KEY POINTS:
Here is an earlier selection of Your Views:
Pro Police
With a case that has reached International headlines, has potentially tarnished New Zealand's reputation and concerns the death of a woman who's cause of death has not yet been established, I believe it essential that the police investigation continues. You must ask, for a family that was so concerned about the circumstances surrounding their mother's death, it seems a little strange that they NOW want the Police investigation stopped. Especially given the fact that their actions are being called into disrepute. So I am completely for the continuity of the Police investigation. Lets get to the bottom of what actually happened. Answers are needed.
Nigel Wade
The police should have conducted themselves with a bit of commonsense and treated the family members with at least a small amount of respect. The day after (less than 24hrs) their mother had died, the sons were subject to a 6+ hour interview that is by anyones terms just plain disgusting.That said, .. the inquiry should not be called off no matter how anyone "feels" about it. The police should be allowed to follow due process, ... lets hope they choose to apply some common sense to it all.
Sue (Auckland East)
I think the police investigation should continue as we need to know what happened that day, and why that poor lady died. Especially, the contractor needs to know, as it seems unlikely that it was his fault, and we need to show some compassion to him. The family 'forgiving' him for something that he was probably not responsible for does not suffice. What we do not need are committees of investigation, demands that power companies investigate the circumstances of their clients etc, etc. These will merely cost a lot of money, employ a lot of bureaucrats - to their immense joy - and put up prices for everyone. Thus more people will be unable to pay their bills and will suffer. I'm surprised Ms Clark is not aware of this - or are her only thoughts about her dip in the opinion polls and her desire to be on top again. Throughout this whole sad story she has acted like a gutter politician - in it only for herself and her popularity rating.
Stronglung (Auckland)
I can not believe how much the Prime Minister has been involved in the case of Mrs Muliaga who died unfortunately last week. Helen Clark is only speaking up to buy votes. And my vote certainly won't be for her or her cronies. Labour have wrecked this country.
peter
I feel for the family at this sad time ,I would like to see the police do their job to investigate and I want to congratulate you Helen for being a good leader. Now this is the time of sadness for that poor family and yet once again the most racist country in the world is at it again ,saying the family should do what they would have done......for goodness sakes she just got out of the hospital,sit down and think before judgment.
KT (Toronto)
Why are they being praised, it doesn't take a genius to dial 111. Even if his mother requested the ambulance not be called so they dont have to pay another bill they still should have. Look at the consequences now.
Aistair (Wellington)
I'm sickened by Helen Clark's grief surfing the Muliagas. She's down in the polls and desperate for an issue to pump. Max Bradford has blood on his hands for breaking up our community-owned power boards, but Labour has had 8 years to do something about it.
P.Ridland (Birkdale)
With all the beatings power company's are receiving, I would like to say Empower you are great.We,like a lot of families, struggled to pay the monthly power bill,and found it a stressful time robbing Peter to pay Paul(not the way we wanted to live.)Even though we were continually behind each month Empower came to the rescue by offering us a plan that ensures that eventually we will get ourselves into credit. So a big thank you Empower,you are a company with heart..
Karl
I'm unclear as to whether The Green Party knows what it wants. The article starts by suggesting "an electricity pricing scheme... so families on tight budgets can afford basic power needs."Three paragraphs later, it describes "a progressive pricing scheme would give every household a basic block of power units at a low cost each month.Progressively higher prices could be charged for subsequent blocks of units". I'm all for the second idea - for ALL households. As a middle class NZer I am extremely sick and exceedingly tired of being expected to pay more and more so that others can become more and more dependent. Why should I have to pay for someone else's power? So they can play PS3 all day while I'm working? How pathetic. The Green MPs need to leave their comfy Beehive chairs, look out over their six-figure salaries and realise that middle NZ is not as rich as they are. Here's a new idea - why doesn't the Green Party pay for the power bills of the poor. It can come out of their membership dues.That way, we'll either get rid of the problem of power bills for the poor - or we'll get rid of the Green Party.Talk about win-win.
