Policy leads to a mass of contradictions

The government is worried about a mass of illegal immigrants arriving on our shores.

When questioned about what constitutes a mass, the Prime Minister was vague. He seemed to suddenly regress to the cave man counting method that goes one, two, three, lots. Mass infers huge numbers without actually saying how many.

The calculated headline-grabbing use of the word 'mass' conjured up visions of great hordes of boat people suddenly appearing over the horizon to claim asylum here.

The fact that this has never happened and is indeed most unlikely to ever occur did not diminish the government's desire to try doing two things at the same time: One: Feed the fearful fretting of the xenophobic among us. Two: Create an immediate diversion from the troubles being generated by John Banks and the government's dismal choice of a minor party partner.

Attempts to get a definition of how many is a mass were batted away with vague answers until eventually it was admitted that a mass was twelve people.

By strange coincidence this was exactly one more than the eleven Chinese asylum seekers who had set out with the intention of reaching NZ but then decided to remain in Australia rather than try sailing across the Tasman. Does this mean that a mass is a small group plus one more?

Another kind of mass is more puzzling - the collection of contradictions that appear to be battling for supremacy in Clive Solomon's attack on the DHB Board.

He is an elected member of the governance board of a public health provider but he seems determined to destroy the organisation's credibility in order to somehow 'save it'. It is hard to work out the motivation.

The regular claims about safety are not accompanied by any productive ideas, yet professionally, he would be well aware of the Ministry's emphasis on quality improvement linked to the accreditation process DHBs must go through to show they comply with the highest standards of care.

Proposing a vote of no confidence in the board Chair must surely be grandstanding? It does nothing constructive to aid the board in tackling the serious issues it faces as a provincial health service. But perhaps it is misleading to look for complex motivations - it could be that he simply likes seeing his name in the newspaper?

The recent policy announcement about free contraception for young women as a way to reduce the number on benefits and the cost of unplanned pregnancies does raise interesting questions. What about the blokes who feel that every night is a fertility rite, get women pregnant and then take no responsibility for the resulting children?

Perhaps we should learn from India. India ran a campaign encouraging men to have vasectomies by offering them a free transistor radio in exchange.

We would have to do things slightly differently here in NZ. The reward would need to be something of value.

The offer of a season ticket to the rugby might be the kind of incentive to persuade men to get the snip. Mind you, with the numbers attending rugby games falling every year, it may be that a transistor radio is more attractive.

Terry Sarten is a parent, social worker, musician and writer. Email: tgs@inspire.net.nz