E2NZ.org

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Some of Tuomas Enbuske’s jokes:

“New Zealand has a very strong culture. An extremely strong barbecue, beer and car driving culture.”

Other countries’ experts come to Finland to learn from the Finnish educational system, people come to New Zealand to eat Kiwi fruit”

“The most famous New Zealanders in the world are ….er what was this guy’s name?…no he’s from…Australia”

“You sing in your national anthem that god defend New Zealand, well after seeing your unemployment and suicide it seems that god doesn’t defend Maoris”

“We have Kimi Räikkönen – you have sheep…we have the angry birds game – you have sheep, we have Nokia – you have sheep…”

We fully expect a massive backlash within New Zealand to this video from people that are quick to criticise other countries  but can’t take a joke about themselves. Maybe Mr Brownlee should concentrate on getting the rebuild of Christchurch underway. How long has it been now since the earthquake?

Jerry  Brownlee said his speech in the NZ parliament was meant to be humorous and not an attack on the country:

    “I’m sure that New Zealanders have been on the butt of all sorts of jokes at various times and not taken offence at such a thing.”

We’re not so sure

Background:

Finnish embassy wants answers over Brownlee’s comments

“The Finnish embassy in Canberra has asked for an explanation over comments Gerry Brownlee made about the Nordic country in Parliament.

During a debate in Parliament Brownlee criticised Labour leader David Shearer for using Finland as an example when outlining his vision for New Zealand.

Brownlee proceeded to list reasons why he believes New Zealand is a superior country to Finland, including a “terrible” homicide rate, having a better standard of living, more consistent growth, lower unemployment, and lower inflation rates.

He also said Finland “hardly educates its people, and has no respect for women”.

Brownlee said he could not believe “for the life of me” that Labour wanted to be like Finland.

Radio NZ is reporting that, Juha Parikka, the deputy head of mission at the Embassy of Finland in Canberra, has written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade asking if there will be any reaction from the Government to Brownlee’s comments…” more here

Pot calling the kettle black more to come

• Every year there are  about 500 completed suicides in New Zealand, plus 5,000 hospitalisations. New Zealand leads the world in the highest rates of suicide for under 36 year olds.
• Kiwi youth suffer some of the worst health outcomes in the developed world. New Zealand youth have higher rates of mental illness, suicide, teen pregnancy and suffered more injuries than young people in other OECD countries.
• New Zealand is ranked joint third in the world by UNICEF for the highest number of  child maltreatment deaths (1.2 per 100,000 children) only the US and Mexico have more.
• “NZ has 14 times the average OECD rate of rheumatic fever, five to 10 times the rate of whooping cough and pneumonia compared with the United Kingdom and United States, and four to six times the rate of child maltreatment compared with the best countries.”
• Children as young as nine are among the hundreds of young people aged under 16 that are being treated for alcohol and drugs addiction – and that’s just in Auckland. The numbers of children receiving treatment is on the rise – there was a 20% increase in 2010.
• The Chief Coroner said he was “shocked and frustrated” by the high number of very young teens (some as young as 13) who drink themselves to death in New Zealand. It’s another symptom of the country’s hard drinking/binge drinking culture.
• According to figures held by the independent NZ Institute murder and manslaughter account for around 100 deaths every year, it places New Zealand 5th out of 30 OECD countries for violent deaths.
• There also scores of people who simply ‘disappear’ in New  Zealand every year, such as Korean mother Jessica  Chun who went missing on a Northland holiday  or Srikanth  Rayadurgam who vanished on his way to college in Auckland, who are never declared dead.

Womens rights slipping in New Zealand

We also have a range of posts about women’s rights in New Zealand link and about assaults against women link, from which the following has been taken:

Swiss Campers’ Tyres Slashed In Kaikoura

Parents Furious At Dean’s “Slut” Comment

17 Year Old Arrested For Mount Roskill Savage Rape

Turangi Child Rape: Open Letter to the Prime Minister of New Zealand

“Sex & Power” – Women’s Participation In NZ Stalled

Womens’ Rights Slipping In New Zealand

Another Street Attack In Wellington

Another Pregnant Woman Told To Leave New Zealand: Pregnancy Now Equated To Sickness In Human Rights Abuse