Paula Weir
Not one single mitigating factor resulted in the unfortunate death of Mrs Muliaga, and I am sure she would be horrified at the hysterical debacle that has blown up against Mercury Energy's contractor since, caused largely by media intrusion and politicians grand standing.I sincerely hope a full and proper police investigation takes place that can put this unfortunate mess to rest. New Zealand has unfortunately become a society of blame, witch-hunts, and entitlement. We have lost the ability to show compassion, empathy, and respect for others, and are fast becoming a welfare state because instead of educating people and helping them in a positive way to be accountable and responsible for themselves, we think a quick hand out will solve their problems.I used to have everything being a privileged white middle class, and well educated young woman, and it was not until my home and everything I owned was stolen from me that I learnt how to fight and survive living hand to mouth for almost two years. It can be done we just need to show others how, instead of pointing the finger we need to take ourselves to task and learn from our tragedies and failures, despite the grief.
Kelly
Duh. Of course the police investigation should keep going. The poor police can't just stop in the middle of everything because all of a sudden someone has changed their mind. That's just stupid. And as for Helen, well, the words despicable, disgusting and out-and-out vote catching ploy spring to mind. A couple of years ago, my (middle-class) neighbourhood had a problem with power outages, some lasting up to 12 hours. I ask, if I had died because of a lack of power, would Helen have come to my funeral and praised my family? I think we all know what the obvious answer is. I think we know the reason behind it, too. Quite frankly, this case has been reported to the point of exhaustion. I think, New Zealand, it is time to move on to other things. There are more pressing matters to attend to than nitpicking over whether the power company was right or wrong in what it did.
Dave (Wgtn)
Yes the police enquiry should continue, and come to its obvious conclusion. That the family failed in numerous ways to fulfil their duty of care to their own mother. Also why is the Church acting so outraged, where was the Church when she was sick, it just had its greedy hand out accepting tithes.
Lastly someone said here that in the UK the contractor would be had up for manslaughter, and NZ is not compassionate.Um I was in London recently and tripped over homeless people everywhere I walked. NZ is a far more compassionate nation, an impressive array of help and state assistance was available to this family, if they choose not to accept it, how is that Mercury's problem?
Fran (Auckland)
This is political opportunism at its very worst and most cynical.The Prime Minister should keep quiet while the Police are investigating and the family are quite properly lawyered up. When she takes the pulpit at some church or other when the occasion comes with some publicity she reminds me of Yasser Arafat going to church on Christmas Eve with the eyes of the world on him.
Two dogs
I really feel for the family but the contractor or the Mercury are not to blame. There should not be an inquiry. Surely her family could see she was getting worse you don't have to be a genius to see that. I'm sorry but the blame falls on the family not on the contractor or Mercury. And all the publicity they are getting. Whats all this made of, especially from Helen Clark and the government.
fixiechick
I feel for this family and their sorrow.However I agree with prior comments that question why family did not assist or call for assistance in the few hours after disconnection. I also question the wisdom of canning the pending investigation. It needs to go ahead now. Kiwis have had this frenzied media avalanche hurled at them and there is still no definitive reasons and causes/responsibility. Because politicians are talking about changing policy etc on the basis of this incident, there must be a full and complete resolution to this unusual tragedy. Only then can we decide as a nation to say if/what needs to happen/change going forward. If a very black and white issue such as 'user pays' suddenly has varying degrees of subjective social grey,(i.e. what qualifies as 'refusal to pay' and what as 'cant pay' etc) then we need to be absolutely certain that Mercury and/or current legislation and practices were in any way at fault.Other than Mercury being a commercially driven SOE, that is. Helen...Just make them lower the power and we will all manage a lot better!
Steve
I feel sorry for the contractor, he was just doing his job. There must be an investigation into this matter and the facts should be known. The family should have asked for help. Pride may have been too much to do this, the family must shoulder some blame.
Jennifer
Does this mean, that we can expect Helen to support us next time a doctor misdiagnoses resulting in a fatality - it hasn't happened yet? Can't we leave this alone now and go on to the next tragic thing that you all seem to feed on!
Murray M
I have been thinking. Suppose my dear wife was ill, requiring oxygen assistance and lightning cut the power. What would I do? First, I would take any steps I could to protect my wife. So I would call an ambulance. It would cost $80 or so for this, but as I am a Christian, I am sure that someone from my Church would assist if I could not afford the cost at that time. Then I would call my priest who would come and pray with my wife and me. Having taken those basic steps I would then do all I could to ease my wife's discomfort, I guess you would call it basic first aid while waitng for the ambulance. What would I not do? Grab a guitar and sing hymns, hoping that the power might come on again soon.
Julie
The police investigation should continue. To suggest this woman would not have died had the power remained on is ludicrous. The woman and her family were responsible for their situation. Helen Clark should be ashamed of herself for getting involved in this ridiculous debacle.
