On Wednesday Prime Minister John Key delivered a speech to the Sensible Sentencing Trust conference (sponsored by the National Party, Labour Party and ACT) at Parliament. It was a predictable presentation which avoided the obvious truth that if New Zealand ever had a policy with “economic disaster” written all over it then it’s our crime and imprisonment policy.

Here is the speech John Key should have given:

Kia ora koutou e hoa ma,
Thank you for the invitation to speak today. As Prime Minister I’m particularly pleased to be here because I’ve developed serious misgivings about the influence of your organization on the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders not to mention our economic policy. We all want safer communities and the victims of crime supported but SST is pushing policies which are having the opposite effect. Let me explain.
In the past, many victims have been badly let down by the government. For example the Accident Compensation Corporation recently agreed to reinstate funding of counselling for all victims of sexual assault. That funding should never have been removed and I apologise for my government’s financial pressure on ACC which led to the decision. Sexual assault victims deserve much better and we will be there to make sure such decisions are not repeated.
Your own organisation has also let down victims. I recall your spokesperson Garth McVicar supporting the criminal instead of the victim when he defended the knife-wielding assailant who chased, attacked and killed a young boy who had tagged the killer’s fence. Did anyone here call on the family of the young brown boy to offer support? No, I didn’t think so. It seems the rights of victims are paramount to SST when they are middle-class but we know that the victims of crime in New Zealand are predominantly working class, poor and frequently brown.
Your organisation has called for tougher prison sentences and both the previous Labour government and my National government have delivered on this. However, I’ve come to see that longer sentences will not make us safer. I hear shocked gasps from the audience – but it’s true. We won’t be safer. My colleague Rodney Hide makes the point that a person can’t commit further crime while they are in prison and so we have put in place ACT’s policy of three strikes.
I must apologise. We should never have gone along with ACT. I now find out it’s been a disastrous failure in the US where several states follow a similar line. The cost there is in the tens of billions and no one is safer. We have 8839 inmates in our prisons here in New Zealand – not enough, I hear someone heckle – was that David Garrett at the back? Yes I see it was – you’ve been a leader in SST, haven’t you, David? Would it be too much to describe SST as an ACT creation, David? No? Perhaps it’s just the corporate funding from ACT-friendly businesses which is keeping this organisation afloat. And while I’m on finance I see that SST was turned down for tax exempt status with the Charities Commission. Why you applied I’ll never know. The Genghis Khan Appreciation Society was also turned down so your application never had a chance.
Where was I before Garrett interrupted? Yes, our prison numbers are horrendous and at this rate we could even surpass the US and become the western country with the most prisoners per head of population. Is this a statistic that would make us world beaters? Was that a crazed cry of yes, yes, yes, from the back? Garrett again – he seems to be foaming around the mouth. Would someone from ACT please escort him out? Heavens – I didn’t expect to see the whole audience move. Just one will do – he seems to be crawling in the right direction now.
We may be falling behind Australia in the important statistics but I’m determined to beat them at this one and reduce our prison population. With the right policies, including restorative justice, we can make the country much safer while saving billions for community development and providing genuine support for victims. Here’s some homework for the Trust. Find out which Scandinavian country has severely reduced its prison population in recent years while making the country safer for everyone. I know the truth is sometimes hard to stomach but victims deserve to hear what really works rather than have to listen to half-baked soundbites from bullies.
But it’s time I addressed the causes of crime. The speech notes prepared by my press secretary say the main causes of crime are illegal drugs, alcohol and brown working-class kids who need army-style
What Key should have said on crime | Stuff.co.nz Page 1 of 4
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/national/politics/4067652/What-Key-should-have-said-on-cri… 30/08/2010
discipline.
But let me be totally honest – these are just symptoms of the problem and no matter how much we massage the truth there is no society anywhere which has become safer focusing on such approaches. I must say I’m embarrassed to think I’ve been part of a long line of politicians who have manipulated the truth about crime for electoral gain.
Back to the causes of crime. I want to share with you a book I’ve read recently called The Spirit Level, which shows that violent crime rises in societies as the gap between rich and poor increases. I’ve read this book, read the criticisms from the book’s detractors and in turn the responses of the authors. It’s not the whole answer but it gives us a clear steer how to reduce crime and create a safer, healthier, happier society.
I think it’s so important I’ve ordered copies for all National and ACT MPs – on second thoughts I’ll cancel the copy for David because the book has no cartoons.
I’ve sent an email to Phil Goff suggesting he do the same for Labour MPs because Phil has spent more than 10 years trying to outdo ACT at the extreme margins of the debate on law and order. Phil has led New Zealand further down a blind alley on crime than any other single MP – Garrett included. Phil has even agreed to have this dead end conference co-sponsored by the Labour Party. I’m ashamed National put its name to this conference. It won’t happen again.
I want to finish by expressing my anger at what I see as the abuse of victims by the Sensible Sentencing Trust. SST is not working with victims to get them through the most difficult time of their lives. Instead it is re-victimising these people again and again by locking them into a lifetime of regurgitating their pain and hatred by encouraging them to wallow in endless self pity. Some of your victims are deeply tragic figures and SST is wrong to use and abuse them for political effect.
Every victim I’ve ever met says to me they don’t want anyone else to have to go through the same trauma as they have. Let’s take up that challenge together. Work with me to reduce inequalities in New Zealand and protect future generations from the effects of bad economic policies.
Thank you all for listening. I know it’s not the speech you were expecting but as Prime Minister I sometimes have to lead in telling the truth even if it means Garth’s blood pressure reaches dangerous levels.

