9th - Kaipara Konnection Weekly Newsletter - Dargaville.BIZ

Editorial
“If you don’t imagine, nothing ever happens at all.”
-- John Green
1. The news of the week has to be the “Roast Buster” saga. It seems simply amazing that so many people have got
involved – to their detriment mainly – in what started out as another news headline. Broadcasters John Tamihere and
Willie Jackson were stupid enough to question a caller who rang in claiming to be a victim of these macho image
teenage boys who at a very young age (15 and 16) started having sex with girls their own age or younger and then
posting pictures and comments on the Internet. Like Sir Lockwood Smith who was savaged by the media and feminist
groups for suggesting that Asian women had small, dexterous hands, Tamihere and Jackson asked a girl who claimed
to be 13 at the time what she was doing out late at night and what clothing she was wearing. Did she willingly drink
the alcohol that the teenage boys offered her? As a consequence of this line of questioning their show has seen all the
advertisers withdraw and even the Prime Minister has agreed not to appear as a guest again until the New Year.
Then the political stampede started. The Minister of Police has seemingly interfered in Police procedural matters by
insisting that the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) investigate why a prosecution was not fothcoming after
a complaint against the Roast Busters in 2011, while she of the brow beating, breast thumping, Gucci glasses, aka the
Minister of Justice, has promised laws to prevent the Internet being used to publicise such horrendous acts of teenage
behaviour in the future. The poor old Police Commissioner has once again had to defend the actions or inaction of his
subordinates. No wonder he is not seeking another term in the job.
The media firestorm over this matter – and yes it has very serious issues that need to be addressed – has meanwhile
allowed Parliament to sneak through quite of lot of legislation that would otherwise have been subjected to much more
detailed scrutiny and explanation. Now the security boffins can demand that your personal communications be handed
over to them. All this in the name of making sure that New Zealand does not get attacked by terrorists. Who needs
terrorists when our allies are spying on us anyway?
At the end of the day the only apparent “winners” are the teenage clowns who posted the claims of their self perceived,
ego massaging, macho behaviour, online in the first place. They could never have imagined just how much TV and
media time they would get. Talk about making hero’s out of villains. Now we will have to put up with the “copycats” who
want to emulate or even better the Roast Busters. Responsible media behaviour? Yeah right.
2. Notice how people power can work? Suddenly, last weekend, Countdown put up the price of the blue, approved,
Council rubbish bags to $3.60. Seems that this was a Countdown decision and nothing to do with the Kaipara District
Council or it’s contractors Kaipara Refuse. First Countdown take the blue bags off the shelf claiming that there were too
many being stolen, and now they put the price up 80c. For what?
The blue rubbish bags are a rort anyway. When they were introduced to replace the stick on labels, the bag capacity
shrunk from the standard, off the shelf black rubbish bag size, so we are effectively paying more for less anyway, Yet
another McKercherism foisted onto the ratepayers of the Kaipara,
This photo was taken at the gate of the Council rubbish dump in Awakino Road, Dargaville, earlier this week. Notice the
price for a rubbish bag? Two dollars and eighty cents. Go dump yourself.
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