Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Richard Moore: 'Rights' are fine but rules are still rules

By Richard Moore
Bay of Plenty Times·
15 Sep, 2014 05:00 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Lucan Battison objected to the hair rules at St John's College in Hawke's Bay and was suspended.

Lucan Battison objected to the hair rules at St John's College in Hawke's Bay and was suspended.

Way, way back when I was a schoolboy we had a no-nonsense headmaster who brooked no breaking of the rules of his school.

And it was his school.

He ran it like his empire and, for good or bad, created an entity that punched well above its weight in academic results.

He was the late great Con McCarthy, a bull of a man whose voice could freeze the blood of those who were stroppy and yet, to those of us who got on with him, he was one of the warmest guys around.

In 1973, the year before I started at Onehunga High, Mac had to deal with a lad who refused to accept the hair rules of the school.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Namely it was not to touch the ears or the collar. There were weekly hair inspections during which you would be examined, if you needed a cut you would be told and you had to have it done quickly.

If you didn't then your hair would be cut at the school, in the hall. Lots of guys tested the rule and all ended up in the chair of uniformity.

One chap, however, refused to bow to the rule and the matter ended up in court where The Beak ruled in favour of the school.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

His line was if you attend the school you obey the rules. All of them.

Earlier this year we had the case of Lucan Battison who objected to the hair rules at St John's College in Hawke's Bay and was suspended for his stand.

The matter went to court and Justice David Collins ruled the school's process was illegal.

He also warned that a tightening up of the rules would need to give "very special consideration" as to whether it would breach a student's rights.

Those rights, he suggested, were to "autonomy, individual dignity and his rights to freedom of expression".

Now you will need to forgive me folks, but I have to laugh when someone - even a justice - suggests that the length of someone's hair is freedom of expression.

In my opinion it does seriously take the mickey out of an important keystone of our democracy - to be able to say what you believe.

And the so-called denial of a child's rights by asking them to live within rules set by an organisation is plain ridiculous.

Children's rights are to be fed, clothed, housed, educated, loved, kept safe and not to be worked or beaten to death.

Being able to have long hair, watch TV at any hour, or be mouthy to people who support them are not rights. They are First World issues that hundreds of millions of abused children around the world would spit on from their factories, mines or refugee camps.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

I reckon that the word 'rights' has evolved from meaning protecting people to just objecting to something you don't agree with.

There's an easy answer to rules issues within organisations.

If you don't like them ... don't stay.

It is easy.

St John's has just tightened its hair rules - voted in and accepted by 93 per cent of the school's parents. They will mean Lucan may need to trim his locks.

If dear fellow doesn't like the new hair rules he shouldn't go to the High Court, he should go to another school.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Until he leaves school and starts working - that is earning the right to be an individual - he needs to do as he is told.

If he doesn't like that then tough, he should learn to fit in.

---

I'm going to be heading out of the country on election day, but still wanted to have my say.

So I made a quick visit to the Electoral Commission website and checked out where I could register my vote early.

It turned out I could do so at Shop 32 in the Plaza at Papamoa and so zoomed in there on Friday. A delightful and helpful lady went through the list of names, checked mine off, gave me my form and then off I popped into the booth to make my decision.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Actually my party decision was a foregone conclusion, it was picking the candidate that gave me trouble.

Should I vote for someone I like? Someone I didn't like? Someone I barely know? A new face with lots of backing?

In the end I went with someone I knew who, I felt, would make a terrific MP.

Chances of that person getting up ... not huge, but in my view the important thing was not to be a sheep. We should think about who we are picking and vote for the person, not the party, when it comes to individual seats.

After all they will represent us.

And if we all vote for good people then the standards of Parliament will automatically be raised.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Anyway, best of luck to all who are standing.

And to fellow electors remember this - vote early.

richard@richardmoore.com

• Richard Moore is an award-winning Western Bay journalist and photographer.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Tauranga residents protest 5G tower plan

08 Jun 12:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'This is the perfect food': Comvita founder on honey's healing journey

07 Jun 10:00 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

'It was different': Dame Lisa Carrington on end of remarkable 16-year streak

07 Jun 10:00 PM

Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Recommended for you
'Clear and chilling message': Young wahine on our harshest political suspension
Opinion

'Clear and chilling message': Young wahine on our harshest political suspension

08 Jun 01:05 AM
'Don't want war': Jackson on the Labour-Te Pāti Māori relationship
Politics

'Don't want war': Jackson on the Labour-Te Pāti Māori relationship

08 Jun 01:00 AM
Colombian presidential candidate reportedly shot and wounded
World

Colombian presidential candidate reportedly shot and wounded

08 Jun 12:20 AM
Tesla loses $249b as Musk-Trump feud erupts, shaking business empire
World

Tesla loses $249b as Musk-Trump feud erupts, shaking business empire

08 Jun 12:08 AM
Where top NZ chefs go for the best winter dining spots
Travel

Where top NZ chefs go for the best winter dining spots

08 Jun 12:00 AM

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Tauranga residents protest 5G tower plan

Tauranga residents protest 5G tower plan

08 Jun 12:00 AM

Connexa's new sites aim to improve Tauranga's mobile network with 4G and 5G.

'This is the perfect food': Comvita founder on honey's healing journey

'This is the perfect food': Comvita founder on honey's healing journey

07 Jun 10:00 PM
'It was different': Dame Lisa Carrington on end of remarkable 16-year streak

'It was different': Dame Lisa Carrington on end of remarkable 16-year streak

07 Jun 10:00 PM
Migrant bus drivers 'fearful' to report violent attacks

Migrant bus drivers 'fearful' to report violent attacks

07 Jun 05:00 PM
Clean water fuelling Pacific futures
sponsored

Clean water fuelling Pacific futures

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search