“Prime Minister John Key has challenges us to name and shame bad employers and Vodafone fits the bill”, says Unite National Director Mike Treen.

“This foreign-owned company’s commitment to making large profits far outweighs its commitment to its workforce.” “Vodafone expects most of our union members employed at its contact centres in Auckland to continue going backwards despite the company having a tremendous year reaping windfall revenues off the back of Telecom’s XT troubles.”

Last year Vodafone blamed the recession for the decision to freeze pay and we expected this year the company would ensure everyone received a pay increase. Alas, with Vodafone there’s never a good time to ask for a pay rise.

Over half our union members, despite performing very well in their jobs, have been given the fingers by Vodafone.

Most of our members at this giant foreign Telco will have gone three years without a pay increase by the time pay reviews are considered in 2011. That’s unacceptable. Vodafone expects employees to keep going backwards in a year when inflation is predicted to rise to between 5 and 6%.

Unite members will be working together to target the Vodafone brand in a bid to win public support for the company’s contact centre employees. This company could be another early target of Unite Union “UTU (Unite The Union) squads” – unless progress can be made.

The High Line, an elevated freight spur that runs along the West Side of Manhattan and overlooks the Hudson River, was nothing more than a crumbling eyesore 10 years ago. But since it opened as a park last year, its plantings and vistas, tasteful design and intricate weave through the redbrick bastions of New York’s meatpacking past have been a hit. Though the High Line is not fully completed more than two million people have already visited.

New York’s High Line

Many of these visitors are interested in the potential for using outmoded infrastructure to add green space and transportation options as well as to promote cultural and commercial revitalization. The High Line’s success as an elevated park, its improbable evolution from old trestle into glittering urban amenity, has motivated a whole host of public officials and city planners to consider or revisit efforts to convert relics from their own industrial pasts into potential economic engines.

In Chicago, the old Bloomingdale Rail Line is envisioned as a 3-mile greenhouse containing a 100-acre urban farm and, underneath, a hydrogen-powered generator. The energy source, dubbed the “HYDROGENerator,” would be placed along an old aqueduct that runs under the railway, and would be used to power local schools.

Just across the Hudson from the High Line, The Embankment Preservation Coalition has been advocating for the preservation of an elevated stonework structure that runs through downtown Jersey City. The Embankment is part of what was once a freight railroad line comprising seven tracks. It’s envisioned as part of the 2,600-mile East Coast Greenway: a traffic-free path spanning from Florida to Maine.

