The Question We Need to Ask Ourselves Today

There is one question that we as New Zealanders need to be asking ourselves today.

John Key's suggestion in parliament yesterday that by defending the rights of New Zealand offenders detained in Australia, the Labour Party was 'on the side of sex offenders' rather than New Zealanders was not only gutless (as one might say), it was disgraceful.

In distinguishing between the offenders and 'New Zealanders', Key implied that the detainees are fundamentally different to the rest of us, and – one could be forgiven for supposing – that, because they have offended, they do not deserve to be considered New Zealanders.

By contrast, the pressure that the Labour Party and others have been placing on the National government to respect the welfare and human rights of some of our most vulnerable citizens, and the outrage that they expressed at the Prime Minister's comments yesterday, suggest their strong concern for all of us as New Zealanders, including our offenders.

In an article we published earlier this year entitled 'The Politics of Love', Max Harris and I argued that love can and should motivate politics. (https://theaotearoaproject.wordpress.com/2015/05/20/the-politics-of-love-max-harris-and-philip-mckibbin/) Among the suggestions we offered was that a politics of love would encourage us to re-think the way we relate to offenders, 'as an expression of the principle that warmth should be shown to all individuals, even those who have made mistakes, and of our understanding that individuals are never wholly responsible for their situations.'

The question that all New Zealanders, including John Key, should be asking themselves today is, 'Does the National government love all New Zealanders, or does it treat some of us as more important than others?'

The Prime Minister should be ashamed of the way he conducted himself yesterday. He must immediately apologise to New Zealanders for using hateful, divisive language, and affirm, with his words and through the actions of his government, the importance of people's welfare and human rights.

Philip McKibbin is an independent writer, living in Auckland. http://www.philip-mckibbin.com/

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