https://vimeo.com/596169867 Public transport is crucial in the fight against climate change, making our cities more liveable and supporting sustainable mobility for vulnerable and low-income communities. However bus drivers, passengers and the environment have been victims of a decades-long experiment in privatisation. The Climate Commission has called for a doubling of public transport use nationwide, however poverty wages are making it impossible for operators to recruit new workers. Cancellations are rife, and further industrial action looms on the horizon. The bus privatisation experiment has failed. In July 2021 FIRST Union’s #BusFair campaign called for the Ministry of Transport to abolish the current tendering model (the “PTOM”), massively increase investment in public transport, and work together with stakeholders to bring our public transport back into public ownership. That’s because three decades of bus privatisation has been disastrous for drivers, passengers, and the environment, shifting wealth from workers’ wages into offshore private equity firms that control our network. The PTOM tendering model put this approach on steroids, rewarding operators with the lowest labour costs. Significant investment is needed to lift workers’ wages, increasing the reach and regularity of our bus network, progressively reducing fares and establishing more bus-only infrastructure. However private ownership is a barrier to addressing these concerns. Support for public ownership is now growing, with Greater Wellington Regional Council and the Green Party supporting, as well as bus drivers and passengers across the country. Tell the Minister of Transport that it’s time to bring #ourpublictransport back into public ownership.

On Thursday the 15th July the police deployed 6 Police Boats, 4 Paddy wagons, a helicopter, 2 drones, Police Media, diving squad & dog, and an estimated 4 police units (up to 100 police) all to arrest four peaceful protestors from Protect Pūtiki for 'wilful trespass', two of whom are Ngāti Paoa and whakapapa to the island, who were occupying the pontoon at the time. It remains un-clear who ordered the operation and why it was considered necessary to deploy such excessive police force. Maori wardens had been on site for at least a week and it is understood they had no forewarning of this operation. Protect Pūtiki and the wider community of Aotearoa demand an examination into why Police are continuing to uphold the corporate interests of this particular development, Kennedy Point Boat Harbour Ltd. At present, the Police have shown a commitment to empowering the KPBH Ltd. marina development with a continued daily basis, on-site presence. Police have facilitated the developers in forcibly delivering peaceful protestors in the Moana to the police boat where they are then arrested. We demand Commissioner Andrew Coster initiate an inquiry into the increased police presence immediately. Over the last month, when requests for assistance are made by protectors to police these calls often go unanswered, including in situations where no police have been present on site and protectors have sought their presence to provide for safety of all involved. Local police have chosen to not engage in order to maintain their community relationships but as a result their absence has left protectors without support when needed. Overall, the police presence has largely resulted in escalation of the situation rather than to de-escalation. There has been close to 80 complaints laid with the police department from both protectors and developers, largely regarding assaults and trespassing but to date only the protectors have been charged and appeared in court. We believe a formal apology from New Zealand Police addressed to the kaitiaki/protectors of the Pūtiki occupation is a reasonable demand that should accompany this inquiry. If the police presence is to be maintained at Putiki then as a bottom line they must uphold their own code of conduct which includes impartiality and ensuring safety of all participants - not purely to trespass or arrest kaitiaki/protectors and enable further development. Tautoko our main petition: https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/protectputiki And stay updated with the occupation via IG: @protectputiki | Twitter: protect_putiki | Facebook: Protect Pūtiki | Email: [email protected]

If we want a flourishing future for Aotearoa where everyone has the resources and opportunities they need to thrive then we need to have a strong public services that support low income families. This May, the Labour government announced "the biggest increase to income support in a generation" as part of Budget 2021, including a $20 per week increase from this July and a further $12 - $35 next April. But yesterday modelling released by the Ministry for Social Development revealed most people who receive income support have not received the full $20 increase due to clawbacks (reductions in other payments). This includes things like reductions in Temporary Additional Support or Accomodation Supplement payments. (Ref 1) These increases came after a long period of successive governments’ underinvestment in the services that enable low income whānau to thrive. Inadequate income support levels lock families into poverty. When whānau are struggling to put kai on the table and make rent, every bit counts. Every whānau deserves to have the resources and support they need to thrive, without bureaucracy getting in the way. Increasing benefits to ensure everyone has a liveable incomes is about enabling people to thrive. These increases are a step toward a fairer Aotearoa, but they’re being undermined by unfair rules blocking 198,000 people from receiving the full increase. Please sign and share this petition calling for the Minister of Social Development to urgently intervene and make sure everyone can receive the full increase to income support. Reference 1: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/majority-beneficiaries-wont-20-better-off-despite-budget-boost

