Richard Moore: Child abusers cannot be tolerated

So we live in Godzone do we?

Must be a pretty mean God then.

After all, in Godzone 15 per cent of children are born at risk of abuse.

In Godzone 80,000 kids see family violence each year.

And one child of Godzone is murdered in their own homes about once a month.

Family brutality is so bad that police have more than 6000 cases of domestic violence open at any given moment.

Godzone, huh?

I'm not sure about you, but to me the level of child abuse in this country is outrageous and not enough is being done to deal with those who perpetrate it.

Apart from the drug and booze-addled apes who commit these crimes, I blame do-gooders and bleeding hearts.

They are those types who will always have an excuse to find the good in bad people and will fight for their "rights" no matter how evil they are or how horrid their crimes.

It is an attitude that has made Godzone the perfect Devil's playground for low-lifes to get away with torture and murder.

Fortunately someone is finally doing something practical to stop the epidemic of abuse.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett's push to allow courts to act more decisively with abusers - banning unfit parents from having babies and being able to remove newborns from such people - has been too long in coming.

Child abusers do not deserve rights in a civilised society but, if rescued early enough, their children can have a real life of possibility.

There are so many people out there who cannot have children and would quickly adopt such rescued little ones, enriching the lives of all around them.

But, of course, there are the naysayers who through distorted values scream about eugenics and ridding the world of "undesirables".

One such mouth is former Green MP Sue Bradford who says it is "state incursion into the reproductive lives of citizens".

Unbelievable nonsense.

It would be saving children's lives and saving abusive parents from killing someone else.

The thing that makes me laugh is the Nazi jibe from opponents.

These nongs forget that if Nazis really were in power in this country then a good 10 per cent of the population would be immediately eradicated as parasitic wastes of oxygen.

And, for once, I'm not talking about politicians.

I TELL you what, in these tough times you have to keep a third eye on money-grubbing local authorities.

A few weeks ago we had the case of a Waikato council moving to introduce a toilet tax to boost revenue, now we have another mob greedily eyeing money from power payouts.

The Whangarei District Council has made a move to get its hands on some of Northpower's dividends. Northpower - which is like TrustPower - gives its customers an annual rebate and the WDC has suggested putting 50 per cent of the dosh into a community trust to fund "infrastructure projects".

Needless to say, the idea is not popular among cash-strapped locals who already fork out to the council for infrastructure in their rates.

I KNOW there are a lot of charitable and worthwhile organisations wanting our money at the moment and it can be tough deciding which way to give donations.

What I try to do is spread them around. This year it will be these groups, next year some others.

Last week it was Autism Appeal Week, which sort of snuck up on me and I only knew about it courtesy of a couple of ladies at a table near a supermarket.

Autism is really rough on people who have it and their parents and families. Those with it cover a huge number of conditions - including Asperger's Syndrome - hence many are diagnosed as being within the "autism spectrum".

Basically the brains of these people are wired a little differently and they can have characteristics that include difficulty with social and communication skills, and repetitive behaviour. Unlike most of us, they often don't naturally understand how to read people or what they say. They have to be taught to read people's faces and learn not to take what people say literally.

Autism spectrum disorders affect 40,000 people and their families in this country.

I reckon Autism New Zealand deserves as much support as we can give it so, if you didn't see any collectors, how about heading to http://www.autismnz.org.nz and opening up your wallet or purse.

richard@richardmoore.com