Pansy Speak

Different Strokes

Looking back at the week’s events, I could write about the latest developments with ‘anti-smacking’ bill, and the lack of confidence shown by the Greens and Labour toward Kiwi parents in trusting them to discipline their own children using their own judgment. However, I am sure you all know the ins and outs of this issue and have your own opinion. I have no doubt you will be bombarded with even more news on this issue next week. The Labour Government is devising all sorts of ways to fast-track the passage of the bill to avoid the bad publicity and backlash it is attracting. It looks like it will become a Government bill and will pass next week.

This isn’t the only fiasco getting people hot under the collar – the storm surrounding the contract for laboratory testing in Auckland has shown what a shambles the whole process has been. I am sure that this issue, much like the Section 59 bill, will continue to reverberate for months to come. Yesterday it was announced that the current laboratory testing contract will roll over by 18 months to ensure the correct tendering process is followed this time around. National is determined to keep the heat on Labour to demand accountability, because for too long the public has had to sit back and watch Helen Clark and her cronies avoid taking responsibility. The problems in her prison management are a case in point, as are the delays in fixing the NCEA.

In among the bad and controversial news this week was some very good news, and I would like to share with you the Asian perspective of the story about the two girls who revealed that GlaxoSmithKline had been misleading the public on the Vitamin C content in ready-to-drink Ribena. The picture of Jenny Suo and Anna Devathasan both beaming outside the court following the decision was hard to miss.

I have written to both the New Zealand Herald and the Christchurch Press congratulating them both, but also questioning the papers for not once mentioning that they are Asian. They were described as school girls, and even Kiwi schoolgirls, which is a first. Whenever there are stories with allegations of an Asian committing a crime or cheating they are most clearly given the label of Asian and it is inferred that all Asians are bad. I hope that from now on, whether there is good or bad news, all Asian New Zealanders attract the same treatment. I wonder if my letter will be published?

During the week, my assistant was aghast to read in the National Business Review that I had been branded a queue jumper while waiting for afternoon tea at the recent 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome. They said I had left the queue to duck behind a screen to grab a fruit custard tart.

I was at the event to hear the very eloquent speech from National Leader John Key about National’s view on foreign affairs. I can assure the NBR that at no time during the event did I partake in afternoon tea or join any queues. I have mused with my assistant that either the NBR writer has a creative writing style or can’t tell the difference from this Asian and another.

Along with the ‘anti-smacking’ bill, the Immigration Advisers Licensing Bill may also be passed into legislation next week. The Labour Government first promised this legislation in 2000 and it obviously hasn’t received the same fast-tracking as other bills. It proposes to regulate immigration consultants and impose penalties if they commit various offences.

I have heard some horror stories from people who were duped by sharks who were not qualified immigration consultants, and believe it’s time the industry is regulated. The sector is cautiously welcoming it, but there are worries about implementation and if the levies proposed will make it workable.

The Immigration Minister introduced a late amendment during the select committee stage that would see a restraint-of-trade clause of 12 months imposed on ex-immigration officials, Visa officers or Refugee Status officers who want to work as consultants after leaving Immigration NZ.

One can only guess that the Minister doesn’t trust his staff to be honest and competent, and neither should we. What a scary thought!

Pansy Wong

www.pansywong.co.nz
www.national.org.nz

ENDS

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