Dave
So is Helen going to attend every funeral in NZ now. This woman was sick and according to the Herald on Sunday was not taking the drugs prescribed to her. This whole media circus over one persons death just ridiculous and Helen Clark needs to stop trying to score votes. She is like a vulture feeding on the remains of a dead animal.
Raeus (Otara)
All you guys need to get a life!! This is part of the families grieving process!! That comment that said the son's need to be prosecuted because they didn't get help...how ridiculous!! We shouldn't judge, we weren't there!! Nothing makes you fools happy!! What is a person to do!! Prosecute?? Don't prosecute??!
David Bull
Not only should the family's wishes on ceasing the police investigation be respected, they are correct. This tragedy is not the result of one individual's actions, but was caused by a faulty system. That system should be investigated and changed so that the actions of any individual at any level can be checked and verified. This approach to investigation is characteristic of investigation of most safety matters, especially aviation safety. The goal is to learn the lesson and prevent further tragedies. We should also remember that research has shown many times that police respect the wishes of victims to not prosecute in several types of crimes.
Rodd Gibbs
Of course the inquiry should not be called off.The family states the boys when interviewed did not understand the questions as they were interviewed in English and not their native language,6 years in New Zealand and going to school ? of course they understood. The spokespersons say the don't want the contractor charged , He can not be he was an employee carrying out a legal action, so that fails as well. The truth is that the family don't want to answer to why didn't they get help , call the police or hospital, the machine pictured was not life support but was an aid only so was it really the cause of death, why was she at home if she was that ill and finally what happened in the four hours before she died. Let the police publish the truth I say.
JR (Wellington)
Of course the Police inquiry should go ahead. This government has made not taking responsibility an art form - from the Prime Minister down to individual Govt Departments. All very happy to be supported by an overtaxed taxpayer who need to work longer hours in order to keep this large and ever growing band of underperforming individuals alive (around 25 per cent of NZ's are now paid for by the other 75 per cent). I'll say nothing bad about this particular family because I don't know the facts, but the multitude of public service agencies certainly went missing - probably out for lunch ? It just looks like the Clark / Cullen doctrine of if it looks like turning to custard, hide from it, cover it up or blame someone else, has ruled so far. I hope the Police are allowed to complete this inquiry without political interference - but thats highly unlikely.
TeeBee
No of course the police inquiry should not be called off. I agree, we, the public should know the real truth. I feel sorry for the family she left behind, but if she was that ill she should have been in hospital or had home care. My question is, where was the father when all this was going on? It has already been said that he wasn't working. As for the prime minister...well need I say anymore. I would just love for the police to prove that the electricity cut off had nothing to do with her dying and then wouldn't Clark look an even bigger dork that usual. She is really chasing votes here and I think most of us know that. Her concerns are not for the family, she is only worried about what this has done for NZ. Personally I think she should have kept her big nose out until all the facts were known.
Teri
I'm sorry.
Am I the only one who feels the family is at fault? 2 hours and no one rings 111? No one contacts Mercury about needing the power? And according to the hospital (as seen in a nzherald article), she needed her meds to survive, not the power. which she had stopped taking to her own accord.
so yes - the enquiry should be stopped.It is tragic their mother passed away - but i believe the family should shoulder some of the blame .
pCb (Auckland)
I'm getting tired by the snipping from the left especially when they are so quick to have an enquiry other times (perhaps they only like it when they can massage the results into something that suits their own purposes?). Full police enquiry, full disclosure of the real facts.Then perhaps our politicians can stop grand standing and get on with some real work.
Sharron
Death is never easy to deal with & my condolences to the family at this terrible time & sympathies to the contractor.Yes, I do believe that the police should continue the investigation. There are just too many unanswered questions, so much hysteria, politics and conflicting information surrounding this matter and I have yet to read a balanced in-depth report. (It would be wonderful if it appeared on the front page!) If all the facts were known, people could make informed decisions for themselves. In general, New Zealanders are a generous & caring nation but the constant guilt trip being placed on the middle class by the less fortunate is making people increasingly more cynically & resentful as we see taxes being wasted by people on the benefit who can somehow afford the luxuries of life but not the necessities. This might not be the case here but until all the facts are known we should all take a step back & wait for the full outcome to be revealed. The Muliaga's chose to bring this tragedy into the headlines so both the family & Mercury must endure the official scrutiny without complaint. Give the Muliaga's time to deal with their grief, investigate Mercury first, then the family. personally would like to see someone held responsible for this but with New Zealand's no-blame culture which extends from the Prime Minister downwards, I cannot see this happening.
