so here's the link to my appearance on back benches last night. it was a great experience. i watched the show regularly last year, not so much this year. i'm a big fan of wallace chapman, who has a lovely way of managing the discussions so they stay focussed, without any real nastiness. he's a genuine nice guy, as much in person as he appears to be on screen.
also lovely to meet damian christie, who i "knew" from reading his blog & from watching the show. it was so much easier for me to say what i needed to say, knowing i had an interviewer who was sympathetic and not looking for a "get". this is why publicly funded television is so much better than commercial - it's much about letting people speak, more about the interviewee than the interviewer, which means that any issue is covered in much more depth. i mean, it's just refreshing to actually be able to finish an answer without having the interviewer interrupt.
the women working behind the scenes were also lovely, and supportive. really helps when you're feeling a bit nervous.
the best part was having my most favourite of MPs, charles chauvel and grant roberson, participating. these are two of the most genuine guys i know, heaps of integrity and a passion for the work they do. if only the rest of parliament was like these two, the country would be a wonderful place.
i have to admit that on this particular issue (though not on the others that were discussed on the night), i was really impressed with hekia parata. her contribution was really positive.
so on the whole, a very nice evening.
Thursday, 13 May 2010
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
very sad
i'm not in the mood for writing today. a lot of depressing stuff happening, including the tragedy with the korean family in christchurch. now the father has also committed suicide, and the whole thing raises questions around settlement support and the role of immigration nz in all of this.
i guess we'll have to wait for the coroner's report to get details of the background. migration is never an easy business, and it's especially hard to do when you're on your own with kids and no support network around you. add to that issues with language and the inability to find a job, and it's a pretty nasty mix.
sigh.
as a pick-me-up, i found this gem of a young donny osmond and michael jackson appearing together at an awards ceremony. very cute:
and in case you're interested, i'm planning to be on back benches tomorrow night to talk about - what else - banning the burqa. more sigh. think i need to watch that clip again!
i guess we'll have to wait for the coroner's report to get details of the background. migration is never an easy business, and it's especially hard to do when you're on your own with kids and no support network around you. add to that issues with language and the inability to find a job, and it's a pretty nasty mix.
sigh.
as a pick-me-up, i found this gem of a young donny osmond and michael jackson appearing together at an awards ceremony. very cute:
and in case you're interested, i'm planning to be on back benches tomorrow night to talk about - what else - banning the burqa. more sigh. think i need to watch that clip again!
Monday, 10 May 2010
meeting on workplace rights
i had a bit of a quieter weekend this time, with only 3 meetings. one of these was for the ethnic women's network, and we had sonya church from the young worker's resource centre come along and talk to the women about workplace rights.
poor sonya had trouble getting a word in, with the women so keen to discuss the issues that were important to them. it was a lively meeting, and their stories of discrimination and frustration were really quite sad. it's clear that the law can not protect them effectively, especially when the consequences of making a complaint can be pretty drastic.
there was a definite difference between the women who were educated and in professional work as compared to those in unskilled work. the discrimination in job interviews seemed to be a common feature, but once they had got the job, the professional women seemed to be better able to deal with workplace issues. there's a real power imbalance for women in lower skilled jobs, and because many of them work for small businesses, there's no union representation either.
while sonya was telling us about employment contracts and negotiating the terms, the practical reality for some of these women was that the contract basically went out the window when they got to work. and because it was so hard for them to get a job and they desperately needed to keep it, they felt that there was no choice but to work under the conditions they were given.
it's really hard to know how to empower these women to feel stronger in their work places, and especially when we have a government that is determined to reduce work place rights. just last week the law that enforced work breaks was repealed. i don't think there is the political will in this government to improve the working lives of these women, and that is heartbreaking.
i've had a couple of posts up at the hand mirror last week, one about research comparing the well-being of mothers across different countries, another one on the performance of women and minorities in the uk elections, and another about how sad it is to watch the process of turning natural talent into a commercialised product on american idol.
