Everyone in our community deserves to be housed. People should have agency over their housing, and it should be designed to be fully accessible and based on how people want to live. This would strengthen our communities, make life easier for whānau and provide the stability needed for a thriving city. But successive governments have not done enough to make sure everyone in our community has a suitable housing. Now, the National-led Government plan to sell off state housing and make it less available to our communities. This will lead to more people living in unaffordable and unsuitable private rentals, in their cars and on the streets. It also means that state-owned land will be privatised that should otherwise be returned to hapū and iwi for Māori housing solutions. In Tai Tokerau we have:  - 1000+ households on the Housing Register  - 5856+ people experiencing Severe Housing Deprivation (homelessness) *Census 2023 (grown since data was collected) - Kāinga Ora is selling 59 homes to the private market - And still, this National government has decided to cancel 40 developments, 450 homes that were in the pipeline, that would've housed whānau in need in Tai Tokerau[1] We know from our own history and from overseas, that when governments play a bigger role in building and providing decent and suitable housing, we lay the foundation for thriving communities. We have built state housing at scale as a solution before, and we can do it again. We are calling on Minister for Housing, Chris Bishop; Minister for Māori Development, Tama Potaka; MP for Whangārei, Shane Reti; and MP for Northland, Grant McCallum to advocate for the people of our communities to ensure that everyone has a decent, stable and accessible home, and to stop the sell off. References: 1. Critical housing shortage: Kāinga Ora axes 40 new Northland projects. Northern Advocate, 12 July 2025

Public housing is a key way that the government can ensure everyone has a decent and stable home. It supports people to live in their communities, close to amenities and jobs.  But for many towns and regions across the country, successive governments have not built state housing, which has forced people into expensive private rentals or into their cars. This is particularly true for tourist destinations like Wānaka and Queenstown where there is a lack of genuinely affordable rental accommodation for the very workers that keep these towns moving. Wānaka and Queenstown have an underlying homelessness issue that is swept under the carpet as they are perceived as higher socioeconomic areas. This means that homelessness is often invisible and ignored, and there is a lack of housing support systems. I am an example of this. I moved to Wānaka from New Plymouth to work in hospitality after the engineering consulting work I was doing dried up. I went from having stable and secure housing to being forced to reside in my car because there was a deep shortage of affordable accommodation. At the age of 60, I spent some nights sleeping in sub-zero temperatures. I was not alone. There were many others sleeping outside - some in cars and others in toilet blocks to stay warm. When requesting emergency accommodation from Work and Income, I was advised that there was no emergency housing available in Wānaka - because there was no need. Yet in 2021, a homeless man froze to death adjacent to the Upper Clutha Rugby Club in our community.[1] This is the same story in Queenstown, where people remain on the housing waitlist for long periods, sleeping in cars and on couches because there is a lack of state and community housing available.[2] People on work visas are hit particularly hard by the housing crisis, with stories of landlords renting out housing in terrible conditions and people sleeping in their cars[3].  At the time of the 2023 Census, Queenstown-Lakes District had 672 people who were severely housing deprived.[4] Yet, the Queenstown-Lakes District only has 15 state homes and 56 community housing provider homes.[5] This makes up just 0.3% of all dwellings.  On top of this, many of the existing rental stock are rented out as short-term rentals such as Airbnb. At Census 2023, 27% of all dwellings were unoccupied compared to 10% nationally[6]. We are calling on decision makers to ensure that everyone in the Queenstown Lakes District has a decent and stable home by building public housing in our community - so workers have secure and genuinely affordable housing. References 1. Woman walking her dogs discovered homeless man dead in Wānaka bushes. Stuff, 20 May 2021 2. The social housing waitlist: Woman told no emergency homes available at all. RNZ, 22 May 2025 3. Queenstown living: Freezing in tents and cars, squeezing into squalid hovels. Stuff, 8 July 2025  4. Aotearoa Data Explorer. Severe Housing Deprivation. Stats NZ 5. The Housing Dashboard. Key Stats by TLA. Ministry of Housing and Urban Development 6. Dwelling Occupancy: Queenstown-Lakes District. Stats NZ

