Labour maidens – Greg O’Connor

22 comments on “Labour maidens – Greg O’Connor ”

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1. Stunned mullet 1

   13 November 2017 at 7:19 pm

   Odd looking maiden….
   • The decrypter 1.1

     13 November 2017 at 7:36 pm

     +1000
2. rhinocrates 2

   13 November 2017 at 7:41 pm

   Police rape apologist.
   • Muttonbird 2.1

     13 November 2017 at 8:05 pm

     Edgy.

     Are you referring to the Louise Nicholas case about which O’connor said this?

     “I think most sensible thinking New Zealanders have seen it for what it is – an isolated incident from an era some time ago.”

     http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10477887
     • rhinocrates 2.1.1

       13 November 2017 at 9:30 pm

       I’m not trying to be edgy. O’Connor is simply a revolting individual. Labour should be ashamed to have anything to do with him, but instead they stood him as a candidate and embrace him as an MP.

       Thoroughly repulsive trivialisation. He made excuses, dragged his feet over addressing it, whined that the police where the real victims of a witch hunt. The usual pattern:

       1. Deny
       2. Divert
       3. Trivialise
       4. Whine that ‘We’re the real victims.’
       5. Resist reform.
       6. Repeat

       It amounts to doing everything he can to protect the criminals, deny justice and block change. Complicity with the rapists in other words.

       If you want a definition of rape culture, O’Connor is its embodiment.
       • peterlepaysan 2.1.1.1

         13 November 2017 at 9:49 pm

         Thank you for your informative response. Now I am enlightened.

         Some facts would have been helpful.
         • Muttonbird 2.1.1.1.1

           13 November 2017 at 9:58 pm

           +1. What an empty, bitter rant.

           Even I provided more meat @ 2.1.
     • OnceWasTim 2.1.2

       13 November 2017 at 10:09 pm

       @rhino. I think Greg O’C might have evolved a little bit over time – having had time to reflect on his experiences.
       Probably like you, I once knew him as a total c**t apologist for those things that concern you, and probably someone who once ridiculed a Moody over his kaftan (amongst the boys).
       I suspect his view of the world has changed, and sure as shit he ain’t the perfect specimen.
       At the mo’, I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe this is his commitment to some sort of atonement. Stranger things have happened at sea

       Now I think about it, Greg’s a far better specimen and activist than that bow-tied wimp and pretender I once had the displeasure to briefly attend college with.
       I look forward to pissing on his memoirs
       • rhinocrates 2.1.2.1

         13 November 2017 at 10:21 pm

         I don’t go by “suspect” or “expect” or “maybe.” His words are a matter of record.

         If he wants to atone, maybe he should say so.
3. greywarshark 3

   13 November 2017 at 10:01 pm

   I used to get hostile about Greg O’Connor. But if he can apply things he learned when being a cop to have positive ends maye he’ll be able to make up for his defects. Get another chance.
4. rhinocrates 4

   13 November 2017 at 10:29 pm

   Just a reminder:

   Yesterday, the jury returned to deliver its judgment on Dewar, the man accused of covering up for his mates. He faced four counts of attempting to obstruct or defeat the course of justice, relating to Mrs Nicholas’ complaints of sexual offending by police officers in the 1980s.

   http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/16410/At-last-Louise-Nicholas-gets-a-guilty-verdict-four-of-them

   And O’Connor has the gall to say that the police are the victims:

   Report a ‘ritual humiliation for police’

   Mr O’Connor said the report had become “something of a ritual humiliation for police”…

   Police don’t have the budget or resources to implement recommendations from an inquiry into the Louise Nicholas rape case, the Police Association says…

   “Effective implementation of the commission’s recommendations is important for maintaining and improving the public’s trust and confidence in the police,” deputy Auditor-General Phillippa Smith said….

   There continued to be an “unacceptable” level of inappropriate sexual behaviour within the force, with some staff reluctant to report wrongdoing because of the way colleagues were treated when they did….

   Acting Police Commissioner Viv Rickard said police acknowledged they still had work to do.

   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10841503

   It’s pretty clear where O’Connor’s sympathies lie despite it being made crystal clear to him what should be done. Even the acting police commissioner was more progressive and respectful of the victims and acknowledged that it was not ‘long ago’ and they had to change. O’Connor refused flat-out.
   • Muttonbird 4.1

     13 November 2017 at 10:43 pm

     You forgot to include this bit from the Herald article which is clearly a call from O’connor for (National) government support on the issue of police culture.

