Open, fearless speech critical to democracy
Freedom of speech is a basic tenet of democracies. Together with the associated principle of tolerance for divergent views, it is highly prized.
However, throughout history they have both proved to be fragilely held under the pressure of group conformity. There are disturbing signs that both are at risk here.
Two articles in the ODT (27.3.25) demonstrate this. In the first, a mayoral candidate dropped a member of the group he has gathered about him for the council elections later this year because that member had expressed views within the university that were contrary to his own.
In the second, MPs from both sides of the House strongly condemned a fellow MP for expressing views that they did not agree with but which they must have been well aware reflected the experience of many of the people she represents.
I trust Robert Hamlin and Tamatha Paul, and other independent thinkers among us, will continue to speak out openly and fearlessly. New Zealand will be much the poorer if people become too afraid to express views that differ from currently approved ones.
Taking us backwards
That the leaders of the University of Otago and a possible future Dunedin mayor continue to insist that their personal view for the inclusion of religious beliefs of Māori culture must be included as an integral component of every facet of the public institutions which they are administrating. Without a mandate, such a view is completely unacceptable and has no place in neither any educational nor governance administration.
Dunedin City is clearly a creation of Scottish heritage, Scottish technology, Scottish architecture, Scottish grit and creativity. To try and impose on the whole population another culture’s religious beliefs be it Māori or Muslim or Catholicism is against a fundamental part of our democratic system.
The only direction that these woke administrators will take both the university and the city itself will be a change from being historically the leading city in all fields of development for the whole of New Zealand, to a second or even a third-rate city.
The skirl of the pipes
A little over 30 years ago, one of the earliest signs of cultural bullying rearing its head in Education came in the form of an "expectation" that all aspects of the secondary curriculum, even foreign languages, should suddenly acquire a "Māori dimension".
The practice of cultural bullying has spread, and Dr Robert Hamlin is to be applauded for daring to point out the obvious, that the imposition on others of any culture's religious beliefs and practices should be no part of any place of learning, nor for that matter of the operation of any local authority, a principle that mayoral hopeful Andrew Simms appears not to understand.
The nonsense advanced by Prof Thyne in support of this practice is not worthy of any academic who expects to be taken seriously.
Sadly, the point has been reached where merely talking sense on this matter will achieve little. It is time to meet fire with fire and recall that both our city's administration and our university owe their origins not to "Rongo, the supreme sacredness in heaven above" but to our founding Scottish forebears whose culture requires that all formal occasions be graced with the skirl of the great highland bagpipe.
I have little doubt that if, in the spirit of sharing, partnership and equity, the bagpipe were to accompany the karakia at close quarters, the issue would be quickly resolved and Dr Hamlin could be appreciated for his work in the university's Business School rather than find himself pilloried for daring to speak good sense.
Just when you think it’s over, it goes further
Just when you think this government could do no more to punish lower income earners further out comes Nicola Willis with the living wage will no longer be paid to workers employed in government buildings.
I have questions for Ms Willis, as her workplace is a government building. Do you bring a toilet brush and cleaner to work? A cut lunch from home? Do you have a vacuum cleaner and a duster in your office to spruce it up? I suspect the answer is no.
Then why do you expect someone to do these vital tasks for less money? These are the people that whether they work in government buildings or not keep this country going. Imagine if they stopped work what the outcome would be. How dare you show them a complete lack of respect by cutting the already meagre wage they receive.
As Minister of Finance Ms Willis is showing maths was not her best subject at school as she has not linked the fact that fewer people in work and less money in the pay packets of those that do means less spent in the businesses that she and her party say they support. Couple that with the large increase in unemployment numbers so less tax being paid, just where is the track that they were going to get us back on actually headed.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