Philadelphia’s Reading Viaduct is another project in the pipelines. Built in the 1890s, the Viaduct’s four elevated tracks run 10 blocks, offering spectacular views of the Philadelphia skyline. In 2003, local residents formed The Reading Viaduct Project for the purpose of advocating for the transformation of the Viaduct into an elevated linear park.

Chicago’s Bloomingdale Rail

Consider Texas. Long the leading U.S. oil-producing state, it is now also the leading generator of electricity from wind, having overtaken California in 2006. Texas now has 9,700 megawatts of wind generating capacity online, 370 more in the construction stage, and a huge amount in the development stage. When all of these wind farms are completed, Texas will have 53,000 megawatts of wind generating capacity—the equivalent of 53 coal-fired power plants. This will more than satisfy the residential needs of the state’s 25 million people, enabling Texas to export electricity, just as it has long exported oil.

Texas is not alone. In South Dakota, a wind-rich, sparsely populated state, development has begun on a vast 5,050-megawatt wind farm (1 megawatt of wind capacity supplies 300 U.S. homes) that when completed will produce nearly five times as much electricity as the 810,000 people living in the state need. Altogether, some 10 states in the United States, most of them in the Great Plains, and several Canadian provinces are planning to export wind energy.

The government of Scotland is negotiating with two sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East to invest $7 billion in a grid in the North Sea off its eastern coast. This grid will enable Scotland to develop nearly 60,000 megawatts of off-shore wind generating capacity, close to the 85,000 megawatts of current electrical generating capacity for the United Kingdom.

We are witnessing an embrace of renewable energy on a scale we’ve never seen for fossil fuels or nuclear power. And not only in industrial countries. Algeria, which knows it will not be exporting oil forever, is planning to build 6,000 megawatts of solar thermal generating capacity for export to Europe via undersea cable. The Algerians note that they have enough harnessable solar energy in their vast desert to power the entire world economy. This is not a mathematical error. A similarly remarkable fact is that the sunlight striking the earth in just one hour is enough to power the world economy for one year.

Turkey, which now has 41,000 megawatts of total electrical generating capacity, issued a request for proposals in 2007 to build wind farms. It received bids from both domestic and international wind development firms to build a staggering 78,000 megawatts of wind generating capacity. Having selected some 7,000 megawatts of the most promising proposals, the government is now issuing construction permits.

In mid-2008, Indonesia—a country with 128 active volcanoes and therefore rich in geothermal energy—announced that it would develop 6,900 megawatts of geothermal generating capacity, with Pertamina, the state oil company, responsible for developing the lion’s share. Indonesia’s oil production has been declining for the last decade, and in each of the last five years the country has been an oil importer. As Pertamina shifts resources from oil into the development of geothermal energy, it could become the first oil company—state-owned or independent—to make the transition from oil to renewable energy.

These are only a few of the visionary initiatives to tap the earth’s renewable energy. The resources are vast. In the United States, three states—North Dakota, Kansas, and Texas—have enough harnessable wind energy to run the entire economy. In China, wind will likely become the dominant power source. Indonesia could one day get all its power from geothermal energy alone. Europe will be powered largely by wind farms in the North Sea and solar thermal power plants in the North African desert.

The goals for developing renewable sources of energy by 2020 that are laid out in my book Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization are based not on what is conventionally believed to be politically feasible but on what I think is needed. This is not Plan A, business as usual. This is Plan B—a wartime mobilization, an all-out response that is designed to avoid destabilizing economic and political stresses that will come with unmanageable climate change.

Implementing Plan B entails cutting net carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions 80 percent by 2020. This would keep atmospheric CO2 levels from exceeding 400 parts per million (ppm), up only modestly from 387 ppm in 2009, thus limiting the future rise in temperature. To make this ambitious cut, the first priority is to replace all coal- and oil-fired electricity generation with renewable sources. Whereas the twentieth century was marked by the globalization of the world energy economy as countries everywhere turned to oil, much of it coming from the Middle East, this century will see the localization of energy production as the world turns to wind, solar, and geothermal energy.