Felix Mangere Bridge)
After this whole debacle with mercury (purposeful use of lower case!) energy, I must say that my contempt for things corporate and SOEs has been upgraded to sheer disbelief! Disgust was my first reaction but that was tempered with a need for more information (not wanting to condemn them before the government and media had given them a sound thrashing, however, at the end of the whole thing I feel the state owned enterprise, such as it is, still is able to hide behind all sorts of technicalities and rubbish, not least ignorance and greed. So much for a socially responsible state owned corporation looking out for the very public that pay for its services? I think that in a way, mercury energy have highlighted exactly what is wrong in the world today, that being the bottom line and damn the consequences! I know I'm raving and probably not making too much sense, but if I didn't write this then I think I'd have to actually send a letter or start a protest group or become a radical or both!?
Chris
Heat must be getting too much for the family! They were quick enough to scream murder and take money from Mercury so why not let an investigation take place. Are they scared that the investigation is going to show that it wasn't murder...that maybe their own actions is what caused the death. Who in their right mind sits there for 2-3 hours letting their mother die because the power had been cut so the machine that was "supposedly" keeping her alive wouldn't work? And before she is even buried contacts media and lawyers. If this was my mother I would want to grieve not go on a media campaign!
wocat
I don't think the police should stop their inquiries. Given the fact its so public now and feel that this way everything will come out so people who were so quick to judge will find the truth out.
Howick
This is just a vote pulling exercise by Labour given they are so far behind in the poles. When it comes back to bite them, what will happen then?
Peter, Auckland
This case has drawn so many criticism of so many people and organisations the only proper course of action is to let it run it's course and determine exactly where culpability lies, if at all.On the face of all media reports, this family failed to attend to their responsibilities and failed to indicate they were in need of help. Balance that against the overwhelming message coming from Helen Clark to immigrants and those from lower socio-economical backgrounds is that it's OK not to attend to ones responsibilities and the recipe for yet another tragedy exists. This case must reach an objective conclusion.If it does not, who will be next in the firing line for not providing services, telecom, supermarkets, oil companies?
Noorah
I am a bit surprised that the family wants the police to stop their investigation. Are they scared that something about them may come up or about the deceased persons health etc. We also must not forget that Helen Clark has an election next year. When I watched the chairwoman from Mighty River Power on TV I said to myself this woman is speaking from her heart and not as a politician.Remember Helen needs to win back the Mangere seat back so this is good for her. I have a very close friend who works for the power company and who is also a community worker. Speaking to this person I also learned that Mighty river Power is a very good employer and does its fair share for the community. They have apologised and have said they are asorry for their part in the tragic event.
Jo from Auckland, concerned New Zealander.
The police are only doing their job-a job that all kiwis expect them to do, so for the family spokesmen to say that the police should stop their enquiries is wrong. For all those involved in the death of Mrs Muilaga to enable them to get on with lives their has to be some sort of closure and only the police can achieve this but finishing of their investigation.
John (Wellington)
If police investigations depended on 'family goodwill', then I think our system of law would leave much to be desired. It's in the public interest to know if the death was by natural causes, or if someone by way of direct or indirect actions, is responsible. So long as the police don't bungle the investigation, then that's a process they are employed by our society to undertake. The investigation, for better or worse, must be allowed to proceed. It might suck for the contractor, but he should have thought about that before cutting off the power. And if he is responsible, then he needs to own it.
Nigel of Auckland
The police need to look into it. In case say some family kills their mother and blamed power company. Or in case anyone switching off power was some kind of deranged killer etc etc
Whakatane
Absolutely not.
This family is prepared to accept cash from the power company and is threatening to sue. The family obviously has no problems with legal action if it suits them.If there has been a crime by the supply company (for negligence maybe) or by the family (for misrepresentation maybe) then the public expects the criminal to be bought to justice by the police. It is the police's statutary role to investigate deaths.The decision about the police probe is not for the family to make
Sandra Holman
No the police investigation should not be called off, and as for the family saying they don't want the contractor prosecuted, why should he be, the sons should be prosecuted with failing to get help for their mother.This whole thing is being blown out of proportion due to Helen Clark pursuing the brown vote with a fervor never seen before. Frankly I think the contractor should be suing Helen Clark for the stress she has caused him. The woman and her family were solely responsible for her death and they are the ones that need to be investigated thoroughly. As to the thousands of people going to the service today, if they had so many friends and family members why didn't they approach them for help before this happened.I hope the autopsy results are published as we the public have a right to know after all this hoo ha!
