“NZ 5th Most Violent Country In The World”

Yesterday we published a Migrant Tale showing one immigrants’ reaction to New Zealand’s dismal ratings in the NZ Institutes’  ‘state of the nation’ report and new figures that had just been released showing that the country’s crime figures had sky rocketed.

Today we’d like highlight Kiwis’ take on the report and their feelings about where their country is headed, what is causing the disintegration of their society and what the solutions may be.

This is a thread from the Trademe Community Boards. A forum on New Zealand’s most popular online auction site.

There is a feeling that a succession of “weak, PC governments” are at fault, people feel powerless to protect themselves from crime and vigilante justice may be an answer:

“NZ 5th Most Violent Country in the world”
I’m embarrassed to live here…5th most violent country on the planet….not impressed!

Only Mexico, Finland, Hungary and the gun-toting US have higher “assault mortality” rates in the 30-member OECD, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10634799″

Responses

* “Well its not the planet, it the OECD, but still pretty bad. I’m sure there are more violent countries outside OECD eg. corrupt African nations etc.”

* “One thing I really notice here having lived overseas is the number of murders committed by women.”

* “Haven’t looked at the link but I’m guessing the OECD is only for developed nations? If so then yes we should be ashamed! In fact if we were as good as we claim to be we shouldn’t even be in the top 20. Does the ranking also include factors such as success rate of solving cases etc? If it does, then yeah, sounds about right. NZ’s sh!t when it comes to solving small criminal cases, sorry. They can’t even solve a simple theft crime fcs!”

* “It’s atrocious, how can we be behind countries like Thailand and Nepal, Mongolia, India, African nations etc where there should be huge crime (people are soo poor and only basically educated)…Oh, I know, we have wussy jails that pander to our crims …their jails are like HELL…”

* “This country is a mess :( im beginning to think there is too much wrong with NZ to fix.”

* “Yes. We’ve been saddled with many years of weak, PC , governments frightened to tackle the endemic problems of ‘culture’ .”

* “Actually the problems have been here for a very long time. For most of that time, hidden and not spoken about. Now these problems are out in the open, hopefully we can start to fix them

* Well with self defense being defacto illegal in NZ, it is no surprise. Yes, I know the law says you can defend yourself, but trying it against, for example, a machete wielding maniac will see you “fined ” $60k in legal bills, even if you “win”.”

* “So if NZ is so bad at putting crime to rights maybe we should consider some vigilante justice!”

* “I’m just so glad that we’ve developed the way we have….with undeveloped countries having better crime rates than ours…….so so proud! Not!”

* “I’d actually read somewhere when those twins were murdered that NZ was the third highest for child mortality.”

* “Stopped reading after “independent report” Many of those just pull figures out of their arses. The other side of this are the top 20 most liveable cities in the world. New Zealand claiming anywhere from 1-10 spots in the top 100 due to our ‘low crime rates.’ More ass pulling figures I’m sure~ Hmph.”

  1. putembehindbars
    April 13, 2010 at 10:31 pm | #1
    Quote

    Speaking about “stitched up”, how about five plates in your head? this poor grandmother is facially unrecognisable due to a bottle of alcohol thrown right in her face from a pasing vehicle:
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/3578929/Bottled-grandma-needed-five-steel-plates-in-head
    Mr Turner said senseless acts of violence would continue until law changes restrict access to alcohol.

    He said alcohol-fuelled incidents similar to what had happened to Mrs Loader were all too common.

    “It is going to continue until this country gets control of alcohol and young people. I am sick and tired of chasing people that are drinking to excess, and in an environment which allows them to drink to three and five in the morning to excess.

  2. Colin Anderson
    November 27, 2010 at 5:51 pm | #2
    Quote

    Why are YOU putting up the headline of “NZ 5th Most Violent Country In The World”? – this is apparently a report on OECD countries only, so NOT the world anyway!?! NZ is not perfect (nowhere is!) but the lack of balance on this site is utterly ridiculous, what about highlighting these on your menu:

    NZ least corrupt country in the world – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8363599.stm
    NZ most peaceful country in the world – http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10650591
    or that our cities rank among the most livable in the world – http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10647578

    I’m guessing that the chance of you publishing anything that doesn’t knock NZ is somewhere between nothing and zero..

    • E2NZ
      November 27, 2010 at 6:05 pm | #3
      Quote

      Simple. If you take the time to read it you will see it is because it is a quote, please note the speech marks.