Assange's detention and the charges against him threaten press freedom around the world, and therefore threaten our right to know what is going on and democracy itself. We must call out this injustice and offer protection to Assange. Doing so will have New Zealand be a leader on the global stage for press freedom, peace and transparent democracy.

Australia's turnback operations are illegal. The New Zealand government has stated this, and that it respects the right to asylum. Therefore, intervention in this case is critical. Offering resettlement to these refugees would make the government’s commitment to its legal obligations clear, and would uphold its reputation as a humanitarian leader.

The energy industry is full of solutions for people AFTER they have felt the impacts of power poverty and AFTER they have been disconnected. What is missing is an electricity retailer specifically designed to support vulnerable consumers, that can work with whānau to prevent those things from happening. The only way that this retailer can exist is if Generators, Government and all other players in the industry commit to work together in the Spirit of Manaakitanga. This is what true partnership looks like between tangata whenua and tangata tiriti. Solving this issue is not one that can be done alone - but one in which Māori must be involved in. Let us demonstrate a partnership our Tūpuna (ancestors), Tangata (people) and Tamariki (children) will be proud of. Power companies can switch off electricity for vulnerable whānau who aren't able to pay their power bill and turn others away if they have struggled to pay their bills in the past. With 17% of people saying they had trouble paying their power bill last year (Consumer NZ, 2020), hundreds of thousands of Kiwis are vulnerable to going without sufficient power to meet their needs, not in the future but right now! According to the ICCC report (2019), if the Government’s 100 per cent renewable energy goal is achieved by 2035, the average power costs for households would increase by 14%. And while we stand with the Government’s goal of decarbonising Aotearoa, we want to make sure policy is in place that means no whānau is left behind. If nothing changes, the amount of whānau living in energy hardship will accelerate. We believe money should NOT be a prerequisite to accessing sufficient energy to keep a whānau warm. No one should have the power to deny a parent the ability to feed their tamariki and keep the whare warm and dry. Over the past year, Nau Mai Rā has proven that if whānau are treated like whānau they will pay their bills on time every time, regardless of their credit history. By allowing us the responsibility to take care of power for vulnerable whānau, no New Zealander will be left out in the cold. Let's work together in the spirit of manaakitanga and ensure no whānau is left behind. Your support of this petition could solve power poverty in Aotearoa. Let us look after whānau Nā tō rourou, nā taku rourou ka ora ai te iwi With your food basket and my food basket, the people will thrive Ezra Hirawani Te Āti Haunui-a-Paparangi / Ngāti Rangi / Ngāpuhi / Ngāti Hako / Waikato Tainui Ben Armstrong Ngāti Hine / Waikato Tainui Read Stuff's recent article here for more information: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/125262459/many-of-our-energy-assets-are-built-on-mori-land-so-why-do-mori-disproportionately-endure-power-poverty

