A 47 year old man will appear in court today on assault charges after Green co-leader James Shaw was attacked on his way to Parliament on Thursday.
There has been universal condemnation of the attack from politicians, unsurprisingly. Like most people they will no doubt see it as a deplorable attack on Shaw, and potentially on democracy if there were political motives for the attack.
There is a lot of speculation and very little facts about the assault apart from news that it happened and that Shaw was injured, he continued on to attend a meeting at Parliament, went to hospital the get checked for a possible brain injury, and took leave from Parliament and took the rest of the day off.
This isn’t the first attack on a politician. MPs and have been pushed and shoved. Objects and substances have been thrown at MPs, with once of those attacks (against Nick Smith) landing the assailant in court. Premeditated attacks on Don Brash and Steven Joyce got a lot of media attention but not nowhere near the degree of condemnation thst Shaw’s assault attracted.
The physical assault of Shaw is the worst I have known of and deserves the condemnation it has received.
I will wait until facts are known before discussing motivation and implications. Some have jumped to conclusions and made some wild assertions.
Pete George
/ 15th March 2019Gezza
/ 15th March 2019Paula Bennett, Sue Bradford discuss violence against MPs
https://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018686636
Be good to hear Speaker Trev on this topic too.
High Flying Duck
/ 15th March 2019“Be good to hear Speaker Trev on this topic too.”
It’s good to get the violent thug side of the story too for balance?
Gezza
/ 15th March 2019Reformed character now, apparently. Can speak about how to avoid enraged thugs.
Kitty Catkin
/ 15th March 2019When one thinks that a punch on the schnozz, painful as this is, is as bad as it gets here, we are very lucky. In many countries, it would have been a bullet.
Blazer
/ 15th March 2019‘instead got training in how to protect herself – and suggests other MPs could do the same.’
half wit.
artcroft
/ 15th March 2019True, and yet see still has double the wits of Twyford.
Pete George
/ 15th March 2019All MPs should be aware of and get advice on how to deal with verbal attacks and the potential of physical attacks.
Pete George
/ 15th March 2019Taking a swipe at an MP is quite inappropriate on this topic.
Blazer
/ 15th March 2019Bennetts advice runs counter to that of the Police…do not take matters into your own…hands.
High Flying Duck
/ 15th March 2019You’re making assumptions as to what the training was.
I doubt it was a crash course in Krav Maga.
It would probably have been around the language to use to verbally disarm, and how best to extract yourself from these situations.
Blazer
/ 15th March 2019you are making assumptions yourself.
The ‘old’ Bennett had the physical presence to nullify an attacker….the new improved version ….not so much.
Duker
/ 15th March 2019I would think someone who used to ‘run’ the Napier tattoo club would know a few tricks on self defense.
Alan Wilkinson
/ 15th March 2019Ah yes, the police advice is to call 111 after you’ve been killed and they will come and deal with the perpetrator. Excellent logic, B.
Blazer
/ 15th March 2019listen fool…she declined security….its provided by the taxpayer.
Honky Tonks still has it…for the rest of his life I expect.
Alan Wilkinson
/ 15th March 2019Possibly didn’t want to share the toilet with her security detail, B. Not everyone is as blase as you.
Anyway my view is that all women should get some self-defence training, not just politicians.
Corky
/ 15th March 2019All people should have some basic training in self defence. No one expects you to be Bruce Lee. A simple poke in the eyes, or a ball buster, then running away can really increase your survival chances.
Too many people forget trees and jungle vines have only been replaced by concrete and steel. The apes within those confines are still the same.
My wild speculation on the offender:
1- White.
2- Facial hair of some type.
3-Listens to talkback.
4- Either very well educated..or thick as a Labour Party hording.
5- Transient.
6- Possible previous mental issues.
Gezza
/ 15th March 20191- White.
2- Facial hair of some type.
3-Listens to talkback.
4- Either very well educated..or thick as a Labour Party hording.
5- Transient.
6- Possible previous mental issues.
… … …
No 3 & No 6, both, quite likely, if comments by *some* posters here are anything to go by. 👍🏼
Corky
/ 15th March 2019I thought No 6 would be something you had empathy with?