poor sonya had trouble getting a word in, with the women so keen to discuss the issues that were important to them. it was a lively meeting, and their stories of discrimination and frustration were really quite sad. it's clear that the law can not protect them effectively, especially when the consequences of making a complaint can be pretty drastic.
there was a definite difference between the women who were educated and in professional work as compared to those in unskilled work. the discrimination in job interviews seemed to be a common feature, but once they had got the job, the professional women seemed to be better able to deal with workplace issues. there's a real power imbalance for women in lower skilled jobs, and because many of them work for small businesses, there's no union representation either.
while sonya was telling us about employment contracts and negotiating the terms, the practical reality for some of these women was that the contract basically went out the window when they got to work. and because it was so hard for them to get a job and they desperately needed to keep it, they felt that there was no choice but to work under the conditions they were given.
it's really hard to know how to empower these women to feel stronger in their work places, and especially when we have a government that is determined to reduce work place rights. just last week the law that enforced work breaks was repealed. i don't think there is the political will in this government to improve the working lives of these women, and that is heartbreaking.
i've had a couple of posts up at the hand mirror last week, one about research comparing the well-being of mothers across different countries, another one on the performance of women and minorities in the uk elections, and another about how sad it is to watch the process of turning natural talent into a commercialised product on american idol.
Monday, 3 May 2010
out of words...
so i've been busy fighting battles over at the hand mirror lately, so haven't had much time to blog here. i've had several posts up over the last few days, the last couple being the most substantial. there was one i wrote last week but went up on sunday, further expanding my thoughts on the burqa and other things, and another i've put up tonight about the movie "the blind side" which i watched over the weekend.
i was doing some other interesting things over the weekend. unfortunately i missed the march against mining, because i was attending an "access to justice" forum organised by the office of ethnic affairs. we heard from manukau district court judge ajit singh, who was a fount of wisdom and experience, and then i attended a workshop where we had some interesting discussions around marriage, and family court issues. i hope to write about some of that during the week, if i have the energy.
on sunday, i had the privilege of listening to charles chauvel on climate change policy. yet again he showed how extremely talented he is, as he covered what happened at copenhagen and what's to be expected next. compared to what some other countries are doing and what all countries should be doing, nz's effort is rather pathetic.
so i'm all out of words just now. hope to have more later.
i was doing some other interesting things over the weekend. unfortunately i missed the march against mining, because i was attending an "access to justice" forum organised by the office of ethnic affairs. we heard from manukau district court judge ajit singh, who was a fount of wisdom and experience, and then i attended a workshop where we had some interesting discussions around marriage, and family court issues. i hope to write about some of that during the week, if i have the energy.
on sunday, i had the privilege of listening to charles chauvel on climate change policy. yet again he showed how extremely talented he is, as he covered what happened at copenhagen and what's to be expected next. compared to what some other countries are doing and what all countries should be doing, nz's effort is rather pathetic.
so i'm all out of words just now. hope to have more later.
Monday, 26 April 2010
what i've been doing
no anzac day post this year, pretty much on purpose. having been to a few of the ceremonies, i find that i'm uncomfortable with them. while i'm happy to recognise the lives lost, i don't think that a full picture of history is being given at these events. i guess i'm with the white poppy brigade who want to recognise all the people who suffer because of war, not just the soldiers.
on saturday i went out to pirongia lodge with a couple of other muslim women, to help them with their working bee. i spent the morning washing windows & vacuuming the sleeping areas. there was a good crowd there, most of them working in the gardens and the grounds, and mostly from te awamutu.
we were happy to support the lodge because this is where we have been holding muslim girls camps over the last couple of years. the manager there has also been helpful in organising a caving trip and a horse riding expedition for young muslim women. it's been wonderful watching these teenage girls extend themselves, in activities that some of them had never tried before.
