MENZ Issues: news and discussion about New Zealand men, fathers, family law, divorce, courts, protests, gender politics, and male health.

Judge Paul von Dadelszen was interviewed on National Radio Nine to Noon on Wednesday 11 June 2008 in his role as Acting Principal Family Court Judge. His confident, resonant voice made him an ideal replacement for his slick ad-man boss in progressing dangerous abuse by the state as if it were beneficial.

I thought it worthwhile to report on the learned judge’s statements and to offer some comment. It’s a long post but worth the effort to see how the system is thinking. The judge’s actual statements are in italics while my descriptions and comments are not.

1. His Honour began by emphasizing that the initiative for the new legislation came from the police, but the Principal and other Family Court judges were well pleased with it.

The fact it was pushed by police gives a clue as to the intended use of the proposed “safety orders”. The orders will be used routinely by police attending domestic call-outs to ensure they are not bothered again at the same address as the domestic couple continues their argument. Who cares that it is men who suffer for this convenience? Men have always been the expendable gender.

2. “There does need to be an ability … for victims of violence to have ready access to justice.”

But the police orders will only be given when there is no evidence enabling police to arrest and charge someone, i.e. there is no evidence that there is any victim of violence. Also, throwing men out on the street at short notice when there is no evidence they have committed a crime can hardly be called “justice”. Judge Boshier was previously criticized for displaying his own bias by using gender-specific terms in discussing domestic violence as if it were only ever committed by men, so it seems in this interview Judge von Dadelszen was careful to use the terms “victims” and “victims of violence” where he may have wanted to say “women”. (more…)

I am still finding the Family Court is very much tilted in favour of the woman. Consider protection orders. In Australia they expire after a year or two depending on type. Here they last forever unless you can persuade a judge to discharge it. I am making my third attempt in 5 years to get mine discharged. I don’t even see my ex or my kids. Whether the lunatics running the Family Court asylum consider this to be sufficient reason for a discharge remains to be seen.

Perhaps the best approach would be to try to get a men’s boycott of the Family Court going. Comments please.

Should we be encouraging men and women to represent themselves in the familycaught?

Surely, if we trusted the values and integrity of the “judges”, then legal workers wouldn’t be required at all?

By emphasising their unpredictability and unreliability, “judges” put massive pressure on to parents, to be fleeced by their juniour brethren, the legal workers (who aspire to be asset stripper “judges” themselves).

This looks awfully like being rewarded for incompetence, to my eye?

There are some distinct advantages to self representation - for example there is no risk of your legal worker saying things that are totally against what you have asked them to say. I have heard several people make this complaint, and with considerable pain, explain how much it cost to later try to rectify the situation. (more…)

Mayor Bob Harvey is refusing to swear in the winner of the New Lynn Community Board by-election because of the candidate’s previous conviction for domestic violence.

Wayne Davis won the seat by being elected by the people.

But Bob Harvey says “This city is running a campaign that says domestic violence is not Okay. So we are not going there. He can be sworn in by Jack the Ripper for all I care. Or he can go and get a JP”.

Mr. Davies is no stranger to politics and was deputy chairman of the Henderson Board in 2003 when he appeared in court on DV charges. He was sentenced to 100 hours community service after pleading guilty to 3 charges of DV and 2 charges of breaching a protection order.

Judge Phil Gittos said none of the assaults were particularly major but warned Mr Davis that he could face imprisonment if he re offended.

Mr Davis stood down as deputy but stayed on the board till 2004 elections when he was voted out.

Mayor Bob Harvey fronts the Family Violence - It’s not OK advertising campaign. Something like this would not be good for his image or for his future political career. After all, Waitakere has the most police in it’s DV unit in the country and the worst National record. Even though it has the best feminists and male socialists working along side him.

Mr. Davis has remarried since his court appearance and says life has never been better. “This is petty politics. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter who swears me in. I have been elected by the people. They put me there and I am rapt”.

Reference: Western Leader, Thursday March 13, 2008, Front page.
Author: Stephen Forbes

I’m a 45 year old, white male, well educated and (my opinion only and reading on, I have no doubt many of you will question this claim) of above average intelligence. I run my own custom audio/visual integration business (TV’s, stereos, etc), I’m far too busy and incredibly dis-organised as a result.

My wife of 10 years and I separated in June 06 (her decision, suddenly and completely without warning), we have a son X, who’s 8 1/2.

He’s an absolute diamond!

I have been “through the mill” as it were for the past 20 months my story I’m sure, not unlike many…evicted from the jointly owned family home, with only the clothes on my back, nights spent in the car, struggling in my case with a relatively new business and because of the way our finances were structured prior, (I paid the entire mortgage and all monthly accounts) absolutely cash poor.

At the tender age of 45, I am proud to say that I have never once struck, or even made to strike another person nor, have I ever been struck…even through school. As I like to say, I won my last fight by 60 metres. Based only…and I cannot stress enough, only text and phone communications from me - none of which was even remotely threatening - I was served with a ex parte’ protection order and so began the debarcle that is the Family Court.

