Hi Harry, best wishes to all our friends there. I'm an Aussie who married a Kiwi girl from Christchurch. We fell in love there decades ago, and it’s an insane thought that such an idyllic part of the world could be visited by two earthquakes and a massacre in such a short time. I am heartened by the real, practical leadership provided by your PM, Jacinda Ardern, and am revolted at the toxic white nationalist politics of my country and by the fact that the perpetrator was Australian.
Many people in Australia have legitimate concerns about levels of immigration, community expectations of behaviour and social cohesion, a lack of infrastucture for growing communities, lack of access to the housing market and overcrowding in Melbourne and Sydney. Our leaders haven't addressed the issues, and that's left an opportunity for white nationalist and violent white supremacist extremists to recruit. As in the US, the Murdoch controlled media have made those white nationalist views mainstream and some of the major parties (particularly the Nationals) have been infiltrated.
We're not in a good place right now. Some of us are working on that, though not enough. I'd take Pintohoo's advice and ignore the Australian loudmouths and hate speech while we get our house in order. It is a minority, but unfortunately a very vocal one.
