30th ANNIVERSARY OF THE SPRINGBOK TOUR

July, thirty years ago the Springboks came to New Zealand. My then husband and I had a sheep and cattle farm in the Takitimu Mountains in Northern Southland. That’s the heartland. You can’t get anymore heartland than Northern Southland. People there were, and still are, rugby mad, me included. To me, the whole sad mess was never about the rugby. It was all about other things: ignorance, paucity of mind and poverty of spirit. The average age of the farming population then, before the southern dairy boom, was quite high, around 45 I guess. And archconservative. I did not support the Springbok tour. As far as I knew, I was in a minority of one. I was physically attacked in the pub by a six foot, thirty-something, Christ's College educated neighbour for voicing my support for the ANC and their request that the tour be cancelled. Let me tell you, money and a privileged education are no guarantee of an open mind. If there is anything more repellent in this world than a hick with money and influence, I don’t want to know what it is. With hindsight it was foolhardy to voice such views in such a time and place, but, I was 18 in 1981. My husband brought members of the Red Squad to our house to drink beer and revel in their tales of brutality. I was forced to feed them, serve them beer and suffer their pumped up contempt for people with views like mine. It was humiliating. Taking a stand against the Springbok tour damaged me socially. I paid a price for it locally for most of my twenties. I was pleased when we left the district in my thirties for a new farm near Gore. Don’t laugh. Gore is a good place to live. Some of the best people I know live in Gore. But that’s another story.

With the 30^th anniversary of the Springbok tour there will undoubtedly be a rehashing of events. I hope it doesn’t spoil the rugby again. I expect there are hundreds of stories like mine. Stories of the damage the tour did to us. We grew up then and we shouldn’t forget it. But, I hope with all my heart that the Crusaders win the Super 15. It’ll be great for Christchurch. Great for us all.

FLEA ON UNDERSIDE OF NATIONAL PARTY POLITICS

There have been few political stories that have disturbed us more than the Tale from the Whale on the selection of the National Candidates for Rodney.

Anyone who supports centre right policies needs the read all of the information that Cameron has compiled on this issue.

It appears that we have a former South African who has inveigled himself in National Party politics, who has links to the more extreme far right political parties of his homeland.

We support centre right politics - sort of bright blue with a yellow Act border. And as the National Party is the dominant vehicle for our politics of choice then we support them. However our support for the party will end if something is not done to remove Cehill Pienaar from the Party.It is clear he is using the same bully boy tactics that were favoured by the parties he supported in S.A.

We think that the chances of him changing his political spots are about the same odds of Japan wining the Rugby World Cup.

He is the sort of wart on a political party, that espouses sensible politics, that needs to be frozen off.

He is very much the white version of Hone Harawira.

There will be criticism from the silly corners of the National Party for Whales exposure of this this prick. The National Party should be grateful that the Whale has shed light on the background of this awful man before he has too much influence on the party if he hasn't already.

It is probably the best political story Whale has done to date. It's the sort of story that if it was packaged in the mainstream media would have been a dead cert to win a Qantas media award.

There is little of the hyperbole everyone expects from Whale, he has written the story and backed it up with good information sources. The fact he is treating the story this way is probably a reflection of how disturbed he is by it.

So our challenge to the National Party is; get your head out of your arse and get rid on this racist arsehole. He does not reflect the National party policies that underpin a the sort of New Zealand we want.

He is a hater and a wrecker, and maybe worse.

We think that we speak for many people who support National Party politics - sort this mess out decisively for the sake of the party and indeed the country.

Doing nothing is not an option.

ROLF HARRIS GETS A TELLING OFF FROM A BLACK FELLA

What is our bloody world coming too.
Poor old Rolf Harris gets a bollocking because he speaks the truth. He had apologised for the words "Let me abos go loose" from the song Tie Me Kangaroo Down during a social event but then according to the Sydney Morning Herald he let rip about aborigines by saying :

"You sit at home watching the television and you think to yourself, 'Get up off your arse and clean up the streets your bloody self, and why would you expect somebody to come in and clean up your garbage, which you've dumped everywhere', but then you have to think to yourself that it's a different attitude to life."

And then Press give him another hammering.


You see he is right. Aborigines, Maori, Europeans, indeed every culture has a responsibility to get on with life and make it better. We should not shy away from saying - could do better, could do more, we aren't impressed."

Australia has a woeful history of a thinly veiled apartheid when it comes to Aborigines. But now Aborigine are running out of reasons to blame everyone else for the rampant disfunctionality in their society.

So I'm with Rolf. Aussie still needs to get its shit together on the Aborigine issue but Aborigines also need to get their shit together - they are the only ones who can truly change their society and they must for the sake of their children. Hearing the hard facts may be unpalatable but then so is the slow genocide Aborigine are inflicting on their own people because they wont get off their arses and make their world a better place for their future generations.