after work today, i had a monthly board meeting for community radio. while i was there, i did a pre-recorded interview about the whole burqa banning thing happening in europe, which i wrote about at the hand mirror today. the interview will be airing on community radio on wednesday, at some point between 1 and 2pm. if you're near a computer, you can get live streaming here. if you have a radio, we're on AM1206 or FM106.7.
on saturday i went out to pirongia lodge with a couple of other muslim women, to help them with their working bee. i spent the morning washing windows & vacuuming the sleeping areas. there was a good crowd there, most of them working in the gardens and the grounds, and mostly from te awamutu.
we were happy to support the lodge because this is where we have been holding muslim girls camps over the last couple of years. the manager there has also been helpful in organising a caving trip and a horse riding expedition for young muslim women. it's been wonderful watching these teenage girls extend themselves, in activities that some of them had never tried before.
after work today, i had a monthly board meeting for community radio. while i was there, i did a pre-recorded interview about the whole burqa banning thing happening in europe, which i wrote about at the hand mirror today. the interview will be airing on community radio on wednesday, at some point between 1 and 2pm. if you're near a computer, you can get live streaming here. if you have a radio, we're on AM1206 or FM106.7.
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
bringing compassion back
more posting at the hand mirror this week: one on mondayising public holidays, another on the pathetic coverage of the v8s in the waikato times, and this one on why i don't like unauthorised biographies.
last night i was at the AGM for the waikato interfaith council. it's been a quiet year for the wifco, as compared to the previous year when we had the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the united nations declaration of human rights. it's just a reflection of how busy everyone gets, and how much our time is taken up with various causes.
it was really nice to have our deputy mayor, cr pippa mahood, take part. it gave a message that the city council sees some value in the organisation and what it stands for. speaking of which, the charter for compassion was circulated during the meeting. it's a lovely statement, and a reminder that compassion is missing from so many of the daily interactions we undertake.
the messages are simple, but such a pertinent and important reminder to think of and care for others in big and little ways. if you haven't signed up, i'd recommend it. along with a regular reading of the charter as a reminder to keep compassion at the heart of lives.
last night i was at the AGM for the waikato interfaith council. it's been a quiet year for the wifco, as compared to the previous year when we had the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the united nations declaration of human rights. it's just a reflection of how busy everyone gets, and how much our time is taken up with various causes.
it was really nice to have our deputy mayor, cr pippa mahood, take part. it gave a message that the city council sees some value in the organisation and what it stands for. speaking of which, the charter for compassion was circulated during the meeting. it's a lovely statement, and a reminder that compassion is missing from so many of the daily interactions we undertake.
the messages are simple, but such a pertinent and important reminder to think of and care for others in big and little ways. if you haven't signed up, i'd recommend it. along with a regular reading of the charter as a reminder to keep compassion at the heart of lives.
Sunday, 18 April 2010
another weekend over...
yet more posting at the hand mirror, one on ads about women's products and another on useless arguments about the past.
and since it's sunday night and i'm feeling lazy after a hard day of vetting CVs (all as part of my volunteer work), i'm just going to link to a couple of posts other people have written:
- this excellent post from brian edwards, detailing some rather nasty behaviour by the aussie media. a clip of the relevant mediawatch report can be found here (hat tip to a commentor on brian's blog).
- this gem from shakesville, which is an answer to all the grammar police and people who like to vigourously defend the language or mock others use of it. in particular, i really love the last couple of paragraphs:
and i was going to put in more, but got waylaid by skype, which i only got into this year and am totally loving. especially when it gives me a chance to see my nephews and nieces. there's something about talking to kids that can't be captured on the phone - there's so much more body language and movement than adults have when they talk!
ETA: yet another excellent post on kiwipolitico abou the exploitation of workers in singapore, and the role of NIWA in perpetuating that.
and since it's sunday night and i'm feeling lazy after a hard day of vetting CVs (all as part of my volunteer work), i'm just going to link to a couple of posts other people have written:
- this excellent post from brian edwards, detailing some rather nasty behaviour by the aussie media. a clip of the relevant mediawatch report can be found here (hat tip to a commentor on brian's blog).