Why is this important? Auckland should be a city built for people, not for cars - no matter where you live everyone should be able to access great, affordable, and reliable public transport. Every Aucklander knows traffic is out of hand and only getting worse Aucklanders spend more than 80 hours a year in traffic on average[1]. It costs the city more than $2billion dollars a year in lost productivity. An estimated 2,247 premature deaths, 9,400 hospitalizations and 13,200 cases of childhood asthma come from vehicle emissions per year in Aotearoa[2]. Transport makes up 39% of Aotearoa's greenhouse gas emissions[3]. It's also expensive: $7,000 a year to maintain a car, and New Zealand has by some measures the highest car ownership in the world. As Auckland continues to grow it is important that we give people alternatives to car ownership. Trains, Buses and Ferries that are all well connected and affordable can make a huge difference. We know this because it happened before. Back in 1955 when the tram system still existed in Auckland, 58% of trips were made via public transport - now in 2025 it’s down to 5%.  It is time to build cities for people and not for cars - sign this petition and together we can make a change!   If it's there people use it: in 1955 when the tram system still existed in Auckland, 58% of trips were made by public transport. Now it's just 5%. 40% of commuters from the North shore now use the Northern Expressway buses. It is possible to build a city for people rather than cars. References 1 https://at.govt.nz/media/pqxhk3cn/auckland-transport-cost-of-congestion-white-paper.pdf 2 https://www.esr.cri.nz/media/edmf0i4c/esr-environmental-health-report-public-health-risks-transport-emissions.pdf 3 https://environment.govt.nz/publications/aotearoa-new-zealands-first-emissions-reduction-plan/transport/

Restoring this vital rail link would benefit over 750,000 people by providing an affordable and accessible alternative to air travel and long-distance coaches, which older and disabled passengers often find inaccessible. It would reduce reliance on private vehicles, improving road safety. Reintroducing this service would boost regional economies, uplift tourism in one of New Zealand’s most beautiful and under-served regions, and build a more connected and equitable transport network for all.

Aotearoa should be a place where people are encouraged and supported by their government to engage in democratic processes. Where usage of plain language in documents is encouraged, and people have the ability to understand their rights within seconds no matter where they come from or what their background is.  Right now our government has chosen to treat accessible language differently to other equitable measures by excluding Plain Language from their budget.  Although plain language is a less tangible concept, the importance of it to people across Aotearoa is no less vital than having wheelchair ramps in public buildings, or sign language interpreters during emergency broadcasts. Simple, easy to read language helps our more vulnerable groups in Aotearoa to receive fair treatment in all sectors of government.  Over 1.3 million adult New Zealanders have low literacy/numeracy skills, with Māori and Pacific peoples significantly overrepresented in this group. This leads to higher barriers in employment, health, income, and civic engagement for these communities[1].  Furthermore, up to 10% of New Zealanders have communication issues, including difficulties that directly affect reading, writing, or understanding official information. There are also more than 11,530 children with swallowing difficulties, 95,000 people with autism, and 60,000 children with auditory processing disorder, all conditions that can impact effective engagement with complex or non-plain language content[2].   Plain language is also a vital tool for older generations, many of whom are navigating digital systems and filling out important forms independently, often without someone to assist them. Keeping Plain Language requirements in legislation means everyone is considered when the government publishes information.  By taking it away, the government is forgetting why it was put into place: to keep all of us in the loop.  No one should have to spend hours filling out and decoding benefit forms, immigration forms, justice information, or health information. The budget we pay for should work for us, too.  Now is the time for us to take action that will protect our most marginalised brothers and sisters. Action that allows for everyone to be part of the conversation, and puts equitable care at the heart of our government's services.  References: 1. An Empirical Portrait of New Zealand Adults Living With Low Literacy and Numeracy Skills. AUT NZ Pathways Research Institute. 2022: https://nzpri.aut.ac.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/522827/An-empirical-portrait-of-New-Zealand-adults-living-with-low-literacy-and-numeracy-skills_report.pdf 2. Communication and Swallowing Disabilities in New Zealand: Data Fact Sheet 2023. Speech-language Therapists New Zealand. 2023: https://speechtherapy.org.nz/assets/Uploads/SLT-Business-Case-2024/Communication-and-Swallowing-Disabilities-in-New-Zealand-Data-Fact-Sheet.pdf?vid=4

