 1950s and
1960s, it has been relegated to a few lines at most in more recent works.’
…..This Act also extended to lessees [renters] the same protection
that had been granted to mortgagors,
The modification of mortgage conditions was not new in New Zealand. A ‘mortgage moratorium’ had been imposed as a war measure in 1914,
http://www.nzjh.auckland.ac.nz/docs/1987/NZJH_21_2_03.pdf
She’s just slow and that’s left ground wide open for the private sector To move in like Iv been saying.
The cause of the uptick in covid infections and spread, can not be sheeted to, the depised Gangs, or those other New Zealanders on the bottom rungs of sociey, crowded into emergency housing, or rough sleepers.
But it was always these groups would be the worst impacted if the virus got loose.
The cause of the uptick in covid infections and spread, can be sheeted firstly to the government who caved into to political pressure from the business and financial sectors. These venal mercantile plutocrats, will be congratulating each other, at their continued proven ability to bend governments to their will, even in the face of a pandemic.
Real Labour party ideas in UK. Are you watching NZ National light. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10045885/Keir-Starmer-says-Labour-government-raid-homeowners-shareholders-fund-NHS.html
Real Labour party ideas in UK. Are you watching NZ National light. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10045885/Keir-Starmer-says-Labour-government-raid-homeowners-shareholders-fund-NHS.html
The government refused to give suffering Aucklanders rent or mortgage relief and instead lifted the lockdown While the virus was still circulating in the community.
Who’s to blame for the uptick in in covid infections. The gangs? The homeless? Those in emergency housing? The government? The financiers?
David Attenborough gives us a clue;
If you collect 100 black ants and 100 red ants and put them in a jar, nothing will happen. But if you shake the jar violently and leave it on the table, the ants will start killing each other.
Reds will believe black is the enemy, while blacks will believe red is the enemy when the real enemy is the person who shook the jar.
The same is true in our society. Before we fight each other, we must ask ourselves:
Who shook the jar?
David Attenborough
“soon-to-be-dismantled Housing Corporation”
Is there a Scoop coming? What do you know and when did you find out?
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