      This blog was talking about a thread on TradeMe headed “NZ 5th Most Violent Country in the world”

      Re: least corrupt country in the world – you perhaps forgot to add that it is perceived to be the least corrupt country in the world? You may find the following blogs of assistance:

      Fraud and Dishonesty – $72 million dollars worth of fraud in the first half of 2010

      New Zealand is perceived as being the least corrupt nation on earth, but perception doesn’t always match up to reality. Many of New Zealand’s largest businesses listed on the NZX50 don’t pass some fundamental best practice ethics tests and fraud is rife in smaller businesses, even government departments are not immune…

      …The Global Economic Crime survey showed that economic crime continues to be a serious issue affecting New Zealand organisations with the current economic crisis increasing the pressures and incentives to commit fraud. New Zealand had the eighth highest reported level of fraud across the 54 countries that took part.

      and

      Large scale fraud in NZ exceeds $72 million in six months – “tip of iceberg

      New Zealand, the country perceived to have the ‘lowest rates of corruption’ has suffered more than $72 million dollars worth of fraud in the first six months of 2010, but that is only the “tip of the iceberg” says KPMG forensics expert Stephen Bell.

      and

      Kiwis use fraud to maintain lavish lifestyles
      ACC calls in serious fraud office

      • Colin Anderson
        November 27, 2010 at 10:51 pm | #4
        Quote

        Your logic is utterly upside down. So you acknowledge the quote as being factually incorrect but still you choose to reprint it, as a headline, with no correction in that original statement. Why? Obviously because it is a negative statement that (falsely) supports your strange agenda of blanket NZ bashing.
        Like I say, NZ is not perfect, but I’ve lived in a number of countries and can say hand on heart that this one is the most impressive of them all, and where we’ve chosen to settle as a family.
        As most people who happen upon this site will be likely to be British citizens simply looking for a better life I can tell you from good experience
        that NZ, overall, offers a much better chance of achieving a higher, happier standard of living that you’d ever obtain back in the UK.
        I found this site whilst trying to find some objective, fair minded websites describing the life in NZ (the highs and the lows) to send to some friends who are considering emigrating from the UK. This is not one of those sites and it saddens me that a lot of people who would benefit NZ will be put off from considering settling here after reading the overwhelming negativity on this site.
        Incidentally, I have no idea whether NZ really is ‘The least corrupt country in the world’ or not (I notice you say nothing about the other two positive NZ links though). But in the spirit of your original argument why not then put it up as a headline on one of your pages anyway. After all, it’s just a quote, it doesn’t matter to you if it’s fact or not.

  3. Colin Anderson
    November 28, 2010 at 12:05 am | #5
    Quote

    I see you’ve ‘moderated’ and disallowed my reply to you, nice to see you can’t handle a logical argument. Well, that’s all, rest assured I won’t visit again, may I suggest some anger management classes as a Christmas present to yourself.

    • E2NZ
      November 28, 2010 at 5:26 pm | #6
      Quote

      None of your comments have been moderated by being disallowed. Perhaps you should have been patient and allowed more time for them to be published? Read other posts and comments on this site before leaping to conclusions.

      This section of the blog is called What Kiwis Say About New Zealand, ergo this is where we report on what Kiwis say. The post above is self evident and needed but the briefest of introductions.

      If you want to promote New Zealand to your friends so that they chose to settle alongside you perhaps you should read our Welcome page, surely you don’t want to risk becoming a *’campaign poster’?

      Direct them to this blog, if only to the Migrants Tales chapters (there’s plenty to chose from) so they can read some first hand accounts of the migrant experience in NZ; and to ExpatExposed.com, let them make up their own minds – if you dare, examine your motives for attracting them over.

      Happy Christmas to you too.

      *’Campaign posters’
      “Campaign posters advertising New Zealand in England did give many settlers false hopes, manipulating their reasons. These posters often described New Zealand as an island paradise, complete with white sandy beaches and coconut trees. This heavenly image also did a lot to attract settlers to New Zealand, as it was such a welcome contrast to the rain and cold weather in England. Many settlers also believed that the paradise New Zealand was presented as would be good for their families’ health as the warm weather as well as the small population in New Zealand could keep dangerous diseases that were rife in England to a minimum in New Zealand.

      Another factor in attracting people to New Zealand was families who had already settled writing to their relatives back in Great Britain telling them what a wonderful place New Zealand was.

      Sometimes these letters were sincere and people truly had discovered a much better life in New Zealand and wanted their relatives to share in the spoils, but sometimes there were other motives.

      Pure loneliness and isolation could encourage people to write exaggerated letters to their relatives in the hope that they would make New Zealand sound so good that their extended families would come and join them thus providing them with some comfort.

      There were also settlers who were too afraid to admit to their families back home that they had made a mistake in coming to New Zealand and so, to save face they chose to exaggerate the positive sides of living in New Zealand and keep quiet about the negative factors.

      This writing of letters by settlers back to their families in the United Kingdom resulted in what’s called a chain reaction as more and more people were encouraged to come out and join their families.”
      source

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