Gezza
/ 15th March 2019There are many different kinds of mental health issues. What kind were you thinking of?
Gezza
/ 15th March 2019And didn’t you deck some Cambodian dwarf for pushing in front of you at an ATM once, or something like that?
Zedd
/ 15th March 2019I thought you were giving us, a self description CORKY ? 😀
btw: I could tick some of them too
Corky
/ 15th March 2019Are blung or straight? I would like to take you seriously, Zedd%…but I can’t.
Zedd
/ 15th March 2019ditto…
btw; Blung ??
you assume too much !
Kitty Catkin
/ 15th March 2019Blung is Corky’s new word, and will be flogged to death like his others (snowflakes, mozzies)
Apart from the ‘very well educated’, it does sound like a self-description.
Gezza
/ 15th March 2019Urban Dictionary
blung
when you had bling and you lost it.
Dawg, he got blung.
by miosis March 05, 2004 😐
Kitty Catkin
/ 15th March 2019I saw that it had something to do with rolling herbs, and didn’t look further. It’s ugly and clumsy.
Trevors_elbow
/ 15th March 2019You are puerile. Truly. The epitome of the nasty little leftie ideologue…
She is in public life… done stuff with her life. You’re some mildly deranged failure with a grudge…
Sad wee thing…
Finbaar Rustle
/ 15th March 2019[Deleted – inappropriate on this topic. Any further inappropriate comments on this thread will just be deleted. PG]
Gezza
/ 15th March 2019When you’ve got it, flaunt it
Griff.
/ 15th March 2019I note your infatuation with Ms Bennetts new look .
I suggest it may cool your ardour somewhat if you consider what she will look like without the tight dress hiding all that extra skin.
Kitty Catkin
/ 15th March 2019From the look of her, there isn’t any. It doesn’t always happen.
Gezza
/ 15th March 2019Infatuation is a bit over the top.
Ray
/ 15th March 2019I have a Government job that deals with some people who might feel that I need to be dealt to, they are criminals.
Anyway I was issued with a special card, a license to carry a pistol?
Hardly, it had a special phone number,
111.
Blazer
/ 15th March 2019onya Ray a gummint job from the cradle to the grave.🎯
Ray
/ 15th March 2019Unfortunately Blaze this one doesn’t involve a salary.
Gezza
/ 15th March 2019I wonder how the rate of unprovoked physical assault against MPs compares to other sectors of society, including schoolkids?
Corky
/ 15th March 2019Good question. If politicians became as animated about crime as they are at present, we may get a seismic shift in crime prevention and punishment.
Ah, the Kiwi way..we learn nothing until it affects us personally.
Duker
/ 15th March 2019School kids ? Its through the roof.
Kitty Catkin
/ 15th March 2019Corky speaks for himself again. The idea that Kiwis learn nothing until it affects us personally and that politicians don’t care about crime is ludicrous.
Zedd
/ 15th March 2019Best wishes to Mr Shaw & his whanau
maybe they will start martial arts training after Q-time ?
Corky
/ 15th March 2019Only take 10 minutes a day. As long as it’s not one of those bs classes run by a middlclass yummy mummy called Bree, who has never had a hiding in her life..who teaches things that may get you killed on the street. Things like a reverse wrist lock and come-along. That really does work if you have 3 seconds to spare. A bro can fire off six punches and a kick within that time frame.
Tipene
/ 15th March 2019It occurs to me that if a Govt pushes a civil society long enough and hard enough in a direction they don’t want to go, then eventually there is going to be some blow-back.
Was this an act of wanton violence, or simply the law of natural consequence in action?
Gezza
/ 15th March 2019We’ll have to wait for the Court case to find out. Probably some kind of nutter.
PartisanZ
/ 15th March 2019Righties, the fiercest defenders of “the rule of law” can justify fucken anything eh?
Even not upholding the rule of law …
I guess charging into certain massacre is something you learn in The Right Brigade?
Tipene
/ 15th March 2019Beg to differ:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/111313938/live-coverage-police-attending-evolving-situation-in-christchurch