No matter who we are, or where we come from, we all deserve to live a life of dignity, free of pain and struggle. A life where we are believed and we have access to the care that we need. However, there are thousands of us every day who live in the abrupt edges of medical understanding and right now, there are far too many women, girls, and people assigned female at birth are being dismissed, misdiagnosed, or denied access to the care and support they need. [3][6]. At least one in seven women, girls, and people assigned female at birth in Aotearoa live with endometriosis (mate kirikopu), a chronic and often disabling inflammatory condition that causes pelvic pain, fatigue, infertility, and damage to multiple organs [1][10]. Despite this, most with endometriosis (mate kirikopu)are not being taken seriously by our health system. The national endometriosis (mate kirikopu) guidelines, last released in 2020 by the Ministry of Health, were never intended to be formal clinical guidance [11]. They are not mandatory, they are missing key protections, and they are letting them fall through the cracks. The current guidelines are not fit for purpose, they are outdated, non-binding, and were never designed to function as formal clinical guidelines. In practice, this leaves women, girls, and people assigned female at birth with endometriosis (mate kirikopu) facing inconsistent care, delayed diagnoses, and limited access to the treatment they need to live full, healthy lives. The current guidance lacks clear timeframes for action, formal referral pathways, youth-specific approaches, accountability mechanisms, and adequate inclusion of Māori, Pasifika, LGBTQIA+, and disabled communities. Too often, those with endometriosis (mate kirikopu) are passed between GPs and emergency departments for years without answers. The average time to diagnosis in Aotearoa is still 7 to 10 years [2][7]. That means they are missing school, losing jobs, giving up dreams of having tamariki, or falling into depression and isolation before they are even believed [3][5][6]. For marginalised groups, the situation is even worse. Young people, Māori, Pasifika, disabled and gender-diverse people are more likely to be dismissed, misdiagnosed, or denied access to care. [3][6]. That means many healthcare providers don’t follow it, and there are no consequences when patients are ignored, misdiagnosed, or left untreated. We need more than just suggestions. We need mandatory, enforceable standards that every health provider in Aotearoa must follow. We need guidelines that uphold mana, affirm lived experience, and work for all, not just a privileged few who can afford private care or know how to fight the system. Studies show that: • The impacts of Endometriosis (mate kirikopu) go far beyond physical pain, impacting mental health, daily functioning, and overall wellbeing with those affected • Up to 98% of women, girls, and people assigned female at birth with endometriosis (mate kirikopu) experience symptoms of depression, and around 87% experience anxiety [1]. These mental health struggles are often made worse by diagnostic delays, medical gaslighting, and lack of access to effective treatment and support [2][3]. • Women, girls, and people assigned female at birth with endometriosis (mate kirikopu) report a significantly reduced quality of life compared to the general population, especially in the areas of physical function, emotional wellbeing, sexual health, and work productivity [4][5]. This is not just due to pain, but also the psychological toll of being dismissed, misdiagnosed, or ignored by the healthcare system [3][6]. • Research also shows that youth with endometriosis (mate kirikopu)-like symptoms are often told their pain is normal, resulting in long-term harm to mental health, school attendance, and body trust [7]. Without guidelines that address these impacts holistically and offer clear, equitable pathways to care, women, girls, and people assigned female at birth will continue to fall through the cracks. We need guidelines that work in real life, not just on paper. A community-led review by Endo Warriors Aotearoa and our Youth Advisory Board outlines how the current guidance fails us. It shows the harm caused by relying on hormonal contraception as the default treatment [3] [6], how hard it is to access skilled excision surgery [2] [7], and how little support exists for holistic or culturally grounded pain management [3].  He wā tēnei. It is time. Sign the petition today and stand with our hāpori to demand a new standard of care for endometriosis (mate kirikopu) in Aotearoa, a new standard that embeds lived experience, Māori and Pasifika voices, youth insight, and gender diversity into every part of care, a health system that believes us, supports us, and works for us.  References: [1] Armour, M., et al. (2019). The prevalence and impact of endometriosis symptoms on quality of life among young women: a cross-sectional study. BJOG, 126(6), 755–759. [2] Ballard, K., Lowton, K., & Wright, J. (2006). What’s the delay? A qualitative study of women’s experiences of reaching a diagnosis of endometriosis. Fertility and Sterility, 86(5), 1296–1301. [3] Culley, L., et al. (2018). The social and psychological impact of endometriosis on women’s lives: A critical narrative review. Human Reproduction Update, 24(6), 625–639. [4] Riazi, H., et al. (2014). Clinical diagnosis of pelvic endometriosis: a scoping review. BMC Women’s Health, 14(1), 73. [5] Jones, G., Jenkinson, C., & Kennedy, S. (2004). The impact of endometriosis on quality of life: a qualitative study. BJOG, 111(4), 410–418. [6] Denny, E., & Mann, C. H. (2007). Endometriosis and the primary care consultation. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol, 132(2), 224–228. [7] Missmer, S. A., et al. (2014). Incidence of laparoscopically confirmed endometriosis by demographic, anthropometric, and lifestyle factors. Am J Epidemiol, 179(6), 721–730. [8] Missmer, S. A., et al. (2014). Incidence of laparoscopically confirmed endometriosis by demographic, anthropometric, and lifestyle factors. Am J Epidemiol, 179(6), 721–730. [9] Zhang, T., et al. (2020). The link between endometriosis and autoimmune diseases. Frontiers in Immunology, 11, 339. [10] Ministry of Health. (2020). Diagnosis and Management of Endometriosis in New Zealand. Wellington: Ministry of Health. “While not a formal clinical guideline, it provides a consensus view of best-practice principles.” (p. 2)