Matt
Of course they, and most other parties involved, want the investigation stopped. If the Police find the power cut did not contribute to the death, the family are going to not only look very bad, but are likey to suffer a backlash from the general public. The media, of course, want the investigation stopped as they would likely be facing civil prosecution for liable, and the PM, she will look very silly after slamming the power comapany for it's actions before getting evidence they were the cause. The Police must be allowed to continue their investigation and the public must be given the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. This will only happen in the court of law, not the court of the New Zealand Media ratings wars.
Greg, (43) Auckland
Labours milking the state owned electricity companies through line charges and GST. I see no social responsibility there. Wheres the light at the end of the tunnel for the working poor in this country. It just keeps getting moved.
Ron Auckland
A police inquiry should take place as should a post postmortem, only then will we all know the actual cause of death, which may not have been caused by power not being available. Also it will make everyones actions and contributions to this tragedy clear. Blame will not resolve anything, I am sure no one deliberately caused this death. Knowing what actually happened however will enable another death in similar circumstances to be avoided.
Blair
Give me a break. The poor contractor whose life has been ruined by this farcical media circus deserves to have the police complete their investigation. I hope then we will get answers as to why an ambulance wasn't called for 3 hours, why this woman apparently didn't use her prescribed meds but went alternative and whether this contributed to her death. Perhaps the people who did nothing while she was dying should be investigated as well.As for the prime minister and her grandstanding when all the facts are not in and the family representatives comments on racism, what a joke. The race card is easy to play when you want money and sympathy, the true facts of this case when revealed may show it to be a hollow claim.Let the police finish doing their job!
Arron
After the family and our gracious leader accusing the contractor and Mercury for this death, the police investigation must conclude as the truth must be found out. As for the PM's grandstanding, that is blatant electioneering and unfortunately the less intelligent in this crucial Labour seat won't recognise it. And the Green's call for struggling middle NZ to subsidise the less well off (read into that lazy in 99.9 per cent of cases)to an even greater extent is beyond a joke. NZ has slipped into the socialist abyss and there doesn't seem to be any point in working hard any more, I think I'll move to Sth Auckland and become a bludger. Could the government provide me some food stamps for KFC?
Chris B (Hamilton)
I believe this is an attempt for the family to hide the fact that in the end it was not the technicians or Mercury's fault that Mrs. Muliaga died. I think the investigation should continue due to the high amount of public interested and so that those who are innocent can be vindicated.
rossnz
When has throwing money at a problem ever provided a long term solution? The difference between poor people and rich is that the poor make lifestyle and cultural decisions to keep themselves poor. They tend to shun education opportunities, they have low budgeting skills, they grow long grass instead of fruit and vegetables, they pay for Sky TV before electricity, they become obese with expensive fast foods. Being poor is self-inflicted in New Zealand.
D (Auckland)
Well what do you know - at the beginning there was a huge hue and cry - contractor should be blamed - corporates should resign damn Mercury they said. As time passed they started to realise, "It wasn't really their fault - we should have done something. Ooops - oh well let's just tell the police not to investigate... that way we can escape all the blame."Please get real - families don't control the police - for the best interests of the public the police should definitely complete this investigation so we don't have to listen to all this over hyped up media and family soap opera tragedy.
Hayley (Wellington)
I think the whole thing is totally ridiculous. I don't want to down play the fact that someone died and that is a total tragedy. But, I think its ridiculous that Mercury Energy is taking the blame. Why didn't the family do something?? They had hours to call the police, call an ambulance, take their mother to a neighbours house and connect her machine there. Without wanting to offend the family - I think its important to ask ourselves, if we were in that situation, would we sit around for two hours watching a person die? Or would we call an ambulance, call the police, call a friend, go to the neighbour etc? I certainly wouldn't sit and watch my mother die doing nothing about it but blaming a power company employee for doing his (extremely difficult) job. After all, that person is simply trying to make a living to support their family and pay their bills.
John (Wattle Downs)
The police investigation, having started, should continue. The family were very vocal about having such an investigation to begin with, and one wonders why they would want to stop now.Th