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2a: Date: Tuesday 24th November Time: 9:30am

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1b: Metaphor: Impacts reader’s understanding of a theme/idea by describing something as something that it is not. Alliteration: Impacts reader’s understanding of what a writer/poet wants to communicate. Also impacts rhythm and feel. Hyperbole: Exaggerates an idea and impacts reader’s perception of the idea, showing that it is a significant thing that the writer wants to communicate. Enjambment: Separation of sentences into lines, puts emphasis on certain words and phrases. Impacts reader’s sense of pace, pause, and meaning. Imagery: Allows reader to clearly envision what the writer is trying to communicate, makes the text more impactful as a whole.

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Duncan Garner: Dear NZ, how do we want to look in 20 years?

A majority of the Press Council ruled that this column breached Principle 4, Comment and Fact and 7, Discrimination and Diversity.  The Press Council decision is here.

OPINION: I went to Kmart on Wednesday to buy some new underpants and socks.

Routine stuff. Job done for another year. That was my aim.

And besides, the new purchases were absolutely critical. I had held on to the old undies and socks for too long. Enough said.

I do, however, want to fly a flag before I continue.

None of what I say here in this column is intended to be racist or anti-foreigner.

But it most definitely should come across as being outwardly pro-NZ.

Now, normally this outing to the mall wouldn’t be a big deal but this one fast became a nightmarish glimpse into our future if we stuff it up.

As I started walking towards the self-pay counter I saw a massive human snake crawling its way around the self-service island near the middle of the store. And it snaked and snaked and snaked. The snake was massive.

I wondered what the attraction was? It wasn’t immediately obvious. Then it was. The self-service counter couldn’t cope.

It couldn’t cope with the pressures of the people. The dozens of stressed faces making up the human snake were frustrated too.

I looked around, it could have been anywhere in South East Asia.

I wasn’t shocked – we have reported this for three years – we have targeted immigrants, opened the gates and let in record numbers. This year’s net gain of migrants was 72,000.

Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Syrians, and many others. I saw the changing face of New Zealand at the crossroads, otherwise known as Kmart’s self-service counter. Every four minutes and 51 seconds New Zealand’s population grows by another person. We are growing faster now than compared to any other time in our history. And faster than most countries in the world.

New Zealand’s population grew by 100,400 to the June 2017 year.

This is not an opinion column designed to be deliberately inflammatory on race grounds, flimsy grounds or any other grounds.

But do we have any idea what we’re doing here? No.

Predictions show we will have 6.3 million people by 2038. There’ll be more Asians than Maori. Is anyone leading this debate on how big we should be? No.

Does it matter? You bet it does.

Get this wrong and New Zealand could be an international cot case of broken cities, poor planning, congested highways and stolen dreams.

And we will have no one to blame but ourselves.

Immigration is great, but I’m not sure our traditional standard of living is enhanced by it.

Wages have been flat, that helps no one but business owners.

House prices meanwhile have rocketed and the home ownership dream is dead for many. And buried. Forever.

When the average price of a home in the biggest city is $1.04m what’s the question?

The question is, where’s the affordable homes? Answer, um we forgot to plan and build them. Sorry. Next time maybe.

Do we have a Minister of Population and Planning? Of course not. The incoming prime minister should make this a priority. It should be a senior job.

It would signal a new Government is serious about securing our future in a rapidly changing world.

Labour is planning a new Minister for Pike River. Populist and smart, sure, but hardly a game-changer. Who has our collective backs in the battle for the best quality of life in the future? I’m not sure yet.

We should be able to build crucial big projects faster if we’re growing at a rate of knots.

We are falling head-first into the future and we need to stop and think. We need to pause, plan and design our country and how we go about life, work and pleasure in 2038.

Until now we’ve had the world gate-crash our party. But now it is time to make it work for us.

Let’s design our country to make it better for us. Bring in the people by all means but send them to where we need them. Let’s not give them what they need from us so easily.

People are lining up to come here because we are the last paradise on Earth.

Our small population is our winning card. Let’s not lose that.

Everything we do we must ask ourselves this question: Will this make our country better for those living in it now?

If the answer is no then we must pause, stop and think again. Your great-grandchildren will be so grateful. And it’s our legacy.

*Comments on this article have been closed

In this opinion article from 2017, Duncan Garner uses a variety of language features and techniques to communicate a nationalist point of view upholding his anti-immigrant (particularly anti Asian immigrant) point of view.

Intended audience: Likely a reader who agrees with Garner’s position on immigration policy. It is also pitched to a wider audience to persuade them to believe the xenophobic rhetoric that Garner is holding up (despite claiming it as anti-racist). It also seems that Garner’s intended audience is a predominantly white, >2nd generation reader as the tone indicates a very us vs. them perspective.