No matter who we are or where we come from, we all deserve to heal with dignity and safety at its core. For survivors of trauma, access to services that nurture healing in a healthy way are paramount - and this support shouldn’t end at our borders.  I’m a survivor of trauma with an accepted sensitive claim under ACC. But the moment I left New Zealand — for safety, for healing, for survival — ACC cut off my access to the counselling I was promised.I’m transgender, disabled, and neurodivergent. Trauma support isn’t optional for me. It’s survival. ACC’s current policy is cruel. It forces people like me to fly back to Aotearoa — sometimes at great risk — just to be reassessed for support we’ve already been approved for. Others have been left without any care at all, as if their pain matters less once they leave the country. I know I’m not the only one. I know there are others — Māori survivors, queer survivors, disabled survivors — who’ve been silenced, cut off, and left to suffer in silence overseas. This matters because trauma doesn’t respect borders, and neither should care - sign this petition and together we can make a change!

We all deserve to have safe, affordable and secure places to call our home. But for the people of Dunedin, landlords are lining their pockets and regularly getting away with squalid housing conditions, far from meeting Healthy Homes Standards.  The consequences of inadequate housing can be far reaching, affecting people’s health and wellbeing. Many students also suffer from sicknesses, due to the cold, damp and unsafe environments in flats.  It’s time for landlords to take responsibility for the properties they profit from. Students shouldn’t have to choose between affordable rent and safe living conditions.  The Healthy Homes standard sets out compliance obligations with respect to keeping homes warm, dry and safe. These standards aren’t enough to be written on a piece of paper. They must be enforced by the MBIE. 

