Oh please ….
January 8th, 2013 at 11:00 am by David FarrarStuff reports:
Labour MP Jacinda Ardern said there was a fine line between being overzealous and exercising caution.
She wanted a government body to investigate how a mental health patient managed to walk along a 192-metre-high Sky Tower platform over the weekend.
“I think the appropriate response should still involve a government department taking an interest because adventure tourism, and tourism generally, is so important to the New Zealand economy.”
I’m sorry but what nonsense. The Sky Tower near-suicide is in a totally different category to the ballooning tragedy where there was a failure on the part of operators.
The man involved was a customer and removed his harness and threatened to jump. To paint this as a safety issue is ridiculous. It is a mental health issue. Calling for an inquiry is scraping the bottom of the barrel.
The Herald editorial also goes down this path:
SkyCity and the company that runs the SkyWalk adventure on its tower have said very little since the incident on Saturday when a disturbed man paced the platform for five hours threatening to jump. There is not much anybody can say for the organisation that allowed this to happen.
The company’s director said it was reviewing its systems to see “whether there can be any improvements made to our systems to prevent such an incident from occurring in the future”. There had better be improvements. The organisers must find a foolproof solution if the platform is to be reopened for these attractions.
That should not be hard.
Nobody should be able to get outside the tower for the SkyWalk or the controlled SkyJump unless they are in a safety harness they cannot remove. There is no conceivable sensible need for customers to be able to release themselves from the harness once they are on the narrow platform 192m above the street.
The precautions seem so obvious they might have been assumed to be in force.
I’m sorry, but again this is raving bonkers. The Herald is saying that people should be padlocked into a safety harness? Why not handcuff them so they can’t try and remove it? Or use straitjackets?
By this logic, we should ban pedestrians from bridges, in case a mentally ill person tries to jump from one.
And all office buildings over one story in height must have windows which are unable to be opened in case anyone tries to get out of one.
Tags: editorials, Labour, Nanny State, NZ Herald
January 8th, 2013 at 11:11 am
Given the negative publicity if someone actually did manage to jump I’d think Sky City would voluntarily consider a locking system on the harness after this incident.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 11:17 am
They’ve scraped right through the bottom of the barrel and into the cellar floor. I understand Jacinda’s trying to raise her profile but the party really needs to rein this stuff in if they expect to be taken seriously by the electorate.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 11:19 am
Has the Herald lost the plot now ? Some of their stories/opinions over last few months have been very bizarre.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 11:22 am
Ballooning tragedy?
Oh yes,wasn’t cannabis involved?
Cool eh bro,so mellow,not huring anyone eh,recreational,sweet as eh,decriminalise,my rights eh……….
And the Fox Glacier crash that killed 9.
Adventure Tour Aotearoa with pilots who are really really high!
Investigate that!
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 11:24 am
Ardern is a hopeless oxygen thief.
Vote:It’s a waste of time and space to pay any attention to what the whinging socialist says.
January 8th, 2013 at 11:28 am
But David, if you have another enquiry, it uses money that might be put to better use elsewhere, and Helen (may her name be praised) knows that if you’re not putting money to better use you can be criticised for it and Her Party can win the next election. For more detailed information see the confidential strategy memo in the green party’s deep files explaining how they will leverage the cost of a plebescite into asset sales into a major spending criticism of the government during the next election campaign
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 11:39 am
>She wanted a government body to investigate how a mental health patient managed to walk along a 192-metre-high Sky Tower platform over the weekend.
In its favour, it would be the shortest investigation ever.
Vote:“So, Mr Person in Charge of Things, how did it happen?”
“Well, he walked through the door and took his harness off.” (or whatever).
Investigation concluded.
January 8th, 2013 at 11:46 am
Probably the same way the rest of us walk, with our legs !
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 11:55 am
Yawn. Genuine “attempted suicide” is rare, you either do it for real or you’re posing to get attention.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 11:57 am
Actually, it’d be a bit longer:
Vote:“So, Mr Person in Charge of Things, how did it happen?”
“Well, he walked through the door and took his harness off.” (or whatever).
“So, Mr Person in Charge of Things, how could he do that?”
“Well, our target customers are rational adults. Are you?”
January 8th, 2013 at 12:02 pm
I think John Key should resign over this! Its an OUTRAGE!
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 12:04 pm
OSH has a legitimate interest in this incident as it involves workplace safety. No need for a public inquiry, however.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 12:04 pm
Here’s a question: When the last adult is trussed up in cotton wool, who’ll be left to conduct the enquiry?
