Francesca Rudkin: We need to be more compassionate when dealing with tragedy - The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

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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