This century will also see the electrification of the economy. The transport sector will shift from gasoline-powered automobiles to plug-in gas-electric hybrids, all-electric cars, light rail transit, and high-speed intercity rail. And for long-distance freight, the shift will be from diesel-powered trucks to electrically powered rail freight systems. The movement of people and goods will be powered largely by electricity. In this new energy economy, buildings will rely on renewable electricity almost exclusively for heating, cooling, and lighting.

Can we expand renewable energy use fast enough? I think so. Recent trends in the adoption of mobile phones and personal computers give a sense of how quickly new technologies can spread. Once cumulative mobile phone sales reached 1 million units in 1986, the stage was set for explosive growth, and the number of cell phone subscribers doubled in each of the next three years. Over the next 12 years the number doubled every two years. By 2001 there were 961 million cell phones—nearly a 1,000-fold increase in just 15 years. And now there are more than 4 billion cell phone subscribers worldwide.

Sales of personal computers followed a similar trajectory. In 1980 roughly a million were sold, but by 2008 the figure was an estimated 270 million—a 270-fold jump in 28 years. We are now seeing similar growth figures for renewable energy technologies. Installations of solar cells are doubling every two years, and the annual growth in wind generating capacity is not far behind. Just as the communications and information economies have changed beyond recognition over the past two decades, so too will the energy economy over the next decade.

There is one outstanding difference. Whereas the restructuring of the information economy was shaped only by advancing technology and market forces, the restructuring of the energy economy will be driven also by the realization that the fate of civilization may depend not only on doing so, but on doing it at wartime speed.

- Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute

Israeli servicewomen train to become army instructors. Some former recruits have spoken out against the military action in the occupied territories. Photograph: IDF/Polaris Images

It was a single word scrawled on a wall at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem that unlocked something deep inside Inbar Michelzon, two years after she had completed compulsory military service in the Israeli Defence Force.

The word was “occupation”. “I really felt like someone was speaking the unspoken,” she recalled last week in a Tel Aviv cafe. “It was really shocking to me. There was graffiti saying, ‘end the occupation’. And I felt like, OK, now I can talk about what I saw.”

Michelzon became one of a handful of former Israeli servicewomen who have spoken out about their military experiences, a move that has brought accusations of betrayal and disloyalty. It is impossible to know how representative their testimonies are, but they provide an alternative picture of the “most moral army in the world”, as the IDF describes itself.

Concerns about Israeli army culture were raised last week following the publication on Facebook of photographs of a servicewoman posing alongside blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinians. The images were reminiscent of the Abu Ghraib scandal in Iraq. But the former soldier, Eden Abergil, said she didn’t understand what was wrong with the pictures, which were described by the IDF as “ugly and callous”. – http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/17/israel-soldier-facebook-palestinian-prisoners

Israel is unique in enlisting women at the age of 18 into two years of compulsory military service. The experience can be brutalising for the 10% who serve in the occupied territories, as Michelzon did.

“I left the army with a ticking bomb in my belly,” she said. “I felt I saw the backyard of Israel. I saw something that people don’t speak about. It’s almost like I know a dirty secret of a nation and I need to speak out.”

Michelzon, now 29, began her military service in September 2000, just when the second intifada was breaking out. “I joined the army with a very idealistic point of view – I really wanted to serve my country.” She was posted to Erez, the crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, to work in the radio control room.

“There was a lot of tension, a lot of shootings and suicide bombings,” she said. “Little by little you understand the rules of the game. You need to make it hard for the Arabs – that’s the main rule – because they are the enemy.”

She cited a routine example of a Palestinian woman waiting at the crossing. Michelzon called her officer, asking permission to allow the woman through. She was told to make such a request once the woman had been kept waiting for hours. “I felt very alone in the army. I couldn’t talk about the things I felt were misplaced,” she said. “I didn’t have strong views but I felt uncomfortable about the talk, about soldiers hitting Arabs and laughing. I thought everyone else was normal and I was the one who wasn’t. I felt an outsider to the group experience.”

