GUEST BLOG: Willie Jackson – National’s contamination hysteria aimed at state tenants
This latest example of National using the poor to get their right wing agenda through, the disgusting meth contamination hysteria aimed at state tenants, hits home for me.
We had state tenants kicked out of state homes living at our local marae when Te Puea opened their doors to the homeless in 2016. We saw the impact of this policy, and it was needlessly mean. Grandmothers having kids taken from them, mothers and children being forced to sleep on the floor, vulnerable families put through needless stress and harm.
But that appalling situation has become even more infuriating when we found out this week the whole thing was a nasty spirited hysteria that made some very rich.
$100 million was wasted on this farce and hundreds of state houses were needlessly left vacant while thousands were kicked onto the street for 12 months!
No wonder our homelessness and housing crisis exploded under National, they were actively feeding it with disgusting social policy.
What’s worse is that National fed this while they were trying to privatise state housing. They attacked state tenants and demonised them so the public wouldn’t feel angry when National privatised state housing.
Housing NZ were told on multiple occasions by people like The Drug Foundation, various poverty groups and journalists like John Campbell, Lisa Owen and Russell Brown that they were misinterpreting their policy and Housing NZ acknowledged that but continued anyway because National pushed for a hard line.
National can’t pretend now to have been fooled by Housing NZ because HNZ and the Minister were told that they had it wrong in 2016!
National should be ashamed.
Look, I’m sick of listening to National Party excuses, this was wrong! Vulnerable people turfed out onto the street so National could privatise state houses, it was ugly politics.
National can explain and shrug and pass the buck, but it’s cruel and they know it.
National owe every New Zealander an apology – now!
Mainstream media should also apologise. It seems back then, and even now, that they had bought the Paula Bennett spin, which was that ‘druggies’ were filling our state houses and it was time to get tough and sort out the problem once and for all.
Bennett thrived on the situation and her ‘get tough’ policy and ‘no nonsense’ approach was something that the National Party promoted at every opportunity.
Who better to bash the poor than a former Māori beneficiary who had come good and had reached the height of Deputy Prime Minister.
Sadly, most of the media bought it – hook, line and sinker, with only a few individuals challenging the hysteria that was being created.
Ross Bell from the NZ Drug Foundation deserves an honorary mention for challenging the nonsense that was being perpetuated at the time.
All in all, it’ll go down as one of the most shameful times in the history of New Zealand politics, and the National Party should do the right thing now and apologise for their disgraceful behaviour.
First published in the Manukau Courier
Where is the EVIDENCE- written correspondence which proves WHO exactly from the former National Govt asked WHAT exact ‘hard questions’ of Housing NZ, the Ministry of Health, Standards NZ, about the scientific proof confirming alleged contamination from P use (as opposed to P manufacture) was harmful to public health; WHO exactly replied and WHAT exactly did they say?
Peter Gluckman was the Chief Science Advisor for the former National Government Prime Minister.
On this matter of SCIENCE- why was National’s Chief Science Advisor Peter Gluckman not asked to investigate by National as he was by Phil Twyford under this current Labour Government?
DUH?
FYI – these are the HARD questions I asked of Housing Minister Nick Smith on 31 May 2016, for which I received a 72 page OIA reply on 22 June 2016:
HOUSING NZ OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT (OIA) REPLY on the ‘P’ contamination SCAM (22 June 2016).
Read it for yourself – 72 pages.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VWZx3Y9ce-ukuCKoWrGp7mZwlIGslYOs/view
When are mainstream media going to GRILL former Housing Minister Nick Smith on the P contamination SCAM?
Why, IMO, is the main culprit and perpetrator Nick Smith – being effectively ignored by mainstream media and the ‘flak catching’ being effectively left to Paula Bennett?
They also used the gang problem in Pomare, Lower hutt as an excuse so they could knock some of the blocks of flats and get rid of many poor people and their families. They made it out to be worse than it was I know cause I use to live in this area. Now we have a whole lot of foreigners living in these nice new houses. We never got new houses and we (Maori and PI ) actually never got houses we got flats from HNZ mostly in large blocks or not very nice environments. And if we didn’t take it we were either taken of the HNZ list or we had to wait another 6 months only to be offered another dump.
and did you only just find out about this willie..?…
if not..when did you find out.?..
and can you link us to public examples of your outrage since you found out..?..
and if not..why not..?…
and apologies are enough..are they..?..
no call from you for compensation for the people who have been so screwed over..?..the weakest and the poorest..
.this just looks like so much opportunistic grandstanding from/by you –
esp. considering your reactionary views on the medicine that is marijuana…
bah humbug..!..eh..?
right wing troll…
Paula Bennett should also resign. She is as guilty of feeding the msss hysteria troll as others were. Her position in parliament is no longer tenable.
Well done Jono, another fine example of a unreconstructed follower of liberalism frothing at the mouth, because they can’t understand an argument put forward by a commentator.
Maybe if you stopped worshiping leaders and thought for yourself you might get what Phil is getting at. An apology for people evicted from their homes over a lie, is a horse shit response at best, it is just another example of why liberalism fails working people. And why liberalism, and it’s supporters need their heads checked.
When the dominate ideology, is supported by the dominate political parties this is what you get, a little crying and no actual change.
‘right wing troll’..hilarious..!..i’m so left wing i look at people and want to nationalise them – i want to hear the fucken tumbrils rolling..
and/but i also recognise opportunistic cant when it rears its’ ugly head..
i think they are quite fair questions to ask jackson – posturing as he is…and he has no answers to them..so..q.e.d…?..eh..?..
Hardly Jono.
Phillip is most consistent in his attacking political stances that may smack of some inconsistency.
Willie may be right but Phillip’s questions are fair and without malice.
Phillip? A “right wing troll”?!?!
Maybe in another Parallel Universe, Jono, but not this one. I can’t recall Phillip ever supporting anything right-wing. He’s blogged long and hard against National’s bullshit.
Check out his blog (click on his name), if it helps.
It’s not the system screwing people over its incompetent management. The rulz are set. Read em. They’ve been written in blood for hundreds of years.
Re Phillip Ure & marijuana. As a (retd) NZ registered nurse, Phillip is – IMO – more informed about cannabis than the vast majority of NZers. Cannabis is a wonderfully healing plant like none of Big Pharma toxic, poisonous chemical, AKA “drugs”. All drugs cure/heal NOTHING: they only SUPPRESS SYMPTOMS. Nutrients are what the ailing body needs: minerals, vitamins, essential fatty acids, amino acids etc., etc..
Look on You Tube for episodes of the docuseries “The Sacred Plant” (at least the 1st episode is there). The greatest beneficial use of cannabis is evident in Israel (of all countries!) & increasing states in the U.S. have at least decriminalised the plant. I know (because I read the research) that cannabis would be of immeasuable help to me & all others who live with Multiple Sclerosis & constant pain. But I think this hopeless govt. is also gutless & more concerned with how it/they “look” than truly investigating the science of the issue.
I am sitting in Dunedin chemo ‘lounge’ right now reading this. Chemo I had at 25 years old has caused another cancer according to the oncologist. And I feel like getting stoned for the five hours it takes to be poisoned for the cure. By the way the GP failed to think a lump in my breast was a problem and I waited 9 weeks for a mammogramm at the bottom of the priority list while the tumour snowballed into my lymph system.
Anyway just wanted to get that off my tit!
A lot of incompetence in the medical and pharmaceutical industries just look at some of the leaders they have appointed to head our DHB’s professional clowns ?