My wife and I were in fact the first couple into the much vaunted “Parenting Hearings Programme”. (more…)

Half of mothers experience some form of manipulation or bullying at the hands of their children, even if it is as simple as the silent treatment, a survey shows.

Half of mums ‘abused’ by kids - study

A whole new industry has just been born! Half of all mothers are being violently abused by their children, “particularly teenage boys”! O the scourge! O the evil!

It is already well established feminazi propaganda that most women are (physically) violated by men – a current anti-violence t.v. campaign tells us police respond to a domestic violence incident every 7½ minutes (i.e. 70,000 call-outs a year). It is clear that not every violent incident will be reported to Police. It is also clear that Police are unlikely to respond to every violent incident reported to them. But how many such incidents are not even reported?

Statistics tell us that 2,347 sexual attacks were reported to Police last year. Women’s Refuge tell us that only 9% of rapes are reported. I might be a bit off track, but I figure sexual attacks are basically rape, attempted rape, and any physical attack where sexual activity (i.e. rape or attempted rape) is the primary intent or result.
This means the true figure would be over 26,000 sexual attacks each year, given only 9% are apparently reported. Women’s Refuge also report only 15% of the 9% of rapes result in a conviction, meaning only one rapist in 74 is convicted. I can understand that it is much harder for a women to report a rape than for her to report an episode of violence. Especially given there is a 73 out of 74 chance the rapist will not be convicted.

I can also believe that with the ever expanding definition of ‘violence’, it is unlikely most violent (men) would ever be charged, must less convicted based on these expanding definitions. This new study purports, for example, that ‘silent treatment’ is violence, as is threatening self harm. The likelihood of perpetrators of this type of violence to ever be charged, let alone prosecuted (at least under current law) is pretty well zilch. I cannot imagine anyone reporting such violent acts to Police, given there would likely be a complete lack of interest by the police in pursuing the perpetrator.

But how much violence is actually reported? If we were talking purely about physical violence, then the percentage reported may well be well-higher than that for rape – maybe even 50% reported. But if violence includes all forms of non-physical violence, than the percentage surely is far-far lower than for rape. I cannot imagine for a moment that our police would respond to a call-out whereby a husband is off sulking in his (wife’s) garage, and she feels violated by his ‘silent treatment’. In the absence of any sound basis to make any sound judgement, I would like to hypothesize the same percentage of violent incidents are reported to police, as for rape. 70,000 violent incidents responded to by the police suddenly becomes 467,200 actual incidents of (physical) violence – each year. (more…)

The Ministry of Justice is carrying out a review of the Domestic Violence Act 1995

Somehow I don’t think we should expect substantial reform:

Recently we have consulted government agencies, the judiciary and some representative interest groups to obtain an up-to-date picture of how the legislation is working. Most people we have consulted support the principles and framework of the Act, and there has been no indication over the years that a more fundamental review is warranted. Therefore, we have taken an “issues-based” approach to this review.

(more…)

Dads not happy with mum’s violence challenge
By JOHN HENZELL - The Press | Wednesday, 05 December 2007

A fathers’ group is outraged Christchurch police have been challenged for informing a dad that his children had been present during a domestic-violence incident between their mother and her new partner.

The father learnt of the incident more than a year later when his son mentioned fighting and that they had been “in a police car” when they were taken to the safety of their grandmother’s home.

… Darrell Carlin, spokesman for the Union of Fathers, said it showed once again that the authorities were failing to make children’s rights the priority.

“Fathers need to be in a position to protect their children (but) it happens quite frequently that fathers don’t get to see what’s going on,” he said.

“He could have gone through the custody case and the court wouldn’t have been notified that this had gone on because it didn’t involve both (the mother and father).

“This case was about the mother’s dignity and feeling of humiliation, but we’ve got to bring it back to the kids and what it’s like for them and what it’s like to be taken out of their house in the middle of the night in a police car.

“To keep the checks and balances, fathers definitely have the right to know whether their children are likely to be in any kind of danger.”

1. J.A.M has been developed by Jim Bagnall during and through his support for over 10,000 Fathers and a few Mothers going through the Family Court.
2. The word justifiable applies to the context of the anger and its source and does not glorify anger in anyway. Justifiable is a word for an acceptance of that person’s anger.
3. The Pay/Fight back scale provides a framework and a structure in which anger exists and an explanation both to the angry person and their helper of how both the energy from the anger can be used and how a person can use the scale not only for understanding their anger but for analysis and action to combat their role deletion.
4. The scale usually should be read or listened to from its base which starts out with description at the Instinctual level and then moves up through anger’s mind treadmills and obsessions to a social level and a place where a person can find outlets for his/her analysis of where he/she is at.
5. At the top of the scale there is a place where standards are reshaped through analysis and where a re formed identity is realized and a higher justification is reached based on valuing people and a just outcome giving new strength through adversity.

Contact Jim Bagnall for J.A.M
09 815 0307 or 021 170 7375

Link :

What National is saying is that they are going to give our Police the same authority of a Judge to issue an interim injunction. This is an injunction that will automatically stop one party from associating with any children in that relationship.