At the end of her service, in June 2002, Michelzon said she felt the need to escape and took off to India. “I went through a breakdown little by little,” she said. It was only when she returned to enrol in university, and two years of therapy, that she began to consider her “duty” to speak out. She also came across Breaking the Silence, an organisation of army veterans who publish testimonies from former soldiers on life in the occupied territories to stimulate debate about the “moral price” of the occupation.

Michelzon gave evidence to the group and two years ago appeared in a documentary, To See If I’m Smiling, about the experiences of young women in the army. The film, she said, was criticised by all sides. The left focused on “the bad things we did and not on the fact that we wanted to start a discussion. We wanted to put up a mirror and tell Israeli society to look itself in the eyes.

“From the right, the reaction was, why are you doing this to your own people? Do you hate your country? But I did it because I love my country. We had to fight to say we want to talk about the political situation.”

The psychological impact of military service on women is undeniable, according to the testimonies of Michelzon and others, particularly those who serve in the occupied territories. “If you want to survive as a woman in the army, you have to be manly,” she said. “There is no room for feeling. It’s like a competition to see who can be tougher. A lot of the time girls are trying to be more aggressive than the guys.”

Her experience is echoed by that of Dana Golan, who served in the West Bank city of Hebron in 2001-02 as one of about 25 women among 300 male soldiers. Like Michelzon, Golan only spoke out after finishing her service. “If I had raised my anxieties, it would have been seen as a weakness,” she said.

Golan, now 27, said the “most shaky moment” of her military service came during a search for weapons in a Palestinian home. The family were awoken at 2am by soldiers who “turned their whole house inside out”. No weapons were found. The small children of the house were terrified, she recalled. “I thought, what would I feel if I was this four-year-old kid? How would I grow up? At that moment it occurred to me that sometimes we’re doing things that just create victims. To be a good occupier, we have to create conflict.”

On a separate occasion she witnessed soldiers stealing from a Palestinian electronics shop. She tried to report it, only to be told “there were things I shouldn’t interfere with”.

She said that she also saw elderly Palestinians being humiliated on the streets, “and I thought these could be my parents or grandparents”.

Israel is discomfited by these testimonies, she said, partly because of the universality of military service. “We grew up believing the IDF is the most moral army in the world. Everyone knows people serving in the army. Now when I say we are doing immoral things, I am talking about your sister or your daughter. People do not want to hear.”

The IDF is proud that 90% of its roles are open equally to men and women. “Serving in a combat unit where you have daily contact with people who might do you harm is not easy – you have to be tough,” said Captain Arye Shalicar, an army spokesman. “It’s not only a female thing, it’s the same for everyone. In the end, a combat unit is a combat unit. Sometimes things happen, not every deed is 100% correct or fair.” The army, he said, has procedures for reporting misdeeds which soldiers are encouraged to follow.

Both Michelzon and Golan have no regrets about speaking out. “For two years I saw people suffering and I didn’t do anything – and that’s really scary,” said Michelzon. “At the end, it felt like the army betrayed me – they used me, I couldn’t recognise myself. What we call protecting our country is destroying lives.” – http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/22/israel-female-soldiers-gaza-occupation

Whatever the final result of the Australian election, the advantage of New Zealand’s proportional voting system MMP is very clear, said the Green Party today.

The outcome of the Australian election is not yet known, because like in the UK earlier this year, the election has resulted in a ‘hung’ parliament. The two major parties together received 78 percent of the vote, and neither of them has a majority.

“New Zealanders can look to the Australian result to see why we need to vote to keep MMP next year,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei.

The Australian House of Representatives is elected by a preferential voting system, which is not proportional.

“There are significant third parties with over 2.5 million votes who will only pick up a handful of seats because of the unfairness of the ‘winner takes all’ system,” said Mrs Turei.

