Rain falls as war dead remembered (ANZAC DAY)

PING

FYI - regards!

FYI- regards!

Attention!

The number of people in the Auckland Domain in the driving rain was incredible...They had opened up both the large sports fields for parking and all the side streets were filled up too. My Dad served in NZ as a medic from '55-61 attaining the rank of Staff Sergeant (he was a conchie too; and I love him for it). My maternal Grandfather (RIP) was a Corsair mechanic on Bougainville (and a striking watersider in 1951). My paternal great grandfather was an 'Old Contemptable' (as the Kaiser described the members of the 1914 BEF to France) and lost a lung to mustard gas in the trenches. After the war he came out with his family to NZ.

They Shall Not Grow Old

BUMP!

I'm raising a pint to ANZAC vets.

,,, good on ya! Hope all is well in FL.

I assume the military butchering Clark was not a part of this event. I wonder if shed be welcome?

,,, not really welcomed, more tolerated - just like she has to tolerate what's left of our military. Mrs Klinton's mindset.

An uncle of mine, who I've never met was killed on ANZAC Day itself in Greece, 1941. I'd like to record here fervant thanx to my Uncle Harry and everyone else's Uncle Harrys for the sacrifice they made to ensure a better life for the generations following them.

Agree with that shaggy. Had two great uncles go away on my moms side. One committed suicide after he came back. The other one had a framed copy of Mont'y order of the day for El Alamein

One thing I will say though, the observation has been made over the last two or so years that a lot of young people are turning up for these parades. It's the only show in town on April 25 in Australasia and it's a healthy sign of values in my opinion.

I know what you mean mate, my three boys went to the dawn parade in Wellington City. They youngest two then returned for the civic service with mum while old dad marched with the reservists and then they went to the civic service in Porirua as well. I'm really proud of the little buggers, especially the two little ones - one going on 6 and the other 9. They both came selling poppies with me on the 19th for two one hour stretches as well. It is also the 5th or so year for the older and the 3rd or so for the younger. They volunteer for this as well - I will not make them do it.

WHAT WOULD THE OLD SOLDIERS WANT?

Weekly Column by Dr Muriel Newman

The passing of ANZAC Day last week gave us another opportunity to recognise the contribution of those New Zealanders who sacrificed their lives for our country.

War is a time of heroism and brutality, courage and determination, suffering and triumph, and we should all be rightly proud of those many, many New Zealanders who served and sacrificed in the fight for our fundamental right to freedom and democracy.

They died, but had they lived it is interesting to reflect on what sort of a country they would have wanted New Zealand to become.

I believe they would have wanted New Zealand to become a world leader in education. A society where success is admired and celebrated. A prosperous nation with full employment and a standard of living that puts us alongside the world’s best. A society that treats good health seriously, providing access to core health services in a timely manner. A nation that upholds the rule of a colour blind law. A Country with the lowest crime rate in the world; one where citizens enjoy safety and security in their own homes, on their streets or in their parks. A society that respects the rights of others, that welcomes the freedom of expression and individuality but expects individuals to take responsibility for their own lives and to live free of state dependency.

Very probably, they would have wanted all of those things.

However, as we face the reality of New Zealand in the year 2002, such a vision seems rather distant and far fetched. But does it really have to be so?

Back in the 1950s and 1960s New Zealand was a world leader in education and health care. Our standard of living was the third highest in the OECD. We were a society where people took responsibility for themselves and their families, aspiring to succeed and celebrating those achievements. There was no unemployment and virtually no crime.

So why has it all changed? The answer is because of undoubtedly well intentioned, but misguided, law changes introduced by Members of Parliament over the past 30 years.

They have introduced laws to increase taxes, taking away the incentive to work hard. Taking money off those who earned it to give to those who didn’t has robbed families of their economic power and the choice of whether to buy health insurance, send their children to an independent school, or indeed save for their own retirement.

Laws have been introduced to increase regulation, red tape and compliance costs on small business. As a result, small business owners effectively spend two to three days a week working for the government instead of increasing productivity, profitability and creating jobs.

Welfare laws have incentivised family breakdown denying hundreds of thousands of children their right to the support of both their mother and their father. Such laws have made people better off on welfare than in the workforce, resulting in one adult in three now being dependent on the state.

Then there are the laws that treat new Zealanders differently according to the colour of their skin, laws that largely prevent private sector involvement in education and health, contributing to their decline in performance, and other laws that are primarily focussed on the needs and rights of criminals rather than victims.

The results of the past 30 years of misguided social engineering can be seen everywhere, but some of the consequences are very worrying. We have seen an increase in violent offending that is unprecedented in our history. Common sense tells us that the path to crime generally begins in the home, and the undermining of the family unit and the creation of long term welfare dependency have been major contributors.

Corrections Department figures show that people who commit a crime serious enough to result in imprisonment are six times more likely to have come from the welfare system than from the workforce. Half of apprehended offenders are under the age of 21 and the re-offending rate for criminals who are under the age of 20 is 90%.

Some 92% of New Zealanders voted at the last election for the government to take a tougher approach to law and order. They feel betrayed that the Government’s new Sentencing and parole Reform Bill will now enable sentences to be reduced from the present two-thirds for parole eligibility down to one third. They are concerned that this soft approach will make crime pay and contribute to a growing crime wave.

It is important to remember, however, that the social deterioration we have witnessed in the past 30 years can be turned around. What is needed is politicians with the courage to make the hard decisions: police to be instructed to take a zero tolerance approach to youth offending, getting tough on graffiti, vandalism, shoplifting, disorderly behaviour and petty crimes that lead on to more serious crime. People must be in jobs and not on welfare; taxes must be reduced and red tape and compliance costs slashed to create jobs, growth and a rising standard of living.

There is obviously much to be done, but it is imperative to remember that the mistakes of the past 30 years can be put right just so long as somebody acts decisively and sets the ball rolling.

Dr Muriel Newman, MP for ACT New Zealand, writes a weekly opinion piece on topical issues for a number of community newspapers. You are welcome to forward this column to anyone you think may be interested.

View the archive of columns at
http://www.act.org.nz/action/murielnewman.html
Visit ACT New Zealand's web site:
http://www.act.org.nz

FYI - FReegards.