Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Helen

andrew r

Sat, 15 Oct 2016 10:39:32 +1300

Amazing woman. Lovely tribute. You touched on her subtleties. Cheers Russell. R1P HK

Hilary Stace

Sat, 15 Oct 2016 09:42:10 +1300

Lovely tribute from Green MP Catherine Delahunty about their shared Wellington left wing childhoods

Tom Semmens

Sat, 15 Oct 2016 09:23:52 +1300

I couldn't help but think of the premature death of Bruce Jesson, and wonder again what might have been.

RIP Helen Kelly.

Euan Mason

Sat, 15 Oct 2016 06:28:31 +1300

New Zealand feels harsher, colder and less just without Helen Kelly. RIP Helen. Arohanui.

andin

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 23:00:45 +1300

A person who deserves sincere tribute.
But I see the insincere can't help themselves.
Am not linking to any of them, their cant deserves nothing.

Tristan

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 22:51:17 +1300

I filmed her speaking at his memorial unveiling ... very special person

https://youtu.be/alGdGHPLGPA

Raymond A Francis

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 19:11:00 +1300

"Bitter, hardened " , look I come from a much more right position and am seriously suspicious of people who seem to have a born to rule thanks to their dad than most here but that was not how I saw her.
Strong and determined, not always right but someone…

Leanne Pooley

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 17:50:02 +1300

What those on the right who saw her as an enemy will never understand is that she was good for New Zealand. The way a country treats its weakest citizens is how that country should be judged. She knew that and by ensuring when she could that the weak had…

Stephen Judd

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 17:08:55 +1300

One of the things worth pointing to about her legacy is how even from a position of weakness, shame and advocacy can keep the pressure on. Legislation of three decades has crippled the union movement but she was a excellent general marshalling its diminished resources.

Tim Michie

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 16:52:29 +1300

Admiring Helen from afar, and agreeing with what Russell and others have written, her unwillingness to give all up in despair in the face of so much inhuman obstruction for low paid workers astounded me. I think only one interview (Kim Hill I think) where she spoke about herself rather…

Chrys Berryman

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 15:53:55 +1300

Helen Kelly represented hope for low paid workers in NZ....I was a unionist all my working life and experienced the gutting of workers pay and conditions after the Employment Contracts Act was passed in the early 90,s........we are still suffering its effects today.........Helen carried on fighting the awful imbalance that…

Rob Stowell

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 12:19:36 +1300

She is a hero.
When I think of heroic New Zealanders, it’s her and Elsie Locke – and maybe Kim Hill.. All women of incredible strength, yet balanced by compassion and rounded out with keen intellect and razor wit. Her passing is a loss for the nation. Her inspiration and…

VLCNZ

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 11:41:11 +1300

Brave, bold, beautiful Helen thank you

Grant McDougall

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 11:01:23 +1300

RIP, Helen Kelly and thank so much for standing up for workers.

I met Helen only briefly two years ago – the day after Dirty Politics was published. It was at the UBS in Dunedin and she was buying four copies. We had a quick chat about the book and…

Shaun Lott

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 10:54:08 +1300

I felt that her decision to champion the case of the Charanpreet Dhaliwal (the security guard killed on his first night on the job), despite his not being a union member, was a sign of both her compassion and her vision for what the Union movement needs to be in…

Tom Johnson

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 10:51:25 +1300

Great loss. The Union movement has been slowly weakened by strong political business desires to stop collectivisation, much to the detriment of low paid workers and their bargaining ability. I have tremendous respect for her and the whole union movement. Their survival is hard and unmerited and constantly undermined by…

David Herkt

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 10:39:43 +1300

We have lost someone fine. I am distressed for many reasons, not the least because New Zealand now lacks part of the human compass that we all require to orientate our actions and opinions. If the word ‘staunch’ can be really be accurately used, it could have been used to…

Carol Stewart

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 10:27:09 +1300

Russell, what a lovely tribute to an amazing woman.

Damian Christie

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 10:22:32 +1300

She came across as a bitter hardened campaigner until her cancer was announced.

No, she was never that.

+1 on that. She wasn’t bitter, nor earnest – as you said very nicely Russell, she was relaxed and fun. I mean, she was rightfully a bit pissed off on occasions, but…

Rachel Lang

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 10:14:24 +1300

Lovely words, Russell. She was a fine, inspiring woman and a loss to the country.

Alfie

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 10:07:03 +1300

Helen's role in advancing the medical cannabis debate will always be remembered. NZ has lost an extraordinary woman. R.I.P.

Russell Brown

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 09:54:41 +1300

She came across as a bitter hardened campaigner until her cancer was announced.

No, she was never that.

Andre

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 09:53:39 +1300

Her passing is very sad. She came across as a bitter hardened campaigner until her cancer was announced. She will now be remembered as a caring patriot. RIP.

Russell Brown

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 09:30:28 +1300

It's one of the privileges of journalism that you get to speak to extraordinary people at extraordinary times.

It wasn't lost on me that this might be her last interview, but I never guessed she would be gone so soon.

Geoff Lealand

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 09:24:15 +1300

Lovely, Russell.

Public Address

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 09:24:15 +1300

Discussion from blog post.