Rod Emmerson’s view
Victims of violence face bureaucratic struggle
I am in my second year studying for a bachelor’s degree in social work and am a solo parent to my 1- yearold son. I’d like to follow up on your article “One- night- stand penalty may be wiped”. You said “the law allows for exemptions in cases of violence”, and this may be true, but getting this exemption is fraught with challenges too strenuous and complicated for many mothers.
Until recently, I had this penalty against my solo parent benefit. I refused to name the father of my child for safety reasons. He was a violent man who had made many attempts to kill my child while I was pregnant.
If births, deaths and marriages could accept my letters ( from a social worker and a GP) and plea for the father to remain unnamed on the birth certificate, then why could Winz not accept it?
For Winz I needed a protection order against him and a parenting order for my son. I went through the process of obtaining these but it had been over three months since the last abuse so the father would be informed I had given birth and would be given details.
I chose not to go down this route for fear of the consequences for my child. I requested the penalty on my benefit be reviewed. This was backed by letters from a social worker and GP. Only then was the decision revoked. off their high horse and bent a little for the good of all? Well today the scales lifted from my eyes. I can say with authority that there are houses for sale in Auckland for under $ 1 million. Our house went up for auction with four houses selling successfully before ours, one being in Panmure and one in Glen Innes and both under $ 1m. They were good solid houses with native timbers. Don’t believe all you read or hear. These were houses that needed a wee bit of work but you could live in them happily until the Unitary Plan is implemented, then sell the house to be shifted off and sell the land. A no- brainer really. Would motorists please consider the geese along Arran Drive and Grand Drive in Orewa and slow down when they are trying to cross the road. These geese have lived happily in the area on the grass paddocks for many years, but with the developments now taking place there their habitat has been severely reduced. They are now forced to cross these busy roads and the numbers of geese being killed is rising — two that I know of in the past two weeks.
A quick word
The mayor reportedly found a “palpable sense of excitement” when the CRL construction commenced. I noticed little such excitement on the North Shore. There was, however, a palpable expectation that the project cost would blow out significantly. Such a pleasure to see our amazing Valerie Adams on the front page of yesterday’s Herald and to actually laugh out loud when reading Kerre’s “cheeky chat” with Elle Macpherson. Fantastic. I see the council can afford a ‘ Love Bus’ to travel around telling people how to vote, but can’t afford to cut berms or repair footpaths. We should follow America with much tougher sentences for attacking police. I propose the sentence is doubled, and trebled for attacking police who are unconscious. Justice is certainly not blind when it comes to the wealth of the suspect. Hit a cop, go to jail. Hit a cop multiple times, go to jail for a long time. End of story. A white boy from a rich family beats a policewoman senseless in a vicious assault and gets community service. If this was a Maori or Islander from a poor family he would have been in jail that fast his feet wouldn’t have touched the ground. The victim of that dastardly attack in Panmure was described in various reports as “elderly”. For heaven’s sake, the lady is only 65. I hate to think what adjective would be used to describe me. I am 91. While the minimum wage remains so low, should we not also have a maximum wage? I have long thought any reports from the office of KiwiRail were likely the work of idiots. Deelectrifying the main trunk proves me right. I hope the young woman in Thursday’s Herald who had a brief liaison with a man she didn’t know and cannot name has considered what could have happened to her. New World has come up with a tiny biodegradable plant pot with peat pot and herb seed pad. What an absolute pleasure for my granddaughter, Summer, and I to plant our first herb plant, fennel, this morning.