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 12:09 pm
I spat out my cornflakes when I read this. Since when has more government made things better? If Jacinda Ardern wants to make things better for adventure tourism open up the personal injury market. Unsafe operators will be priced out of the market.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 12:16 pm
This lite weight Labour MP believes that any publicity is good for her profile. Keeps her in the public arena. Another me, me, me.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 12:31 pm
This is going to be another of the lefts way into attacking the skycity convention centre bid. They will attack the business and make them appear incompetent to the public and use this against the government plans for the events centre.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 12:39 pm
Ban heights.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 12:40 pm
I thought the Herald was way out of line.
You can’t design a system that is completely foolproof, because fools are so damned ingenious.
The Skywalk safety systems worked exactly as intended.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 12:41 pm
Toyota should respond after every car accident involving their vehicles too. After all, they allowed each crash to happen.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 12:46 pm
You idiot. Heights dont kill people, gravity kills people!
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 12:55 pm
Hang on, this person had mental health issues, right?
Why the hell didnt the police taser him? Thats what they do, isnt it?
On another note, its time we had more government departments to stop being being idiots.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 1:30 pm
If Jacinda Ardern had any integrity and any real concern for people with mental health issues she’d be calling for an inquiry alright – an inquiry into the policy of closing psychiatric hospitals begun in the Lange/Palmer years and continued by Bolger and Shipley, then finished off under Clark administration.
There is now an acute shortage of crisis care facilities, almost no long-term places, and an unconscionable burden on underfunded community organisations who are expected to provide “care in the community” when they have neither the resources nor expertise to do so.
Mental health workers would tell thye inquiry of having to turn down requests every day from desperate people the system is unable to help. Perhaps the SkyCity would-be jumper was such a person.
But that’d reveal a few too many home truths, like the fact that both Labour and National, having backed deinstitutionalisation, has the courage to admit they were wrong and that it’s not suited to everyone with mental health issues, and so continue the current policy hoping the NGO sector cops the blame for any tragedies and near-tragedies.
Or that some dumb-arse MP deflects attention from the real issue by calling for a fatuous inquiry.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 1:37 pm
At least the opposition MP’s are getting media attention (and it wouldn’t surprise me is the Sky Tower does introduce some kind of locked harness after this incident).
The government MP’s all seem to be AWOL.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 1:46 pm
She doesn’t. She’s as unscrupulous and callous as her socialist colleagues, and ready to cry out loud onlyfor political advantage.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 1:52 pm
Rex Widerstrom +10. You are spot on with that comment. It’s not just NZ, it’s worldwide that MH patients get a raw deal.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 1:53 pm
Yep Manolo. Opposition is getting some media attention – that what an opposition does.
So what does our Tourism Minister have to say about it?
Oh wait ….
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 1:54 pm
Govt MPs are not AWOL. They’re on holiday,which is fair enough.
These labour idiots are simply scoring own goals assisted by their idiot mates in the MSM who are desperate to report anything now that it’s silly season…….cos everyone is on holiday.
If only they’d all grow up .
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 2:05 pm
Maybe politics doesn’t take a holiday, kowtow!
And is it just me or does it seem that parliament has an awful lot of holidays.
Rex Widerstrom – well said.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 2:10 pm
The Herald lost all credibility when they decided to rely entirely upon Cam Slater and his readers to sub edit the paper on a daily basis.
Vote:Add to that the fact that they appear to have lent one of their best journos to Kim Dotcon as a paid spin flunkie and it is no wonder they are going broke.
January 8th, 2013 at 2:13 pm
Ardern needs to do something useful in 2013
Vote:Like calling for an inquiry into why Al Brown’s Depot won’t take bookings.
January 8th, 2013 at 2:26 pm
maybe mental patients should be made to wear a gold star??
i know shes your bud DPF, but holy shit adern is a light weight. i know shes this great hope for the party because shes young (actually over 30 and aging badly) but theres just nothing there. a few cliches and catch phrases.
if she ever made it to the top she would be worse than the thing aussie currently have
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 2:42 pm
Are we certain the guy who removed his harness wasn’t a lab, sorry socialist activist Adern used in a setup. Where was McCarten at the time.
