My Christmas wish

The debacle surrounding a police cover-up of the behaviour of a senior cop was shocking but I was not surprised. Coincidentally, it blew up in the same week as the anniversary of the apology for the abuse of children in the custody of the state.

- Aaron Smale

Although the issues were quite separate, some patterns were uncannily similar.

The imbalance and abuse of power was the most obvious similarity. When a person or institution holds greater power they have a greater ability to inflict harm and a greater chance of impunity.

But perhaps the biggest imbalance in power is in who is listened to, heard and believed. Related to this imbalance is the recognition of the victims' trauma. For decades the trauma of the thousands of victims of the state's abuse of children was largely ignored.

If there's one thing above all else I'd like to see change in this country, it's how we respond to people who have been through trauma. We might like to recognise it for a start, and what it does to people. Too often we see only the behaviour that comes as a result of it, and then inflict punitive responses that cause more trauma. If we bothered to listen and tried to understand where that behaviour originated, the response might be quite different and more effective.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown recently expressed his approval that central government is looking at changing the law, so police can remove people experiencing homelessness from the CBD. Mayor Brown described these people as “scruffy”. The focus of both the politicians and the media is how homeless people are bad for business, they're scary, they're criminal.