Start and win
your campaign

We're asking for Tangata whenua to sign the petition with your name, Iwi affiliations and occupation (optional). This petition will: - Spread awareness of the genocide. - Demonstrate that as iwi members, people and a united collective, we are in total opposition to genocide, apartheid and systemic colonisation of all indigenous peoples. - Put pressure on our government to represent our values internationally. For many of us, the effects of the genocide in Gaza are more acute. We grew up hearing stories, singing mōteatea, and listening to our people recall the ways they experienced harm as a result of colonisation. This intergenerational trauma is still a big part of our lives. As Māori, we are often praised by other indigenous communities as leaders in the fight to decolonise. Our relationship with colonialism is fraught, but we also hold a unique position globally. Now is the time for us to call on our partners of Te Tiriti o Waitangi to use their power to create change and end the harm of innocent civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and throughout Palestine.

Māori Leadership in 2010 led the march to protect Māori and all population groups of Aotearoa against the negative harm of tobacco on whānau. A Smokefree Aotearoa goal by 2025 was set with a target of having less than 5% of all populations smoking. This new coalition government of National, ACT and NZ First will go down in history in the wrong way, allowing Big Tobacco lobbyists to inform a roll back of world leading public health action. Our communities have spoken, loud and clear, since the 2010 Health Select and Māori Affairs Select committee that this is what they want, the people of Aotearoa New Zealand will be failed once again, all in the name of a handful of tax cuts. Currently, 5,000 New Zealanders die from the harms of tobacco-related illnesses every year. If we repeal the Smokefree Act, loved ones will die, all so tobacco companies can continue to profit. In 2022 we introduced world-leading legislation to support the goal for Aotearoa to be smokefree by 2025. The need is clearly demonstrated, that Māori, Pacific and low socio-economic neighbourhoods are saturated with tobacco sale points, and have the highest smoking rates. We simply cannot afford to go backwards, while our whānau continue to die at the hands of this product. The government of 2023 will walk away with the literal blood of its constituents on its hands.

No matter who we are, where we live, or what we do, everyone should have the resources they need to build the lives they want for themselves and their families. To do this, we need strong public services that look after our basic needs. This looks like well-staffed hospitals that can provide medical care to our whānau when we need it. It looks like teachers who feel valued so they contribute to thriving schools, kōhanga reo, kura kaupapa and early childcare where our children can receive a quality education. It looks like more public housing that can offer a stable roof over our heads. It sounds like buses showing up on time that are free and accessible. It looks like preparing for climate change so that our natural world is restored and communities can withstand and recover from severe weather events. But right now, large corporations are extracting profits that are throwing our society out of balance. Many of us are feeling the stress of high costs and prices which forces us to make huge sacrifices every day. While workers miss important family events in order to work longer hours, and people are forced into debt to cover essentials such as food and petrol, corporate profits have increased by 39% to $72 billion in the most recent year. According to the data available, this is the largest increase we have ever seen. In just one example, the major supermarkets were making around a million dollars a day in excess profits, while most people are struggling to make ends meet to put kai on the table. The price increases people are experiencing aren’t random: they are corporate decisions, and right now no one is reining them in. The story of corporate greed is not new, but what we've seen over the past few years is an alarming trend where multinational companies will exploit the pandemic and public health crisis to grow their wealth. Right now, corporations exploit lacklustre tax laws and are laughing all the way to the bank, while everyone else feels ripped off at the checkout or petrol pump. It doesn’t have to be this way. It is unacceptable that corporate profits can continue to blow out of proportion, while wages cannot keep up and food banks are struggling more than ever to keep up with growing need. Our country has enough wealth to look after all of us. Bernard Hickey writes that we have a net household wealth of $2.25 trillion, which is $450,200 per person. When large corporations use their power to increase profits, and not give back to workers or wider society, then it enables the massive syphoning of wealth that locks more and more people into poverty. Our Government has an important role to play in keeping our society fair and funded for the services we need to thrive. Tax and economic experts have offered a range of policies from a windfall tax (which means taxing the excess profits made from unexpected circumstances such a global crisis) to increasing the corporate tax rate (which is a tax on corporate profits). Many solutions are available, we just need to commit to taxing our largest profit-makers. It means we can keep prices down, and build public services up, while holding corporations accountable to pay their fair share. Now is the time to rebalance the scales and make sure corporations increase their contribution to the collective pool, so that we can all thrive together. ------------------------- References: 'Is the inflation in NZ because of profits?' RNZ. https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018849004/is-the-inflation-in-nz-because-of-profits 'Supermarkets making profits of around $1m a day; Govt announces steps to lower prices.' NZ Herald. https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/business/government-to-address-commerce-commission-report-into-supermarket-industry/ 'The twin crises that fuelled the hostel fire.' Bernard Hickey, The Spinoff. https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/18-05-2023/the-twin-crises-that-fuelled-the-hostel-fire