Duncan Garner: Support needed for David White

OPINION: We had David White on The AM Show on Friday, fighting for his grandchildren after their father and step-father, Greg Meads, shot dead at close range their mother Helen.

He gave an extraordinary interview. Never before have I been so engrossed in an interview I was conducting. 

You'd think he'd want to kill Greg Meads, he doesn't. He wants to build a relationship with his daughter's killer.

David has written to all 121 MPs telling them about his daughter's struggle and untimely death. He also told them he was embarking on a nationwide road trip through all 71 electorates. He invited all MPs to come and talk about domestic and family violence. He asked them to come along, and for help.

Guess how many got back to him.

Five.

The ones who got back to him were Nicky Wagner, Poto Williams, Labour's Priyanca Radhakrishnan, Andrew Falloon and Angie Warren-Clark - 115 initially ignored him.

I bet those names are new to you. But good on them for showing respect.

Separately, he's also had positive responses from Jan Logie, Carmel Sepuloni, Tracey Martin, Mark Mitchell and Louisa Wall.

However, David says he got recent, but pathetic, replies from Simon Bridges, Judith Collins and Health Minister David Clark.

They dismissed him too easily in my view. Appalling given what he's been through.

If they had listened, they would have heard a kind gentle deeply caring man tell a story about violence and murder. One that has already had a remarkable impact.

After our interview it was played again in front of a group of violent men getting help. These are David's words in an email to me on Friday night: "Some of the men cried, but one who had maintained a stance of complete denial through the course, sat and wept with the others and talked and admitted his past for the first time."

One more thing, David isn't loaded, and the bloke who was going to pay for his petrol for the trip has pulled out. I'm going around my contacts determined to put up to $5k together to get him out there. To my friends in the corporate world, I'm coming your way today, expect my call.

Duncan Garner is the host of The AM Show.