I see NZ Prime Minister Jacinda has been out 'hitch hiking' again, - back in September she cadged a ride from London to a General Assembly at the United Nations, after Elizabeth II's funeral, with the Canadian anti-gun boss Justin Trudeau.
- Now she's been on the scrounge to the Italians to fly her back to New Zealand from ANTARCTICA where she had been on a fly in Photo-Op on the ice. Her flight down was delayed by weather issues with the RNZAF Hercules not being able to depart as intended - and the return leg was prevented by technical problems with an engine on the Hercules getting too cold.
Facts is Facts ..
Last year, 2021 - The U S Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Federal agency tasked with gathering data on crime and the criminal justice system, published a report that found roughly two in five – 38% of the 24,848 incarcerated people that they surveyed across 364 prisons reported a disability of some sort.
- Across the entire U S incarcerated population, - that translates to some 760,000 people there with disabilities living behind American bars.
Here in New Zealand -The Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment Act) of 1992 created a new definition of mentally disordered, that excluded those with intellectual disability from being found unfit to stand trial under the Criminal Justice Disabilities Act. It seems that around ONE THIRD of Youth offenders here have a NEURO-DISABILITY.
This FACT is known by our NZ Government.
I'm not here to make excuses for criminals. - If this is bullshit then those convicted persons should be isolated from further victims & property in our society by proper detention for a considerable duration - while they are given education and training opportunities to make their passage through life better and more productive.
IF it is true that a third of offenders are variously disabled intellectually to the extent of being diagnosed as sick .. there MUST be alternative action taken to extract them from our Justice System and to place them into proper HEALTH Facilities where they can be professionaly cared for and helped to live within society without falling into criminal activity.
I know that I am not dreaming here.
This situation is one specific example of our elected government NOT DOING WHAT THEY ARE PAID TO DO BY WE NEW ZEALAND VOTERS ..
They could use the money that they are wasting on new firearms legislation setting-up a USELESS FIREARMS REGISTER - to build better facilities and to staff them with qualified staff.
It is widely accepted that careful tutoring of prisoners to improve their READING abilities yields useful results in future employment.
It is well known that helping prisoners to obtain their DRIVING LICENSE reduces further traffic convictions as well as opening up decent employment opportunities. The country is seriously short of professional drivers. There is NO WAY that New Zealand can afford to waste these unfortunate peoples lives whereby they are a costly negative factor in society at the same time that we are short of workers.
POLITICIANS .. DO SOMETHING USEFUL.
Remove GST from essential basic foodstuffs.
Reduce general GST to 10%.
Introduce APT - an Automatic Payment Transaction Tax - initially at 0.5 % - a neutral broadbased fair tax to provide adequate funding for properly functional Law Enforcement, Justice, Health Services, State Housing, Social Services, Transport, & Education,
Introduce DRIVING INSTRUCTION into schools so that all leavers gain their License.
DE-CRIMINALIZE Cannabis.
Return all essential services such as Power Distribution-Generation, Health and Dentistry to Nationwide democratic control for the benefit of New Zealand families.
Introduce an UPPER HOUSE CITIZENS ASSEMBLY staffed by One Term only Jurors selected by SORTITION.
End PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGE - that enables deliberate lies and misleading in our Nations Highest Court.
All of this might be achieved within months by the use of 'URGENCY' - as was applied to introduce oppressive ANTI-Gun Legislation reducing Civil Rights to end lawful firearms ownership.
Marty K.
This beautiful land of New Zealand once more can lead the world by example - running it's affairs for the benefit of all it's citizens.