Every now and
then something happens that carries within it the seeds of a great lesson.
Often that lesson is not immediately obvious because it is obscured by other
stuff. The fallout from the Stuart Murray ‘Wilful’ Wilson fiasco is just such a
case.
In fact this one
carries with it several lessons. The first and most obvious of these is that the
current Government (and for that matter the last Labour one) don’t give a stuff
about the welfare of the victims of crime or for that matter the welfare of
those who could potentially become the victims of crime. If it was not so, they
would have made some important changes to the law following the release of
Lloyd McIntosh.
For those
unfamiliar with the facts; McIntosh was another foul sexual deviant who was
released from prison on a ten-year supervision order similar to that which
Wilson is now being released under. At the time McIntosh was deemed to be too
dangerous to ever cease to be a threat. But as with Wilson, as the law stands authorities
were obliged to release him. That was in 2005 and at the time concerns were
raised about the situation by then opposition MP Tony Ryall. He said in
relation to a suggestion that Corrections staff might reduce McIntosh’s level
of supervision from two-on-one to one-on-one, “He is the worst of the worst and the staff are very worried that the
community is being put at risk for the sake of a few thousand dollars.".
That is the same
Tony Ryall whose bum is today firmly wedged in seat number six at the cabinet
table and who holds ministerial portfolios for Health and State Owned
Enterprises. He was concerned enough about the situation when he was in
opposition and in no strong position to do anything about it, yet after four
years on the Government benches when one might expect he has some degree of
influence he still has done NOTHING about it. Now that’s commitment for you –
commitment to saying whatever might get you elected anyway.
Hand in hand
with the evidence of Government indifference to the plight of the ordinary folk
in New Zealand in general and Christchurch and Whanganui in particular is the
obvious conclusion that our laws have not been thought through. It would appear
they have been drafted with the idea in mind that everyone can be rehabilitated
– if you take a generous view, that is. However if you are somewhat curmudgeonly
inclined, as myself, you might take that as a lesson that these laws are
drafted to make for a quick fix and based on the theory that people have short
memories. They figure the cost of keeping someone inside is so high that it is
cheaper to let them loose among the rest of us. The potential costs (financially
and emotionally) when all of that turns to shit have not been factored in or
even considered.
But for me the biggest lesson coming from the
release of Wilson that is being laid out for all of us to see is the reaction
of the people of Whanganui.
Now I realise
there will be two camps over this. Some will say the organised way in which the
townsfolk have come together and are talking of mass trespass orders and the
like is an example of a vindictive and cruel society. They might say it is an
example of how a few rabble-rousers such as Michael Laws can home in on a key
issue such as the general alarm and fear generated by having a dangerous sex offender
released into your community to get together a lynch mob.
That might be
the case and I can see why it might be seen that way. I think it is a sad
reflection on our society that people feel they have to take measures such as
this, but who could possibly blame them for (a) being afraid and (b) being prepared
to DO SOMETHING.
Now that is what
I mean about a really valuable lesson that we can learn as a nation from this.
If we don’t like what is going on, we can take action. But the key to it is
that you need numbers to make these things work. Time will tell whether the
people of Whanganui actually do carry through with what they are proposing, but
the fact they actually have got together and discussed some direct action and
are seriously considering taking it is a start.
I hope they do
go ahead with their plans. It might seem vindictive, but there is a bigger
issue here than simply the welfare of Stuart Murray Wilson. People are
understandably worried when they discover the state is obliged to release
people from prison who are known to pose an unacceptable level of risk to them.
This furore is more about the situation than any individual. And when it comes
right down to it, I am afraid that some people are entitled to more rights than
others. People like McIntosh and Wilson who have grossly offended against their
society have lost the moral right to be treated like the rest of us. The safety
of ordinary law-abiding citizens must take precedence.
But go Whanganui
and watch this space New Zealand. People working together in numbers for a
cause – that’s how you get change. Governments like the one we now have (and plenty
before them too) are a bit Mutt and Jeff. They don’t hear petitions and letters
to the editor, but they find it harder to ignore a noisy mob.
