Letters: Awanui Black allegations, cave rescue, protests

A fitting memorial

The poignant image of Mr G's mural of Awanuiarangi Black, half painted-out, seems to me to be a very fitting memorial to the man we thought we knew, and something we should keep.

Whichever way the current police investigation into the allegations against him is resolved, the painting, half-erased, will remind us all of the fallout for victims and perpetrators alike. If the allegations remain unproven, the image will be a sad reminder of a time of true moral panic in our community. On the other hand, it may serve as an encouragement for abuse victims to come forward. If they do come forward, the look on Awanuiarangi's half-face speaks of the pain all victims feel.

"Let them see what they have done," said Jackie Kennedy, refusing to change out of her bloodstained clothes a whole day after her husband's assassination. Mr G's work, as it is now, does the same job for us all.

Beth Bowden
Te Puna
(Beth Bowden is a trustee of Te Tuinga Whanau Services, a board that Awanuiarangi Black also served on)

Cave rescue

The cave rescue in Thailand was nothing short of phenomenal, in my view, having regard to the vast resources they had to co-ordinate. They just got on with the job and used common sense and care on advice from the experts involved.

If that happened here we would still be having health and safety meetings and applying to have resource consent to allow water to be taken from the cave! (Abridged)

Mike Bilbe
Otumoetai
Medical care or pay?
I've often said that money always comes before medical care and now the nurses have confirmed this. Why doesn't the DHB bring in KPIs (key performance indicators ) so that the good caring nurses get paid for their caring performance and those nurses who are there for their pay only (all 500 of them) then they miss out on their performance pay? That way if they don't perform they'll move on some other place.

Alan Ryan
Welcome Bay