The cost of housing affects us all. In Tāmaki Makaurau, we spend significantly more than the recommended 30% of income. Along with high rents and the decline of home ownership, many in Tāmaki Makaurau are facing housing insecurity. Housing and its cost-of-living impact many who are often only a paycheck away from homelessness. Significantly increasing state housing will help democratise the housing system by providing affordable, secure homes for our whanau and fellow citizens.   Having a stable home is the foundation for a good life – it supports us to build connections with people and places. It creates the conditions for us to be able to connect and contribute to our communities. But successive governments have not done enough to make sure everyone in our community has suitable housing. Now, the National-led Government plans to sell off state housing, has cancelled developments already underway and will make it less available to our communities. This will lead to more people living in unaffordable and unsuitable private rentals, in their cars and on the streets. In the Waitematā Local Board (Auckland Central) area: • Auckland Council has counted a significant increase in “unsheltered homeless” living in the city[1] • The number of households on the Housing Register for Waitematā is 204 (as of June 2026)[2] • There are many more people living in housing stress, who are not on the Housing Register or visibly homeless. At the time of Census 2023 there were 2,517 people living in Severe Housing Deprivation in the Waitematā area[3] • A diverse range of people live and work here, not just the well-off  • Vincent Street is a Kāinga Ora development for 53 homes, which has been cancelled. This development would have provided decent and stable housing, close to amenities We know from our own history and from overseas that when governments play a bigger role in building and providing decent and suitable housing, we lay the foundation for thriving communities. We have built state housing at scale as a solution before, and we can do it again.  We are calling on decision makers to ensure that everyone in Auckland Central has a decent and stable home. Restarting the planning and construction of cancelled developments like Vincent Street as soon as possible is what we need to be doing to ensure this happens. References: 1. Analysis: Why it's wrong for politicians to dodge questions about homelessness. RNZ, 5 July 2026   2. MSD Housing Register. MSD, June 2026 3. Severe Housing Deprivation. Aotearoa Data Explorer. StatsNZ 

No matter who we are, or where we come from, people across Aotearoa deserve somewhere safe and dignified to call home. As house prices sky rocket, Aotearoa is plunged deeper into the housing crisis created by this Government, Kāinga Ora have rolled back their commitment to deliver social housing in Rangitata.[1] These homes are desperately needed for our most vulnerable citizens - more and more of whom are forced into rough sleeping as they're priced out of the private rental market and emergency housing options are stripped away. Our construction sector also needs the work it will bring in; over the past year we've lost close to a thousand local jobs with the closing of Alliance Smithfield and the loss of the Antarctica contract as examples, and the recession making times rougher across the board for everyone. We’re calling on you as our representative to ensure Kāinga Ora stays true to their commitment to the Grey Road/Arthur Street development, and to show up for your constituents when it matters not just at campaign time. References: [1] Kāinga Ora cans hundreds of social housing building projects after review, takes up to $180m hit - NZ Herald 

