Hard News by Russell Brown

The coroner’s submission to the select committee considering the marriage equality bill – as a Mormon, he is strongly opposed to same-sex marriage, and his language in the submission is harsh – raises questions about his judgement, and perhaps about his handling of this case.

And while Chris Finlayson has (understandably and appropriately) been *cough* judicious in his public comments, I do hope those questions will be put to Matenga by both the Chief Coroner and the Judicial Conduct Commissioner. (h/t to Graeme Edgeler for pointing out the existence of the latter on Twitter.) YMMV, but even if Matenga was equally stridently pro-marriage equality I'm gob-smacked by the lack of judicial decorum. Seems a no-brainer to me that the judiciary inserts itself into politics in this manner with extreme care and discretion.

I posted this a few minutes ago at WhaleOil - forgive me for repeating my comments here but there are some profound issues here relating to the Coroner's Act and media reporting of suicides in New Zealand.

I studied the effects of media reporting on suicide last year and in my view Matenga's ruling is a damned shame in light of what I found.

New Zealand has one of the world's toughest regimes on media reporting of individual suicides. Despite this our suicide rates (particularly youth) are amongst the highest in the developed world. Maori youth are more vulnerable than others with a rate 2.5 times higher than non-Maori. Clearly restrictions on suicide reporting do not work.

Ironically studies in Europe have shown that media reporting can actually be associated with positive outcomes when reporting sensitively focuses on positive outcomes in times of adversity, such as coping with suicide ideation.

If media coverage has been linked to positive outcomes (as it has in Europe), then restrictions on suicide reporting in New Zealand (like those imposed by Matenga) constrain the opportunity for positive outcomes.

Late last year, Chief Coroner Judge Neil MacLean commented that “we need to gently bring the issue of suicide from out of the shadows” - Matenga needs to get out of the shadows and sign on to making a positive difference.

raises questions about his judgement

A tweeter observed:

Re: Gordon Matenga's submission. Should someone with such stunningly poor logic skills even be a Coroner?

I posted this a few minutes ago at WhaleOil - forgive me

Just this once. :)

New Zealand has one of the world's toughest regimes on media reporting of individual suicides. Despite this our suicide rates (particularly youth) are amongst the highest in the developed world.

Clearly this approach is not working. We should stop doing what isn't working and try doing something else. No guarantees it will be an improvement but doing nothing is just allowing people to die.

Late last year, Chief Coroner Judge Neil MacLean commented that “we need to gently bring the issue of suicide from out of the shadows”

Not 'gently' - let's deal with suicide like the major preventable social harm that it is. Right now. Not once some silly old fools are sent to pasture.

I agree, that method hasn't worked let's try something else but the shadow (of I believe Jim Anderson) looms over any changes

It's up there with the largest killers in NZ, and for those under 60 is the leading cause of death. These graphs are illustrative (Thanks to Mike Dickison and Siouxie Wiles). As a cause of years of potential life lost (YPLL), it's almost certainly at or near the top.

I don't generally take views on the judiciary, but I do hold the general principle that they must be able to apply their role without significant prejudice, and act in a public rather than private role. Being a coroner cannot be an easy job, and I appreciate anyone who caries out its duties. But given the place of alcohol in our society and its role in many deaths, I wonder if someone who might strong religious beliefs about alcohol, homosexuality, and other 'sins' has the deftness required to understand and deal with many of the cases that come their way. If their beliefs were to interfere with their carrying out their function, that would be of severe impact - particularly as we rely on coroners to understand deaths and thus prevent future ones.

If you mean Jim Anderton, hasn't he also had a chilling effect on the drugs legislation?

If you mean Jim Anderton, hasn’t he also had a chilling effect on the drugs legislation?

Anderton gets a bit of a bad rap on the drugs thing. Like Dunne, he was a drug warrior who got somewhat colonised by the weight of evidence.

Once he'd been persuaded in 2002 of the virtues of an expansion of the needle exchange programme, he backed it strongly -- up to and including an amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act that reversed the onus of proof on possession of needles, meaning the police had to prove needles were illegally obtained, rather than users proving they weren't.

we rely on coroners to understand deaths and thus prevent future ones

Fortunately, we don't really. Various medical, social and regulatory authorities do their own research and enquires, and the coroner is a bit of a ceremonial: they died of doing X. X must be banned forthwith!

I'd favour reverting to a concept where the coroner acted as a check on the prosecuting authorities where there's potential culpability, rather than a generalised enquiry into anything dangerous.

Corporal Hughes' story is uncomfortably similar the plot of the 1968 Rod Steiger movie "The Sergeant" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sergeant_(film). It was the days of A and B movies and I'd gone along to see something else. As a teenager still several years away from coming out to himself let alone anyone else, the film scared the living shit out of me. Even in these supposedly more enlightened times, perhaps especially in these more enlightened times, the overall message to young gay men is not a good one. If Hall's report in the Star-Times is correct then Corporal Hughes was clearly in a very messed up state, but infatuations in closely confined environments are always messy and can be dangerous whatever the sexuality of those involved. What's really disturbing is the response of others - as has been pointed out well in Russel's article and by Corporal Hughes' whānau. I feel reluctant to drag out the old cliché about whether this chain of events, from the confrontation to the coroner, would have unfolded the way that it has if Corporal Hughes had been straight. But I have.

