Waiariki MP says sorry over suicide comments

Waiariki Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell has apologised for offence caused by his column in The Daily Post suggesting a hard stance on youth suicide.

"I apologise unreservedly for the offence caused, following my column," he wrote in a letter to the editor.

In his column Mr Flavell suggested a hard stand be taken on the issue of youth suicide.

"If a child commits suicide, let us consider not celebrating their lives on our marae; perhaps bury them at the entrance of the cemetery so their deaths will be condemned by the people," he wrote.

"In doing these things, it demonstrates the depth of disgust the people have with this. Yes it is a hard stance, but what else can we do?"

The Daily Post reported this week that Mr Flavell's comments had received both condemnation and support.

Auckland mum Maria Bradshaw, a co-founder of Community Action on Suicide Prevention Education and Research (Casper), whose teenage son Toran Henry took his life in 2008, said it was disgusting to suggest suicide victims and their families should be abused.

"If [Mr Flavell] could witness the suffering that is experienced by families who have not been allowed to perform traditional burial rites ... the pain is absolutely intense."

Mr Flavell said in his letter to the editor that his column was not published in its entirety, with the following line removed by the newspaper:

"I am sorry for raising this issue in this way, but I do so having seen mums and dads, grandparents in their despair, in their real grief. All of us must be concerned."

The line was removed in editing for length, but was not removed from the published te reo version, and has been reinstated in the online version.

Mr Flavell said his column was written out of pouritanga [sadness], mamae [pain] and "sheer frustration" after he returned from a tangi of a young man who thought he had ended his pain by ending his life, but instead passed the pain on to his whanau.

Mr Flavell said he had a great deal of aroha for those who had suffered from this.

But he was also torn between "the pain of the whanau, and the pain of the young person whose life was taken in vain".

He wrote the column to bring attention to this issue, and to provoke discussion and debate.

Mr Flavell said in his letter the controversial statement came from practices used in the past on marae, and he was always conscious to look at tikanga for solutions to current issues, but he understood this was not the only way to address this issue.