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Purge poison from politicsChrisTrotter

Forty years ago. . . the political

smear campaign wasthe speciality of theRight.

I’m writing this column on the 40thanniversary of Norman Kirk’s death.As someone who cast his first vote in

1975, it is tempting to eulogise the NewZealand of 40 years ago and to compare it,favourably, with the scandal-riddencountry of today.

Certainly ‘‘Big Norm’’ was anextraordinary political leader againstwhom very few – if any – of today’spoliticians could hope to measure up.One has only to watch his 1973 interviewwith David Frost (available online at NZOn Screen) to realise just how much theNew Zealand electorate once demandedof their prime ministers.

We must, however, be cautious, andnot only because, as LP Hartley wrote:‘‘The past is a foreign country: they dothings differently there.’’

Beset as we are with a rapidlyspreading and intensifying politicalscandal, we would do well to bear inmind that although the New Zealand of40 years ago was very different from theNew Zealand of today, it was also, in‘‘dirty politics’’ terms, surprisinglysimilar. Hartley’s cautionnotwithstanding, they did many thingsthe same.

Forty years ago, far from being thepreferred weapon of the Left (as today’sPrime Minister, John Key, alleges) thepolitical smear campaign was thespeciality of the Right.

When the newspaper Truth (theWhaleoil blog of its day) published afront-page story alleging Kirk’sinvolvement in a sinister plot to socialisethe New Zealand economy, it was writtenin exactly the same belligerent style asCameron Slater’s postings.

Another instantly recognisable aspectof ‘‘dirty politics’’ 1970s-style was theSecurity Intelligence Service’s leaking of

sensitive information to right-wingeditors and journalists. Then, as now,they needed no further instruction onhow to put such material to good use.

Most of all, however, the periodleading up to and following Kirk’s deathwas characterised by a sense of powerfulyet unidentified forces movingunobserved behind the scenes.

A very similar characterisation of thepolitical zeitgeist was one of the mostmemorable parts of Nicky Hager’sspeech to a packed hall of interestedAucklanders last Wednesday.

In explaining his reasons for writingDirty Politics he referenced exactly thesame feeling of unease about the waypolitics was being conducted; the sameconviction that apparently isolatedpolitical events were, in some unrevealedand sinister way, connected.

The anxieties of the ‘‘screaming Left-wing conspiracy theorists’’ of the mid-1970s concerning the malignant politicalmachinations of the ‘‘Kirk Years’’ wereeventually proved right.

Fortunately, Hager has not had towait 40 years to have his worst fearsconfirmed. Thanks to the intervention ofa ‘‘White Hat’’ hacker known asRawshark, New Zealand’s foremostinvestigative journalist has been able todemonstrate that the dark arts of attackpolitics are being applied in 2014 with noless devastating effect than in 1974-75.

The unfolding revelations, in which somuch of the action has been concentratedin the offices of the Prime Minister andthe Minister of Justice, have inevitablyinvited comparisons with the WatergateScandal.

That story also reached its crescendoin August 1974 when, for the first andonly time in US history, a servingPresident was forced to resign his office.

It is worth recalling, given theproximity of our own general election,that the exposure of the Watergateburglary in June 1972 had no impactwhatsoever on the outcome of thepresidential election held in November ofthat year.

Indeed, President Richard Nixon wasemphatically re-elected – winning 49 ofthe US’s 50 states.

The slow unravelling of the scandaland its subsequent cover-up did,however, transform Nixon’s second terminto a political and constitutionalnightmare.

As a result his administration waseffectively paralysed and the US gravelyweakened.

The only positive aspect of Watergatewas the way in which the venerable USConstitution was able to defuse whatcould have exploded into a full-blown‘‘legitimation crisis’’.

Democracies, much more than otherpolitical systems, depend upon theircitizens’ belief that the people they electto public office are decent, conscientiousand law-abiding.

If high ethical standards are notmaintained; if citizens become convincedthat their elected representatives areengaged in large-scale and largelyunreproved corruption; then thelegitimacy of both the government andthe state is called into question.

Is New Zealand’s unwritten andhistorically untested constitutioncapable of rising to the challenge of thispresent political scandal as effectively asAmerica’s rose to the challenge ofWatergate?

Can the Prime Minister and hisCabinet be relied upon to pass judgementon themselves?

Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974.Norman Kirk died 22 days later onAugust 31.

That’s when it began: 40 years ago;that’s when the poisons currentlydisfiguring our body politic first enteredthe nation’s bloodstream.

In the polling booths on September 20can we purge ourselves of those poisons?Will we vote to impeach?

THE PRESS, Tuesday, September 2, 2014 A11

WE SAY:The tragedy is a dark day for the public service... and a dark day for Ashburton.

You read it @press.co.nz

You said it @press.co.nz

Hager’s relationship with hacker revealed

‘‘So ... Hager is in it for the money, but the right-wing businessinterests he has embarrassed are in it for the public good?’’

