State of the Nation Report

The Salvation Army published a State of the Nation Report in February 2020. Organisations committed to finding solutions to inequality in our community appreciate the Report's analyses, tables, graphs and conclusions about what is actually going on in society. It measures the effectiveness of government policies in resolving economic and social injustices — grading by improvement, no change, or decline. The Report provides the hard data that is required if Churches and NGOs are to target the right areas and work intelligently and effectively for a better future for all New Zealanders.

Even in our Covid-19 climate we need to keep the Report's recommendations in mind.

Vote for Fulness of Life

In the 2016 American presidential elections 52 per cent of American Catholics voted for Trump. Why would Catholics vote for a man twice-divorced, who seems to regard women as sex objects and whose appointment of family members to key positions in his administration smacks of nepotism? Why vote for a liar who demeans and belittles others regularly? Why vote for a president who does not believe the poorest should be able to access adequate healthcare?

This was the first time more than half of Catholic voters had voted for a Republican president. It seems that Trump’s anti-abortion position and appointment of conservative Catholics to the American Supreme Court swayed many Catholics. In January thousands of Catholics supported by some of their bishops affirmed Trump as a pro-life saviour at the March for Life rally in Washington DC. Trump may be pro-life when it comes to the unborn child and that is great, but he is certainly not pro-life around the environment (more onshore and off shore mining), around refugees (don’t let them in), around economic migrants from south of the US borders (they are rapists), or Kurdish fighters (siding with Turkey’s President Erdoğan and withdrawing the protection of US soldiers).

Catholics will always be pro-life — this is integral to our lives as disciples of Jesus. But Trump, aided and abetted by many American bishops, has allowed the American Catholic Church to be in Tom Roberts’ words: “used and manipulated by the era's most unconscionable con artist”.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops, ignoring the whole spectrum in the care of life, declared at their November 2019 meeting that abortion should be the "pre-eminent" consideration in Catholics’ choice of a candidate in the coming presidential elections. The conference president Cardinal Daniel DiNardo called climate change "important" but not "urgent”.

It would be scary if the New Zealand Church was to go down the same track as we approach 2020 General Election.

Fertiliser Use and Water Quality

The fertiliser companies Ballance and Ravensdown have developed the software programme “Overseer”. Among other things, Overseer helps farmers work out how much fertiliser they should use to ensure maximum pasture growth and it estimates fertiliser run-off. The Ministry of Primary Industries and AgResearch helped finance the software.

Simon Upton, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, has rightly questioned whether Overseer should be a regulatory tool for the farming industry. However, scientists question its value and to date neither central nor regional government has shown any concern that a software programme produced by fertiliser companies is being used to test water quality. They should watching very carefully because fertiliser run-off is one of the biggest dangers to our rivers and lakes.

Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 247 unpublished April 2020: 30