Fortunately, we don’t really.

The Ministry of Justice seem to think they do, stating on their website

A coroner speaks for the dead to protect the living.

and

The role of the Coroner is to establish when, where, how and why the death happened, and also to work out whether anything can be done differently that might stop similar deaths in the future. If so, they make recommendations.

I've also been labouring under this understanding. It's unlikely we're both wrong.

I know that's the official story, but can you provide an instance where a coroner has made a sensible recommendation which was acted on and produced a significant reduction in the death rate from the cause in question?

They usually make sensible recommendations. Where there is a identifiable risk and a clear policy response that would reduce or eliminate this risk, they make a statement to that effect. Eric Crampton has helpfully compiled a list (for the purpose of saying saving lives is too burdensome).

They're not experts on everything; their focus on reducing deaths means we get the occasional not-so-sensible one, these stand out. It's their job to make recommendations, but decisions about implementing these is the responsibility of the relevant agencies.

As for whether they are implemented? That's not clear.

Hi Bob, welcome to the PAS hivemind.

Militaries are deliberately strange environments, as they have to be able to send men to do unusual and awful things. That works for certain purposes, but when it exacts costs on men they tend to be severe.

I feel reluctant to drag out the old cliché about whether this chain of events, from the confrontation to the coroner, would have unfolded the way that it has if Corporal Hughes had been straight. But I have.

Kia ora Bob - I second George's welcome.

I have an odd sexuality - I am an asexual (no interest in/inclination towards any kind of sex whatsoever.) One of the very few other asexuals I have met is in the Airforce (NZ.) He is a)automatically assumed to be gay or b)weird or c)hiding some nasty proclivity. His inborn asexuality *has* affected his career path - and there are very few people indeed who he can talk to - or would understand what he is talking about-

the huge assumptions that people make - especially within the Armed Forces- that you are either this or that or - what did you say you were? Geddalife! Getoffthegrass!

And there is harrassment of the different- and, o George? I know another asexual who is also in the Armed forces - but she is female-

And there is harrassment of the different- and, o George? I know another asexual who is also in the Armed forces – but she is female-

... armed forces around the world are set up in ways that deliberately intensify certain social dynamics. Men don't find a aggression completely unnatural, but they have to be trained to kill. A deep assumption of male heteronormativity underpins and reinforces those dynamics. Shifting from that is necessarily disruptive, and while it has been done in limited ways, it has been others (women, gay men, invisible asexuals) who've had to conform to it; their acceptance is based on their ability to fit these pre-existing standards.

There's a fair bit out there, but I found this particularly useful. The role of gender in war is certainly not arbitrary. http://books.google.tl/books/about/War_and_Gender.html?id=KXs_LS5g57MC&redir_esc=y

… armed forces around the world are set up in ways that deliberately intensify certain social dynamics.

Sure – and they also build in an awful lot of culture shock because this isn’t Sparta, and we’ve had an volunteer military for a long time. I have an American acquaintance who, shall we say politely, had a limited experience of Hispanics and African-Americans until he volunteered to enter a strictly hierarchical community where an awful lot of them were not only his peers but (along with a handful of women) in positions of unquestionable authority? When you’ve been socialized with a great deal of unexamined white male privilege (and homophobia), you don’t just flick it off like a light switch and somebody up the chain of command better be thinking about that. Diversity is wonderful, in theory; it's the practice that's hard.

MC&redir_esc=y

Yeah, interesting link - got most of that stuff in my library (along with material on how difficult it is for humans to make *other* animals to kill on their behalf- )
-point remains?

According to a recent article on Gay Star News, LGBT military suicide appears to be a serious problem in the United States:

“Closeted gay soldiers more likely to attempt suicide” Gay Star News: 01.03.2013: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/closeted-gay-soldiers-more-likely-commit-suicide010313

Granted, we officially ended military service discrimination twenty years ago, back in 1993, but do military policies and procedures reflect that state of affairs? And apparently the NZ military is being shortchanged by the government...

According to a recent article on Gay Star News, LGBT military suicide appears to be a serious problem in the United States:

Military suicides and service-related mental illness are a serious problem, full stop and period. I throw down some links, but tracking them down would not only be depressing but prone to trigger rage at the next politician who cants about "supporting the troops" while voting to gut already pathetic levels of funding for veteran support.

Having updated my own blog on the issue, I can only agree with you, namesake. Apparently, two of Cpl Hughes' straight colleagues ended their lives during the same tour of duty- which leads one to consider that indeed, there obviously are some urgent general operational issues that need to be addressed in this context. Damned good article in the Herald on this subject:

”Defense deaths tied to training gaps” New Zealand Herald: 05.03.2012: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10869239