Clown pioneer: Thomas Petschner is the founder of the Clown Doctors programme in New Zealand. Photo: STACY SQUIRES/FAIRFAX NZ

The benefits ofclowning around

Laughing canblock pain,

increase circulation,decrease bloodpressure, relaxmuscles, overallmaking you feelbetter.

Medical response team: The Clown Doctors get together before visiting patients.

Christchurch’s ClownDoctors celebrate fiveyears of medical laughterthis week. They wouldlike to do more, but theyneed help, writesProfessor THOMASPETSCHNER.

It has been five years since I first puton my red nose and began spreadingjoy and laughter in Christchurch andPrincess Margaret hospitals. I’m soproud of what our Clown Doctors

have achieved since then.We’ve spread to Auckland and

Wellington and are helping torevolutionise the environment in whichhealthcare is being delivered. We’vecome so far in the last five years, and yetthere’s still so much more we can do.

People still ask me if there really is aconnection between laughter and yourhealth. That’s like asking whether theEarth is actually flat. Even the AncientGreeks knew the healing effects oflaughter. Now there are 40 years of hardscientific evidence proving the positiveeffects of smiling and laughing on thehuman body and mind.

But you don’t have to read academicjournals, just watch a child who isdistracted by a Clown Doctor and notnoticing the nurse taking blood. Who canquestion the benefits after seeing apreviously depressed, uncommunicativeelderly patient suddenly get up and joinin with others singing and dancingaround the room? I’m privileged to havewitnessed this and so much more.

It’s easy to stay motivated when myjob deals in smiles and laughter andyields results like these. But it doesn’tmean things are always easy.

As I performed medical clowningrelief work around Christchurch in thedays immediately after February 22, 2011you could feel the tension everywhere. Itwas a heavy presence over the wholecity. People needed permission to laughbecause there was absolutely nothing tolaugh about. I’m honoured to haveshared smiles and laughter with thebrave men and women in our emergencyservices, and those who answered theinternational cry for help.

After spending an afternoon in ‘‘CampHollywood’’ with some firefighters fromLos Angeles, an Australian search andrescue team came over to ask if theycould have a Clown Doctor visit next.

Three years on, the 2014 All Rightsurvey shows 64 per cent of us are stillgrieving and 35 per cent have morehealth issues than before the quakes.There is a real need for Clown Doctors inChristchurch, arguably more thananywhere else in New Zealand.

Many people are still trying to find

reasons to laugh. Children are arrivingin hospital with compromised immunesystems. They’ve dealt with earthquakes,aftershocks, flooding, and many are stillliving in damaged homes, all of whichincrease the risks of infection anddisease. According to the University ofCanterbury, as many as one in five kidshas signs of post-traumatic stressdisorder.

Stress wears you down, diminishesyour immune system, and puts pressureon your cardiovascular system, whichcan increase your chances of suffering aheart attack.

There’s a high demand for ourservices from hospitals like Burwood,where we don’t visit, while PrincessMargaret and Christchurch hospitalswant us to come more often.

There’s more to it than just having alaugh. Laughing can block pain, increasecirculation, decrease blood pressure,relax muscles, overall making you feelbetter. If you’re de-stressed, you recoverfaster and require less pain medication,regardless of the underlying illness.

If patients are relaxed, the hospitalstaff benefits. Families feel betterknowing their loved ones are happierand receiving some extra care, so thewhole community benefits because yourfriends and family are out of hospitalsooner, allowing for more efficient use ofhealth resources. The results of medicalclowning are backed up by science and

moving personal testimonies, the need isvery real, and hospitals want us. Theonly thing holding us back is a lack offunding.

Fundraising in Christchurch has beendifficult since the earthquakes as thereare so many demands and increasedneeds to support our community. Manybusinesses are rebuilding and don’t havelarge reserves for sponsorship. On theother hand, some are booming and havenever been so busy.

Lots of charities are doing great work,but there’s only so much grant money togo around.

Nationally, we have a successfuloperation. In Auckland and Wellingtonour Clown Doctors are visiting hospitalsseveral times a week, but in five years wehaven’t been able to similarly expand ourprogramme in Christchurch.

It’s my dream to start visiting a newhospital each year, but we can’t do italone. Clown Doctors are professionalartists specially trained in the art ofmedical clowning, and we’re proud to notcharge hospitals for our service.

On April 7, we celebrated NewZealand Smile Day by visiting extrahospitals who don’t usually receive ourservices.

They all loved having us and wantregular Clown Doctor visits.

However, where we get fundingdetermines where we can extend ourprogramme.

Given the great need in Christchurch,it’s our hope that we can expand ourservices here, to help share a smile withthose who have gone through so much.

Your support would be the best fifthbirthday present I could imagine and askfor.● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

❯❯❯❯ Professor Thomas Petschner is thefounder and chief executive of the ClownDoctors New Zealand Charitable Trust, and adirector of the International Institute forMedical Clowning. For more information seeclowndoctors.org.nz.