Desperate times, desperate measures,
Agree with the comments re Mental health care but with the exponential increase from modern THC and P in paranoia and other syndromes/mental health problems occuring, we would struggle to house them all today.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 2:56 pm
Jinky says:
And get tasered. But hey, they’re just ‘nutters’, as various commenters decided the other day. And not only is it worldwide, it’s been going on for a long time. Charles Bukowski first published “Dinosauria, We” in 1991:
We are
Vote:Born like this
Into this
Into these carefully mad wars
Into the sight of broken factory windows of emptiness
Into bars where people no longer speak to each other
Into fist fights that end as shootings and knifings
Born into this
Into hospitals which are so expensive that it’s cheaper to die
Into lawyers who charge so much it’s cheaper to plead guilty
Into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed
Into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes
January 8th, 2013 at 2:59 pm
Dear Ms Cactus,
Never a truer word spoken. God the bloody shenanigans of begging for a table when all your party isnt there. I managed a 10 minute ‘yes its ok, as long as they are here in ten minutes” hold on a table, which I think is close to a world record.
Their shellfish is amazing, as is their range of recently dead animals.
#firstworldproblems
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 3:26 pm
@Cactus – there are ways and means into Depot.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 4:07 pm
I’m an instructor at a gliding club, taking members of the public for trial flights. It is a legal requirement of our non-profit club status that we actually offer people the use of the controls.
I guess that should be banned too. Imagine what a nutter could do!
http://hoult.org/bruce/steepTurn2.jpg
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 4:09 pm
“maybe mental patients should be made to wear a gold star??”
Exactly. I don’t know if even that would stop the Police Tasering them for fun though would it Rex?
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 4:15 pm
How about they just lock the door.
Vote:And all the idiots have to stay inside.
With the sane people?
January 8th, 2013 at 4:41 pm
@Longknives
Well they could wear them sewn over their hearts, so as to provide shortsighted Plods with something to aim for.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 4:48 pm
Hmmm
Try The Grill up the road next time.
Vote:Food I think is better.
Depot needs to expand or die
January 8th, 2013 at 4:49 pm
The guy never intended to kill himself. My thoughts are that he was out on a bender, and snuck through up into the tour group. Some poor tourism worker in his early twenties probably thought he seems a bit off, but that it would be racist to say anything.
The guy got through, and thought “I got through, awesome. What else can I do for fun? I know what will cause mass hysteria. I’m going to threaten to jump.”
None of his body language suggested he was going to jump. It was more like a toddler playing “catch me if you can”.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 4:52 pm
Rex there are far better options than Tasering in the chest…
Vote:
January 8th, 2013 at 4:54 pm
And I agree with tristanb- If he was going to jump he would have bloody jumped. The Drama Queen just wanted some hugs and attention…(selfish prick)
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 6:07 pm
I notice that Heralds Wiki site was updated in October 2011 stating that it is now politically aligned to the center, whereas before it was considered center right. It kinda follows the National Party’s political alignment really. The quality of the NZ herald has dropped radically over the last few years, its quality following the quality of Nationals policies.
It will be interesting to see how the National party react to the stupid statements Ardern and the “New Zealand Peoples Herald” made.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 6:47 pm
Ms Kate,
Have, loved it. Had a post board meeting dinner there, 4 of us dropped $1500 with great ease, without even trying. A pleasant evening of dead animal worship. Sadly Paul Henry was at his obnoxious best at the table next door, holding court, put us off our pud really.
The chips cooked in duck fat were a fav. Had to run an extra 10 the next morning as a result
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 7:05 pm
Didn’t DPF tap Jacinda Ardern on the shoulder as a future PM?
Deliver us if it ever happens!
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 7:10 pm
Toothy Ardern is a good friend of DPF, who would be delighted to see her as PM, despite her redder politics (compared to his).
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 7:49 pm
Does Jacinda always brush her teeth with floor buffers?
It would seem so….
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 8:46 pm
Another shower head and regulatory light bulb moment. Brilliant!
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 8:59 pm
Rex W @ 1.30.
Best comment you have ever made.
Jacinda would be best advised to get out of parliament (along with Hipkins) get a real job and learn what life is really about.
The media tend to pander to Adern .No surprise.
PM? no way.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 9:17 pm
Who was it Whale or DPF who said we had to stop referring to her as “My Little Pony” because she’d slithered onto the front bench?
Imagine if she got slapped on the back while……… with those choppers, doesnt bear thinking about. When I see some of the women in our Parliament referred to as ‘lookers’ I know those people need to get out more.
Vote:January 8th, 2013 at 10:27 pm
Zip it sweetie.
Vote:January 9th, 2013 at 4:38 am
What is this New Zealand predilection for calling for a public enquiry whenever someone breaks a nail? Can’t stuff just happen and people put it down to bad luck and bad choices, like every other country?
Vote:January 9th, 2013 at 7:44 am
I think Adern needs to find another job.
Vote:She’s shown time and again that she’s really not suited for politics.
January 9th, 2013 at 4:35 pm
Silly little precious.
Vote:Get on your Horse Jacinta.