     “[Police] have a lot of demands on them: Government are demanding a 14 per cent decrease in crime, they’re demanding an 18 per cent decrease in prosecutions, they’re demanding savings from the budget of $400 million over the next four years. The problem is those who are monitoring these reports don’t have a budget to give police to implement things,” Mr O’Connor said.

     Don’t get me wrong, while I think the police are made up of some good people, there are a lot of scumbags in there on personal power trips. You seem to be demonising O’connor for the actions of Rickards, Shipton, and Schollum, and placing him with the scumbags rather than the good people.
     • rhinocrates 4.1.1

       13 November 2017 at 10:56 pm

       OK, I take your intent, but O’Connor knew and he protected the scumbags. When you take on a position of executive authority, or as a representative as he did, then the buck stops at your desk. He was in a uniquely powerful position as a man trusted by the police force as their representative who could have guided change. He refused and dismissed the report with deliberately insulting language. That’s why I condemn him.

       He would know as a ‘responsible’ police officer that to be effective, the police must have the trust and confidence of the public. The report identified the necessity to change their culture as an immediate and high priority. He was just using weasel words to say, ‘aw, we’ve got so much to do.’
       • Muttonbird 4.1.1.1

         13 November 2017 at 11:08 pm

         I agree that O’connor rightly comes in for criticism for his ‘us vs them’ approach to the police rep role. I didn’t like him either for that but I can also see that the failure of the police to turn around their culture can’t be attributed to him. It has to come from the very top. Though I agree he didn’t do enough at the time to call for that change.
       • rhinocrates 4.1.1.2

         13 November 2017 at 11:09 pm

         To clarify, the report identified a systemic, cultural problem that needed to be fixed, and Viv Rickard agreed. It can’t be dismissed as a few bad apples.

         EDIT: Crossed in the post.

         OK we agree on principle. I’m just not inclined to forgive him.

         Note on personal interest: I have an old friend who was repeated raped and stalked by a civilian police contractor who used police resources illegally as part of his abuse. She’s permanently emotionally scarred. Nothing was done about him. Partly due to that I tend to be sceptical of any claims of reform and not very generous towards them.
         • Muttonbird 4.1.1.2.1

           13 November 2017 at 11:18 pm

           I hear you. The police are supposed to be better than us but in many cases they are a lot, lot worse.
         • Richard Christie 4.1.1.2.2

           14 November 2017 at 1:01 am

           There are plenty of additional reasons to keep O’Connor a stick’s length away from oneself.
5. Doogs 5

   14 November 2017 at 3:31 am

   I have to say that I am only 40% positive about police and the way they operate. There does seem to be a thread of brutality running through their MO. There certainly doesn’t appear to be a lot of empathy for people’s differing circumstances. My observation suggests a “them and us” approach to people where ‘them’ is the problem and ‘us’ has the power. I do have personal experience of police officers being normal pleasant human beings, and most of that is with constables who who come into schools to roll out programmes such as Keeping Ourselves Safe or training school road patrol monitors. The fact is though, I also keep hearing with monotonous regularity of the inappropriate behaviours of officers in different ways ranging from threatening behaviour to sexual abuse and rape. They should in fact be role models instead of people looking to the All Blacks and the Warriors to provide that sort of modelling. The police service should be just that, a service, and we should feel proud of them and the job that they do. While in many instances they have shitty things to do, there does seem to be a moral vacuum among some of their members. We need to expect a higher code of values from police, and in a lot of instances we’re not getting it.

   On O’Connor – he says what he says, and may even believe it, but past statements and actions do give the lie to some of his speech. For me the jury’s out, and we’ll see what he delivers.
6. tc 6

   14 November 2017 at 6:41 am

   Talk is cheap Greg, how about sorting out the clowns you spent years covering up for.
7. red-blooded 7

   14 November 2017 at 7:41 am

   O’Connor was an employee and official spokesperson for the police. He was bound to represent the views of the Police Association. He probably believed most of the things he said, but not only those things. We can’t put a person into just one pigeon hole and we have to accept that people can evolve and develop. I think we also have to accept that he’s representing a conservative electorate and he did a bloody good job unseating Peter Dunne. Would he have managed this if he didn’t have that police background and public identity?

   I was surprised when he put his hand up for Labour but I don’t know the man and I’ve been reasonably impressed since. I’m ready to give him a chance.
8. cleangreen 8

   14 November 2017 at 8:23 am

   Grieg is a good bugger as West coasters are all good folks, ‘salt of the earth” I spent time there, most friendly folks in NZ.
9. mary_a 9

   14 November 2017 at 8:43 pm

   Ye Gods NZ society has really turned itself inside out from the arse end if Greg O’Connor is representative of what is classed a maiden these days!

   Had a good chuckle at the headline 🙂

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