- this gem from shakesville, which is an answer to all the grammar police and people who like to vigourously defend the language or mock others use of it. in particular, i really love the last couple of paragraphs:
If, say, Nero had been able to successfully force everyone never to change language, all of us in the West would be speaking Latin. Not French, Italian, Spanish, or even a good chunk of English: just Latin.
Language changes; dialects exist. Neither of these things are inherently bad. The opprobrium they bear is only that with which our society chooses to freight them.
and i was going to put in more, but got waylaid by skype, which i only got into this year and am totally loving. especially when it gives me a chance to see my nephews and nieces. there's something about talking to kids that can't be captured on the phone - there's so much more body language and movement than adults have when they talk!
ETA: yet another excellent post on kiwipolitico abou the exploitation of workers in singapore, and the role of NIWA in perpetuating that.
Friday, 16 April 2010
women in leadership
i've been posting at the hand mirror over the last couple of days, with a post on the issue of whether or not girls and women are more violent than they used to be, and another post today on women in leadership positions.
this evening i attended the AGM of the waikato multi-cultural services trust. this is the organisation that runs the migrant resource centr on boundary road in hamilton, which houses a range of agencies. they are also involved in running a range of projects in the area of settlement support. it's great to see the organisation doing so well, and providing much needed support particularly during the recession.
the success in recent years has largely been due to the work of the outgoing manager, rebecca fraser, who has provided incredible leadership and organisational skills, along with a whole heap of empathy and advocacy. an excellent example of successful woman leader, and an inspiration to all of us who know her.
the new manager who has stepped into her role also looks to be dynamic and talented. here's hoping wonderful things for and from this organisation well into the future.
i have a bit of a headache today from the sound of cars racing around the v8 track. my workplace is a couple of blocks away from the tracks, and it's incredible the amount of noise these cars make. our office is fully air-conditioned so we have no open windows to let the noise in. but it was still incredibly loud. i'm wondering how people who spend the day watching the races manage.
this evening i attended the AGM of the waikato multi-cultural services trust. this is the organisation that runs the migrant resource centr on boundary road in hamilton, which houses a range of agencies. they are also involved in running a range of projects in the area of settlement support. it's great to see the organisation doing so well, and providing much needed support particularly during the recession.
the success in recent years has largely been due to the work of the outgoing manager, rebecca fraser, who has provided incredible leadership and organisational skills, along with a whole heap of empathy and advocacy. an excellent example of successful woman leader, and an inspiration to all of us who know her.
the new manager who has stepped into her role also looks to be dynamic and talented. here's hoping wonderful things for and from this organisation well into the future.
i have a bit of a headache today from the sound of cars racing around the v8 track. my workplace is a couple of blocks away from the tracks, and it's incredible the amount of noise these cars make. our office is fully air-conditioned so we have no open windows to let the noise in. but it was still incredibly loud. i'm wondering how people who spend the day watching the races manage.
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
farewell bryce johns
a bit of a belated post to say farewell to bryce johns, ex-editor of the waikato times, who is moving on to greener pastures as editor of the herald on sunday.
while i can't say that i'm a fan of the times, i do have a certain respect for mr johns. i've found him to be personally approachable and rarely had problems getting opinion pieces published in the paper. he has also been willing to front up to any public forum where there is a discussion on the media, knowing that some of them are going to be rather hostile. he was kind enough to accept my invitation to speak and answer questions at the 4th national interfaith forum a few years ago, and he certainly got some tough questions that day!
that he has been a successful editor is not in doubt. he managed to increase circulation at a time when other major papers have been on a downward trend. the paper has won quite a few media awards under his term as editor, including the qantas media award for nz's best daily newspaper.
