When it comes to mental health, New Zealand’s government has lost sight of what’s important

They call it a last resort, but for people placed in seclusion in New Zealand mental health units it can feel like the beginning of a nightmare. “Seclusion” itself is something of a euphemism, a gentle name for locking someone in a room for an average of 27 hours at a time. It’s meant to be a last resort to stop people from hurting themselves or others, but the practice can itself be traumatising. One woman, recalling her seclusion experience, describes how – even now – she doesn’t like the sound of keys being rattled. It reminds her of being locked up, she says, of feeling hopeless, frightened and alone.

“Being taken into seclusion is absolutely awful, scary and daunting.”

The government has broken its promises and handed them to the opposition on a golden platter

As the first majority government in New Zealand’s MMP history, with an extraordinarily popular prime minister, many have urged Labour to spend its “political capital.” This is the buffer that enables popular governments to take bold actions that might lose them some voters, while retaining most of their solid support in a metaphorical bank.

Last week Labour spent some of its political capital. In a surprise announcement it said it would extend the brightline test (taxing any financial gain made on the sale of an investment property) from five to ten years and remove mortgage interest as a rental property tax deduction, as part of a suite of housing policy and funding changes.

Government says it will no longer fund risky mission to retrieve 29 bodies from site of New Zealand’s worst mining disaster

Families of the men who died in one of New Zealand’s worst mining disasters have expressed their heartbreak that the government has ended funding to re-enter the mine, leaving the remains of their loved ones trapped inside.

Twenty-nine men were killed when an explosion ripped through the Pike river mine on the west coast in November 2010. Their bodies have not been recovered, and remain in the mine.

Cardinal John Dew said he would offer ‘no excuses’ for the actions of bishops and congregational leaders

New Zealand’s Catholic Church has formally apologised to the survivors of abuse within the church and said its systems and culture must change.

Cardinal John Dew, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Wellington and Metropolitan of New Zealand, made the apology on Friday at the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care on behalf of the bishops and congregational leaders in New Zealand.

Young women quickly come to realise that our world is a very different place from that of our male friends

Creatures that are hunted need survival strategies. I watched a video clip of a cat seeing off a black bear. Despite the ridiculous size difference, the cat flies at the bear – all ferocity and flashing claws. Small animals turn fear into rage, and sometimes – only sometimes – rage saves them.

These thoughts come to me in the quiet garden of my Wellington home. Sexual assaults have increased in this city by 50% over the past five years. In the news, I read about an appalling killing in London. Women protesting, holding vigils and being beaten by the police as “activists”.