We have a crisis. Wellington can be a city built for people – with thriving communities, green spaces, and well designed homes and buildings that improve everyone’s lives. But Wellington’s housing crisis is hurting the people who live here. Decades of inaction mean house prices and rents are out of control, while badly maintained properties rot from underneath us. People are being priced out of the city, spending hours each day commuting while the city sprawls and our emissions rise. This crisis is different for everyone. Migrants, the LGBTQI+ community, and Pacifica & Māori are discriminated against in the rental market. Disabled people have very little choice of accessible homes. Everything is too expensive. We need more homes, but the Council hasn’t listened Last year, the Council asked the public for feedback on its 30-year Spatial Plan to make space for more housing. It didn't go far enough. The housing crisis needs serious long-term solutions like drastically increasing the number of homes. So we told them we needed more townhouses. More apartments. More homes close to where people work, live, and play. We asked them to make it easier to demolish bad quality homes and build new ones by reducing the protections on colonial character houses - these “character” houses are overcrowded, falling apart, and making people sick. They push out the real character: our young people, renters, and creatives who make this city great. The Council didn’t get feedback from everyone in Wellington. They heard a lot from homeowners and people with money who benefit from the status quo. But what about everyone else? 84% of young people (18-24) told the Council they want more housing and demand more ambition. The Council should be listening to the people who are experiencing the housing crisis, not the loud few pulling the ladder up behind them. We are asking the Council to do the right thing. The Spatial Plan should allow Wellington to plan for the future so that new generations of Wellingtonians can share the city we love. But to create that city, we need our Council to act. Now’s our chance. Ngā mihi nui, A City for People, Generation Zero, and Renters United We have come together to achieve a long-term solution to our city’s housing crisis. Contact: [email protected]

The current issue with recruiting and the retention of qualified and professional kapa haka tutors in schools is a serious concern… Tamariki love kapa haka! The number of students who are participating and passionate about kapa haka is growing all the time! The student's knowledge of Te Reo me ona Tikanga Māori and confidence grow as they learn waiata, haka and other skills. We have seen improvements in the attendance and engagement of many students through a good quality kapa haka group. But finding the right people to fulfil that teaching role is a major and ongoing struggle. The Problem for Kura... As a national education priority (NEG 9 and NEG 10), the ability to find affordable, suitable and committed tutors shouldn't be so difficult. Schools are scrambling around every year to find professional tutors. On more than one occasion we have had people commit to tutoring our groups and then pull out in week one, term one! The anxiety this induces when you have up to 140 kids sitting in a hall ready to learn kapa haka is intense! The solution to this has been employing independent professional tutors. However, they are expensive, especially for smaller schools. Furthermore, the pull between priority curriculum areas and funding Māori performing arts is difficult for principals and boards of trustees. Funding is often prioritised to literacy and numeracy, science and technology, PE and LEOTC (NEG 5). The responsibility for funding Māori Performing Arts is a choice that should not be on the heads of individual principals and boards. As we are bound by Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Article Two), to protect this taonga and this should be done at a national level. Tutors are hard to find and relying on whānau to do the teaching of kapa haka is neither a respectful nor a sustainable option. Once you do find a volunteer (or someone who does the job for koha) the retention of tutors is difficult, life circumstances change for volunteers, more financially viable opportunities come up, new educational opportunities arise and family commitments, at times, take precedent. Many tutors cannot commit (for free) long-term to a school program. The problem for professional tutors... To run a free-market-style business funded by schools can be difficult for kapa haka experts. Particularly in relation to supporting families and maintaining a start-up business model or in the long term. Tutors can only charge what schools can afford and need to do all the mahi of running a business, understanding finances and organsing amongst many schools. They, therefore, need to have a certain amount of energy, confidence, and know-how to take these risks to manage this effectively. This is not an easy model for many people to set-up and run long term. As stated previously, schools are left to rely on whānau who volunteer or are given koha. This often puts pressure on whānau who have their own work and family commitments. It is not respectful to ask for so much for free, in a world where money is the formal acknowledgment of value. This feels disrespectful and is disheartening, to say the least for those who are asked to give so much for so little. On top of that, some tutors may not have the teaching skills required and it can be a daunting task for a whanau member (or two) to tutor a large group of children. There is usually little or no teaching training for these people and it can be seriously challenging for them. In summary, there are few or no professional and secure career pathways for people skilled in kapa haka. We need to create a system where people can achieve success in a Māori world and then have that honored with financial stability and security in the wider community. In short, the current system is not respectful of Māori mahi or the enormous value and importance placed on kapa haka by our tamariki. The schools are doing the best they can to fill this gap, but it shouldn't be this difficult to honour our commitments to Te Reo me Ona Tikanga Māori, me, Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We are calling that the taonga of kapa haka is protected through supported career pathways, that our tamariki have no obstacles to participation and that the Government and Iwi in partnership have a discussion and make a plan to implement structures for a long term tautoko of kapa haka. So join us to fight for paid professional kapa haka tutors in every school!