all in all, it's impossible to dispute that he has done his job extremely well, and that he will be missed in the waikato. i do wish him well in his next job, though i'll have to say that i won't be reading that paper any time soon. but i'm sure he'll do well there in spite of that!
while i can't say that i'm a fan of the times, i do have a certain respect for mr johns. i've found him to be personally approachable and rarely had problems getting opinion pieces published in the paper. he has also been willing to front up to any public forum where there is a discussion on the media, knowing that some of them are going to be rather hostile. he was kind enough to accept my invitation to speak and answer questions at the 4th national interfaith forum a few years ago, and he certainly got some tough questions that day!
that he has been a successful editor is not in doubt. he managed to increase circulation at a time when other major papers have been on a downward trend. the paper has won quite a few media awards under his term as editor, including the qantas media award for nz's best daily newspaper.
all in all, it's impossible to dispute that he has done his job extremely well, and that he will be missed in the waikato. i do wish him well in his next job, though i'll have to say that i won't be reading that paper any time soon. but i'm sure he'll do well there in spite of that!
Monday, 12 April 2010
race going nowhere
it's getting to the stage where i need a break from my weekends. again! which isn't to say i wasn't doing some interesting stuff. i had a media workshop in auckland, community radio open day back in hamilton, shama board meeting, and a couple of other of things on, all of which were very fruitful. but it's a worry when i don't get time to do the grocery shopping!
and i'm definitely over the v8s. well i was over them the first year they came to hamilton, mostly because i'm not into car racing at all, and the disruption the event causes to my route to work for at least 6 weeks is really quite annoying. but still, i could see that they might have some wider economic benefits to the city, which balanced that out a bit.
but, once the first race was over, it turned out that the economic benefits weren't particularly wide spread. a few businesses did well, but most didn't get any upturn in custom and ended up losing money because they had bought so much extra stock for customers who never turned up.
a couple of years on and the organisers have been basically begging people to buy tickets to avoid substantial losses. this is a worry, mostly because our city council entered into some kind of agreement to bring the v8s here. the details of said agreement were never disclosed - commercial sensitivity being the excuse. now i'm going to be really annoyed if the city council is losing money on our behalf because of this event, which we may be having to fund through our rates. but of course i'll never know. i wonder if i could do an OIA request to the council.
if there is no economic benefit arising from this event, then i frankly can't see the point of it. there are no other benefits that aren't vastly outweighed by the costs. and i'm sick of the waikato times running front page "stories" (free adverts, rather) for grid girls. i've yet to see any times stories (front page or otherwise) about women drivers or organisers/managers. nope, the only female participation worth mentioning is being eye-candy for the boys.
yup, definitely over the v8s.
and i'm definitely over the v8s. well i was over them the first year they came to hamilton, mostly because i'm not into car racing at all, and the disruption the event causes to my route to work for at least 6 weeks is really quite annoying. but still, i could see that they might have some wider economic benefits to the city, which balanced that out a bit.
but, once the first race was over, it turned out that the economic benefits weren't particularly wide spread. a few businesses did well, but most didn't get any upturn in custom and ended up losing money because they had bought so much extra stock for customers who never turned up.
a couple of years on and the organisers have been basically begging people to buy tickets to avoid substantial losses. this is a worry, mostly because our city council entered into some kind of agreement to bring the v8s here. the details of said agreement were never disclosed - commercial sensitivity being the excuse. now i'm going to be really annoyed if the city council is losing money on our behalf because of this event, which we may be having to fund through our rates. but of course i'll never know. i wonder if i could do an OIA request to the council.
if there is no economic benefit arising from this event, then i frankly can't see the point of it. there are no other benefits that aren't vastly outweighed by the costs. and i'm sick of the waikato times running front page "stories" (free adverts, rather) for grid girls. i've yet to see any times stories (front page or otherwise) about women drivers or organisers/managers. nope, the only female participation worth mentioning is being eye-candy for the boys.
yup, definitely over the v8s.
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