Language features used:

Humour: Garner opens with, “I went to Kmart on Wednesday to buy some new underpants and socks. Routine stuff. Job done for another year. That was my aim. And besides, the new purchases were absolutely critical. I had held on to the old undies and socks for too long. Enough said.” This eases the reader into the article, as opposed to hitting them on the head with his strong feelings. Humour may also have been used to appear as a ‘relatable’ facist writer who does ordinary things like buying underwear.

Statistics to back up a claim: “Predictions show we will have 6.3 million people by 2038.” “This year’s net gain of migrants was 72,000.” “Every four minutes and 51 seconds New Zealand’s population grows by another person.” “New Zealand’s population grew by 100,400 to the June 2017 year.” Garner’s statistics are used throughout the article to effectively communicate a kind of urgency that he believes is important when it comes to immigration. Using statistics alongside his opinion makes each statement he makes seem more like facts, and therefore more reliable. Therefore, Garner is using these statistics effectively to communicate his point.

Rhetorical questions: When appealing to and promoting nationalist and xenophobic ideas, Garner uses rhetorical questions to promote an emotive response from the reader: “Is anyone leading this debate on how big we should be? No.” “Does it matter? You bet it does.” “When the average price of a home in the biggest city is $1.04m what’s the question?” “The question is, where’s the affordable homes? Answer, um we forgot to plan and build them. Sorry. Next time maybe.” “Do we have a Minister of Population and Planning? Of course not.” “Who has our collective backs in the battle for the best quality of life in the future? I’m not sure yet.” “Everything we do we must ask ourselves this question: Will this make our country better for those living in it now?” This technique is used to show that Garner seems like someone with all the answers, who is a reliable source of information. This is also used to further cement the ideas that he is putting forward, by answering the questions with phrases like “of course not” or “no” or “you bet it does”.

As a result, the article was voted to be a breach of principles 4 &7 of the Press Council and was labelled as such.

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5d: Walton’s narration at the beginning of the text establishes the reader’s understanding on Shelley’s ideas on ambition and loneliness through the parallel storylines and character arcs of Robert Walton and Frankenstein & the Creature. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a text which considers the ways that humans interact with one another, and criticises the way society functions. And while it is the main body of the text so eagerly dissected and pulled apart it is the beginning that really does the heavy lifting. Shelley’s use of narration throughout the text is what makes it so special; to be able to effectively achieve this she introduced the text through the eyes of an outsider. When we start with Robert Walton, we hear about the key themes of loneliness and ambition with the two key quotes, “success shall crown my endeavours,” and, “I desire the company of another man would could sympathise with me, whose eyes would reply to mine.” When the narration changes later on in the novel, the ideas represented in these quotes are reflected by Frankenstein and the Creature. Victor is extremely ambitious and sets about making his creature, essentially searching for success to crown his endeavours. His ambition, like Walton’s, leads him to undesirable situations which result in his losing of grip. The Creature is isolated from the beginning of his life, and cites his mistreatment by society as the cause for his anger and hurt. The change in narration shows us the links between each character and also the key themes and messages that Shelley wanted to communicate. It also helps us understand the plot from various perspectives. If we’d only heard from one limited voice the reader’s understanding of the plot as a whole would be vastly different. For example, if we only heard from Frankenstein’s perspective, we wouldn’t know about the Creature’s suicide, or the truth of his depressed state.

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3e: Idea: A concept around a particular subject which may contribute to a greater theme (eg. one idea is that the Creature turned evil when society turned its back -> contributing to theme of isolation). Protagonist: The main character of a story, story follows them (eg. Victor Frankenstein is a protagonist). Antagonist: A secondary character in a story, often an antagoniser and opposing force to the protagonist (eg. the Creature is the antagonist). Theme: An overarching idea made up of smaller ideas/relationships/events which is related to a wider message (eg. loneliness and isolation is a theme in Frankenstein). Setting: The place in which something takes place, inclusive of physical place, time, social/cultural context, etc. It helps to define character, plot, mood, tension, etc. (eg. Frankenstein is set in enlightenment era Europe often important scenes are set at night, or in the isolated arctic). Language feature: A device used by a writer to help communicate an idea or for another purpose. (eg. allusion  “Remember that I am thy creature: I ought to by thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel”). Symbol: An object, person, or other thing which represents a greater idea or theme (eg. the Creature is a symbol for all of the things that society hates most about itself). Method: A particular technique which has an order to it in order to achieve something (eg. Frankenstein’s method of reanimating dead flesh).

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