“Australian voters made clear that neither of the two big biggest parties should govern alone, and there was a huge move to the Greens as a principled party with real solutions.

“We congratulate the Greens on their great polling result, but under the preferential voting system, they will only pick up one seat in the House, despite winning over one million votes.

“Under MMP, there would be a clear and democratic result much sooner. The results in the UK and Australia demonstrate that the days of a two horse race where winner takes all are over,” said Mrs Turei.

Florence Cohen was sacked from her first job on her 85th day of her 90 day trial period. Her employer had expressed no dissatisfaction with her performance, she was given no reason for her dismissal, and she still doesn’t know today what, if anything, she did wrong.

350.org is an international campaign that’s building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis–the solutions that science and justice demand.

350 parts per million (ppm) is, according to leading climate scientists, the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Accelerating arctic warming and other early climate impacts have led scientists to conclude that we are already above the safe zone at our current 392ppm. The 350 campaign is focused on making the connections between our actions and climate change easier to understand so we can turn this around.

This year, 10/10/10 is the 350 Global Climate Work Party. Thousands of groups across New Zealand, and in over 180 countries, will join together and get to work on climate change. From holding a tree planting day to installing solar hot water heating on local buildings, we’ll be sending a call to leaders that they have our support in getting us back to 350ppm.

With more than 1300 global events registered already, there is plenty to get involved in. More information on actions taking place in Aotearoa can be found at 350.org.nz, or why not organise your own event – for details and suggestions go here, or register your event here.

Watch this video from last year’s 350 day to be inspired:

Below, for those who are interested, is the report. It’s good to be able to be transparent. This is an overview report on the last two years, and builds on regular reports to Standing Committee.

The Three Tikanga Social Justice Commission Report to General Synod / Te Hinota Whanui 2010

Overview
Over the last two years since the last General Synod / te Hinota Whanui a lot has happened. Some of the main features include: we have produced a significant number of excellent resources that have been well received; the commission was part of a General Synod review relating to employment responsibility; the Commissioner undertook sabbatical and unpaid leave for six months to work on a manuscript for publication; we initiated the initiative led by the Commissioner for regional social justice enablers.

Resources
Justice Magnetic Poetry was produced and distributed around this church with the aim of encouraging people to engage creatively with justice in their every day lives. It was warmly received. Just Living evolved into the Just booklet series in 2008. There have been three booklets to date (on gardening, food and peace, with community development, anarchism and criminal justice scheduled for release in the second half of this year). In addition a significant amount of work was put into producing and then distributing the Hikoi of Hope: Walking On resource on DVD. All resources were very well received. The introduction to the DVD remains available on our website and has also been included in the Government web based resource Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand.

The website was kept up to date with news and articles of interest and debate, and our weekly e-news went out and was widely circulated, although distribution declined during the Commissioner’s study leave. The website is available for everyone to add content – and this ethos of being ‘in this together’ – of us all participating in resourcing each other (resource sharing) and participating in building capacity for justice, is something the Commission seek to work out in all we do. We have co-responsibility for mission.

Addition video based documentary work was commissioned from someone around the theme Living on $1 a day. Some segments were produced but sadly the videographer was unable to complete.

During 2009 the Commissioner took sabbatical and unpaid leave to undertake a writing project. This is due to be published later this year with a foreword by The Archbishop of Canterbury. This will also be an excellent resource for this church. During his absence he ensured the work of the Commission was able to continue , and upon his return employed the same person as the first enabler with a particular focus upon the flaxroots. We would like to acknowledge the good work of Jolyon White, who undertook this role here in this report. In 2010 we have two highly experienced Maori community development workers as enablers in the North Island across all three tikanga.

Emergent Strengths
Working as an authentic three tikanga body is one of our greatest strengths, allowing us to work out together how we act authentically and justly as three tikanga. That kind of authenticity has a price – things can take longer to achieve, but the weaving and the walking are worth it, for part of our ministry is to seek justice in the church and its structures – that itself is an important form of social transformation.

