Francesca Rudkin: We need to be more compassionate when dealing with tragedy

It’s been a sad week. Humanity has not been at its best.

A police officer almost lost his life and we got a glimpse into the harsh reality of life in the bush for three young children. A conservative activist lost his life practicing politics in the US. And a trial begun here against a mother who is alleged to have killed her children, drugging them and then placing them in a suitcase and leaving them at a storage unit.  

And to top it off, a complaint about the comedic ad with Tina from Turner’s was upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority. Which may be proof we’re losing our sense of humour!

It’s not just the events themselves that were saddening, but also the way we, the public, responded to them. We have a tendency to react without knowing the full story, we weaponize tragedy politically, and we’re easily outraged by a burnout.  

After shooting a police officer in the head in front of his child, it was baffling to hear Tom Phillips being regaled as a folk hero of sorts.  

After seeing the conditions these children were living in, and learning how he armed them and took them on his many alleged armed robberies, restricted them from society and family, and took away their rights to education and medical care -  he doesn’t sound much like a hero to me.  

If the court orders preventing a lot of information being made public, comments from the police about Phillips receiving help, and the children being in state care tells us anything, it’s that this is a complicated story.

There are already plenty of questions to be asked - from the police and Orange Tamariki’s response to the first abduction through to now, whether the risk to the children was appropriately assessed, and whether the police have responded in their best interests over the last 4 years.  

But right now, the most important thing to remember is there are young people at the heart of this. Young people who will always be defined by and identified with what has happened. Protecting them, helping them deal with what they have been through, and adjusting to life again, is the most important thing. Our 2 cents on what we think about what’s happened and the people involved is utterly irrelevant. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News TALKSB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It's been a bit of a sad week, hasn't it.
Humanity has not been at its best. A police officer
almost lost his life, and we got a glimpse into
the harsh reality of life in the bush for three
young children. A conservative activist lost his life practicing politics
in the US, and a trial began here against a
mother who was alleged to have killed her children, drugging
them and then placing them in a suitcase and leaving

(00:33):
them at a storage unit. And to top it off,
a complaint about the comedic ad with Tina from Turner's
was upheld by the Advertising Advertising Standards Authority, which may
be proof we are losing our sense of humor. But
it's not just the events themselves that were saddening, but
also the way we the public responded to them. We

(00:53):
have a tendency to react without knowing the full story.
We weaponize tragedy politically, and we're easily outraged by a
burnout after shooting a police officer in the head of
his child. It was baffling to hear Tom Phillips being
regaled as a folk hero of sorts. After seeing the
conditions these children were living in and learning how he

(01:15):
armed them and took them on his many alleged armed robberies,
restricting them from society and family, and took away their
rights to education and medical care, he doesn't sound much
like a hero to me. If the court injunction preventing
information being made public comments from the police about Phillip's
receiving help and the children being in state care tells

(01:36):
us anything, is that this is a very complicated story,
one we will hopefully know more about soon, because there
are plenty of questions to be asked from the police
in Oranga Tamariki's response to the first abduction through to now,
whether the risk to the children was appropriately assessed, and
whether the police have responded in their best interests over

(01:57):
the last four years. But right now, the most important
thing to remember is that there are young people at
the heart of this, young people who will always be
defined by and identified with what has happened, and protecting them,
helping them deal with what they've been through and adjusting
to life again, is the most important thing. Our two
cents on what we think about what's happened, and the

(02:19):
people involved is utterly irrelevant.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks A B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio