And you can see it in the way they look at you
Feel it in the way they treat you
Always the last to know
Always the first to leave
Just let them walk all over you
Laugh through the punches and the pain
Let the life-blood drain away from you
They're right, you're wrong
OK, first things first. Nobody has done anything with the real Nick. This is me, and no, I haven’t been drinking.
Or to put it another way you might like to sit comfortably, finish your mouthful if you have one, and then begin.
Ready? No lingering latte ready to be spattered over your screen?
You see, the thing is, this government of ours. Yeah those guys - boo, hiss, and all that. They got something right, and it wasn’t the only time they impressed me yesterday.
Look maybe I better stop procrastinating and get on with it...
So that’s pretty awesome, and not before time.
But before I start praising politicians I should point out that most of the credit, most of the reason that this bill is going forward, is down to pressure from the public. Those who organised a petition demanding it, and have been lobbying the Minister for some time, and those who signed it.
Brave women who’ve been through hell quite frankly. With terrifying, threatening behaviour and a legal system that seems to do little to protect them from it.
The petition with 20,000 signatures was presented at parliament yesterday. Paul Goldsmith, the Justice Minister, saying he would introduce a bill before the end of the year whereas previously he’d only committed to looking at it this term.
Public pressure works, although I don’t wish to make light of the enormous effort and hard work that must’ve gone in to making yesterday happen. As the quote from JFK goes, “Things don't just happen. They are made to happen.”
They are made to happen by people like the Coalition for the Safety of Woman and Children and Anti-Violence Action who created this petition.
Holly Carrington, from the Women's Refuge, spoke at the event yesterday saying, “We have horrendous statistics. We have good services from the Women's Refuge and others, but we don't have hardly any prevention work. There needs to be a lot more prevention work.
And the police need to have a better understanding of domestic violence. They understand physical violence, but a lot of domestic violence is psychological and we need them to have more training about that.”
Marama Davidson, formerly the Violence Prevention Minister, and Ginny Andersen, Labour’s spokesperson for the prevention of Sexual Violence, spoke at the event. Andersen has a member’s bill ready to go that would add stalking to the Crimes Act, with a penalty of up to five years in prison, and has been calling for cross party support.
It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes our politicians put aside party differences and act without partisanship to do what’s right. Either that or they read which way the wind’s blowing. John Key’s support for Sue Bradford’s anti child bashing legislation comes to mind as about the only thing I ever thought he did right.
Here’s Ginny Anderson talking recently about her bill, and the need for it:
Of course there are limits to co-operation, with Goldsmith indicating that they’d draft their own law, rather than use the one already developed by Labour. Which seems kind of petty, but the main thing is that it happens.
Quibbles aside let’s recognise that the Minister acknowledged the need for such legislation, even if it was a Steps of Parliament, in front of the TV cameras, conversion.
Goldsmith said, “…we want to do it, and it's my commitment that we will get a Bill into the House before the end of the year. We need to send a very clear, clear message that society does not tolerate stalking, and nor does it tolerate sexual violence anywhere across the board.”
So yay the people who made this happen, including Goldsmith and Ginny. This is a good thing, and damn there haven’t been many of those to celebrate lately.
More co-operation please - most of us want the same thing.
Speaking of, step up the hero of the day - Nicola Willis. Hope you hadn’t resumed drinking that warm beverage. So what could Nicola possibly have done to warrant such praise?
What she did was act like a decent, compassionate human being - I kid you not, and considering who she was up against it was quite a contrast.
According to the article from NewsHub the angry apostle “lashed out” at Willis for “rainbow spending” and her following of drag king Willy SmacknTush on Instagram. Tamaki also claimed that the Young Nats were “riddled with the trans/rainbow agenda” - which sounds like complete bollocks to me, although I really hope it’s true.
The entertainer Tamaki refers to is one of several drag artists who’ve recently had to cancel events due to threats and intimidation. Gee I wonder where they came from?
This is the end of Willy SmacknTush’s response:
“To Destiny Church, Family First, and all the other groups and individuals who have been threatening me, trying to intimidate me, and sharing misinformation and lies about me and the place drag has in our community: I feel pity for the small, dark, and hateful world you live in. You can never win; our queer and trans whānau aren't going anywhere.
We will continue to wear sparkles, be authentically ourselves, and be proud. We won't take your bullying. We will continue to show up at our libraries, community centres, parks, and pools. And we will continue to read books to our tamariki (sometimes even in sparkles!)”
Nicola gave it to Tamaki with both barrels, right in the Holy Heck this guy complains way too much. And people loved it.
For a moment those on the left saw Willis not as the bringer of misery to “bottom feeders”, a figure who’ll live for decades in the memories of children growing up now, due to her agenda of austerity and the poverty she’s making worse, but as an ally.
Compared to Tamaki, a creature of loathing, lying, and a lust for lucre, those of us on the left were saying “Go Nicola!” Truth be told it felt a bit weird, but credit where it’s due.
Sadly for every positive comment, like the one that said, “Solidarity Nicola, credit where credit is due. Now if you can sort out those ferries...”, there were hateful ones too. People that were furious at Nicola speaking up.
As usual the right wing trolls hide behind fake accounts like cowards. To be fair to “M Jones”, they’re right about Tanya Unkovich. Holy heck that one’s out there, and I’m not talking about closets. I’d say more about Ms Unkovich but I’ve already gotten myself in enough trouble talking about cookers in the last 24 hours.
Bryce Wilson simply said, “You belong in Labour or possibly the Greens.” Steady on there Brian, let’s not get carried away.
Having said that the National MPs who get out there each year at Pride events are on the right side. Whatever faults they have in other areas the more liberal MPs in National’s caucus are welcome allies in the face of the poisonous hatred, and lies, of Brian Tamaki.
Let’s not get too carried away though, we are just talking about acting like decent human beings after all. But they did it, whatever next? Compassion? Empathy? Hmm, perhaps we shouldn’t hold our breath.
To almost finish, a little something to get us back on track - with reality.
With the fact that most of what these guys do is not good. Perhaps these gentle, somewhat sweary, points from Jonathan Pie will remind us of the merits of Tories… as if you needed any reminder.
So yeah, we should definitely do that too - get rid of them at the earliest opportunity. Although sadly we’ll have to wait a bit longer than the UK.
But for this moment let’s enjoy the fact that National are going to prioritise the anti stalking bill and that Nicola Willis, in the face of hate and bigotry, showed humour and a bit of decency.
For those things I’m grateful.
Hope all of you lovely people have a great day and maybe go easy on the “OMG Nick, I can’t believe you said that,” feedback.
I saw this video for the first time last night, it came out a week ago, and it’s pretty special in my opinion, and well worth checking out. If you do enjoy it check out the extended version with even more fabulous guitar work from Romany’s dad.
Sometimes the wrong people do the right thing - savour the moment
Even a stopped clock’s right twice a day :D