Everyone is entitled to live with justice and dignity, this includes Palestinians.  These rights are often protected by both national and international laws. Israel is occupying and colonising Palestinian land, discriminating against Palestinians working in Israeli society, and denying Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes.  While political leaders and governments shirk their obligations, far too many corporate entities have profited from Israel’s economy of illegal occupation, apartheid and now, genocide. “It’s time for businesses to cut ties with Israel. The very fact of engaging in something that concerns and translates into economic gain and profits, it’s problematic, lest, companies and their executives are ready to face responsibility and even criminal liability”  - Francesca P. Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories  While the government is stalling on imposing sanctions on Israel, we the people will use our consumer power to “push for better” and de-shelve SodaStream from all retailers around the motu.  Why SodaStream Historical Complicity SodaStream’s first factory was built over the remains of seven destroyed Palestinian villages in the illegal settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, in the occupied West Bank. Settlements like Ma'ale Adumim, and companies operating in them, are illegal under international law. In 2014, under constant pressure from the global Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, SodaStream shut down its West Bank factory. This was a big win. However, SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum claimed: “We are not giving in to the boycott. We are Zionist."  He framed the move as a cost-saving decision, despite accusing the BDS campaign of hurting opportunities for Palestinian workers.  New Factory, Still Profiting from Apartheid  After leaving the West Bank, in 2015 SodaStream relocated to the Idan Industrial Zone in the Naqab (Negev) desert. This is land that Israel confiscated from Palestinian Bedouin communities in the 1950s. That is, SodaStream is still implicated in settler colonial dynamics — just in a different region. The SodaStream factory is located near the city of Rahat where many Palestinian Bedouins were forcibly relocated. Today, Palestinian Bedouins live under constant threat of displacement by the Israeli state. Across the Naqab, hundreds of Palestinian homes are demolished every year, with the second-highest number of them occurring in Rahat. (176 in 2022 alone). These home demolitions as well as systematic exclusion from basic infrastructure and services, all contribute to Israel's long-term plan to remove them from their land and traditional practices. SodaStream and other Israeli and international companies receive government financial incentives and subsidies when they base their factories in the Naqab region. The region has been designated a ‘national priority area’ in accordance with Israel’s ten-year “National Strategic Plan for the Negev”, designed to tighten the Israeli state’s hold on the region, and vastly increase the Israeli population there.  SodaStream can thus be seen as an instrument of Israel’s plan to remove indigenous people from their land through urbanisation and industrialisation. Exploitation of Palestinian Workers Over 100,000 Palestinians work in Israel and settlements—because their own economy is strangled by occupation and Israeli labour laws are not fairly applied to Palestinian workers. A 2022 report by Kav LaOved (an Israeli workers' rights NGO) found that many Palestinian workers face wage theft, unsafe working conditions, denial of health care or accident compensation, long hours without rest or proper documentation. SodaStream uses its employment of Palestinians as a public relations tool, portraying itself as a “coexistence” model while hiding the broader apartheid context that underlies the company’s operation, and which created those economic dependencies in the first place.   BDS Works! We’ve seen SodaStream shutdown its illegal factory in the Occupied West Bank due to BDS pressure. In the UK, we recently saw The Co-operative Group vote to remove Israeli products from its shelves. McDonald’s has missed sales targets, Starbucks slashed its annual sales forecast after a slump in growth, Turkey’s parliament voted to remove Coke from the shops and restaurants on its grounds - we can use our collective consumer power to create change. References: https://www.whoprofits.org/publications/report/120 https://electronicintifada.net/content/new-sodastream-factory-could-help-destroy-bedouin-agriculture/13182 https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2015/9/25/sodastream-factory-shows-palestinian-bedouins-plight  https://www.bdsmovement.net/news/sodastream-close-illegal-settlement-factory-response-growing-boycott-campaign https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/03/27/471885452/when-500-palestinians-lose-their-jobs-at-sodastream-whos-to-blame

As student associations, we’ve had countless students share their struggles with us. A common story is that they’re having to choose between paying for transport to their place of study or covering essential costs like rent or food. That is simply not good enough. Every student deserves to access education without the burden of wondering how they’ll afford to get there. With rising tuition fees and living costs, transport should not be another barrier to success. This change would ease a major financial pressure and help ensure students can stay in school and thrive. The Bigger Picture: We imagine a city where education is genuinely accessible, where no student misses class because they can’t afford the bus or train. Right now, this vision feels out of reach for many tertiary students in Auckland. Students are being squeezed by the rising cost of living: higher rents, more expensive groceries, and growing tuition fees. When you add full-priced public transport on top, it becomes unsustainable. Tertiary students within Auckland receive the lowest discount out of all the groups that have discounts.  Group Current Discount Children (Aged 5–15)  | 40% off Secondary School Students  | 40% off Tertiary Students  | 20% off  Community Services Card Holders  | 50% off  Senior Citizens  | Free  Providing a 50% fare concession for tertiary students is a step toward fairness. It’s an investment in Auckland’s future, in its young people, and in educational equity. Let’s remove the barriers, not raise them.