We are excited at opportunities to develop the justice mission of the church both internally and externally. We are, for example, one of a small group that commissioned and is organising the alternative welfare working group, whose report will help to change the public discourse and influence policy (the report being the start of a longer term vision). We are also a member of an emergent campaign to eradicate child poverty, continue to feed into actions to combat family violence, and are in discussion with others about a child abuse related project.

The continued development of the flax roots enabler role is allowing the work of the commission to be experienced directly by people in every day life, and has resulted in projects around alternative economics, community development and stopping violence, for example. It also resulted in our very successful, although for some controversial, support for the Waihopi Plouhshares action. These projects have all been very positively received by the community with and in whom our mission is done.

We recognise that our work can sometimes appear controversial. However, we also recognise that work around social justice is often that way. What is important is knowing a sense of support from those in authority in the church, and being rooted in the politics of the Gospel not the many other kinds that plague our lives. We are fortunate to have both, and especially to receive such active and positive support from our Arch-episcopacy.

Tikanga Pasifika have really led the way for us with their strategic plan for social justice, and their work inspired others on the commission to explore what their tikanga could do in this regard. The Commissioner has been invited to undertake some work with Tikanga Pasifika to help implement and resource this plan. In addition the Commissioner continues to seek ways of working collaboratively with Te Pihopatanga.

We understand our role to enable, encourage, undertake, promote, nurture and strengthen this church’s involvement in creating a just society. Access to funding for our work and that of people in the church continues to hamper this vision’s development. We hope our revised strategic plan, attached, helps in this regard, as well as a renewed commitment by the Commission to pursue funding opportunities and strategies.

There are many issues of injustice that plague our islands and our church. Some of the most important, around welfare, poverty, violence, climate change and land and its use remain constantly in our sights. While we seek to engage with as many issues as we are able, we are only one small group, and focus and priority varies according to people and context. Therefore, our concern is also always for encouraging and resourcing the real concrete engagement of the whole church to be just where it is. The model of flax roots enabling is designed to strengthen this commitment. We seek to weave the strands of justice together for the sake of strengthening God’s justice mission through and in the church.

As indicated in our meeting earlier this year, we believe the commission’s work would benefit from an external review to help us improve our self understanding and mahi together. We have asked Rev John Fairbrother and Ms Tui Speight to work with us in this regard.

We commend this report to General Synod.

Muru Walters (Chair)

Wellington on Thursday, 12 August 2010 – 5.15pm to 6.30pm, St John’s in the City hall, corner Willis and Dixon Streets, Wellington

Constantine directs the provision of health care, education and community services which care for the predominantly Muslim population of Gaza. In particular, the services focus on mothers and babies, vocational education and the provision of psychosocial health services to an increasingly traumatized population.

Constantine Dabbagh was born in Jerusalem in 1938, and in the midst of fierce fighting in 1947, fled as a refugee to the Gaza strip. During his life he has worked for United Nations Peace Keeping Force in Gaza, and for the United Nations in the Republic of Congo (now Zaire). He has consistently advocated non-violence amidst living conditions that clearly have become a humanitarian crisis. His personal and professional dialogue of justice, peace, security, mutual understanding and reconciliation has involved him in critical negotiations between political factions within Palestine, and the Palestinian Authority and the international community.

During the Israeli Defence Forces action in Gaza during January 2009, the major health clinic and central office of the Middle Eastern Council of Churches was destroyed by an Israeli rocket and remains in ruins as a direct result of the blockade of Gaza. No building materials are allowed to enter, and the reuse of rubble is the only source for reconstruction. The offer of a volunteer Australian work team to rebuild the clinic has been rejected by Israel, and necessary entry visas denied.

Efforts are being made by moderate Christian and Muslim leaders to achieve a peaceful resolution of the conflict and to convince the Israeli Government to end the current blockade of Gaza.

Constantine’s visit is sponsored by Christian World Service (CWS) and brings you the chance to hear at first hand about life in Gaza under siege and the work of the Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees. For further information please contact CWS, 0800 74 73 72.