Fulfilling Te Tiriti o Waitangi responsibilities requires partnerships between Maori and the Crown. This forms the basis of the amendments to the Local Electoral Act 2001 which allows all local government authorities to establish Māori wards or constituencies to provide for Māori representation. A Māori ward can give Mana Whenua a rightful seat at the council table as a Te Tiriti partner. The council that represents our entire district currently does not have any Māori sitting alongside them yet they continue to make decisions for Māori. This does not provide for tino rangatiratanga. We want fair representation for all people in the Manawatū District. Matauranga Māori, Tikanga Māori - Māori knowledge, customs and perspectives are hugely beneficial in decision making when considering community care, sustainable land use, conservation practices, climate crisis responses, enterprise, economic development, tourism, and the protection of vulnerable members of society. Their inclusion at Council through Māori representatives is an expression of the active protection of taonga (Māori treasures) and leads to better kawanatanga or good governance. When engaging with Council, Iwi have always demonstrated their position and willingness to be inclusive and considerate of all members of the wider community. The councillors who voted no or wish to defer Māori wards stated a number of perspectives, but the common reason was the 2018 referendum to overturn the 2017 decision to establish Māori wards. In February, the law that enabled this referendum and others like it was thrown out by Government, as it was discriminatory & racially biased. It is therefore discriminatory & racially biased to use this referendum as an argument. In addition, that referendum had a voter turnout of 44.47%, meaning the 'majority' who voted NO to a Māori ward represents just 34% of voters in the Manawatū District. 66% of our District did not offer their opinion in that referendum. Let our Mayor and Deputy Mayor, who voted to defer on 6 May and intend to vote again to defer on 20 May, know that you want them to CHANGE THEIR VOTE! ***This petition has been set up by an individual, to gather additional support from wider constituents in support of the Iwi collective Te Kotui Reo Taumata. While this petition is not administered by Te Kotui Reo Taumata, their representatives have contributed to the content of this page. The heading photo on this page is attributed to Stuff.co.nz*** Please only sign this petition if you are a resident or on the electoral roll in the Manawatū District. Check this map to see the District Boundary https://maps.mdc.govt.nz/IntraMaps90/default.htm Media Links Scoop Iwi collective walk away from Partnership with Manawatū District Council until further notice https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2105/S00071/te-kotu Stuff https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/300304206/hundreds-of-people-join-historic-march-for-mori-wards-in-manawat Waatea News Manawatū Council faces backlash https://www.waateanews.com/waateanews/x_news/MjcyODE/Paakiwaha/Manawatu-Council-faces-Maori-backlash Waatea News Manawatu iwi give council taste of backlash https://www.waateanews.com/waateanews/x_story_id/MjcyNzY=/Manawatu-iwi-give-council-taste-of-backlash Stuff Manawatū iwi to protest council over Māori wards decision https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/300303747/manawat-iwi-to-protest-council-over-mori-wards-decision Waatea News Manawatū council vote slight on mana whenua https://www.waateanews.com/waateanews/x_news/MjcyNTY/Paakiwaha/Manawatu-council-vote-slight-on-mana-whenua Scoop Manawatū District Council Defers Māori Ward Decision Until 2023 https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK2105/S00141/manawatu-district-council-defers-maori-ward-decision-until-2023.htm Stuff Māori Wards vote may be close as Manawatū councillors split over issue https://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/300276382/mori-wards-vote-may-be-close-as-manawat-councillors-split-over-issue The Daily Blog & Scoop Manawatū District Council Must not defer Māori Wards to 2024 - Green Party https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2021/05/12/manawatu-district-council-must-not-defer-maori-wards-to-2024-green-party/ RNZ Hundreds protest Māori ward delay in Manawatū https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/442339/hundreds-protest-maori-ward-delay-in-manawatu Stuff Māori kicked in the guts over failed Māori ward bid in Manawatū https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/300300994/mori-kicked-in-the-guts-over-failed-mori-ward-bid-in-manawat Scoop Local authorities urged no to wait for education on Māori wards https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2105/S00093/local-authorities-urged-not-to-wait-for-education-on-maori-wards.htm Stuff Māori ward in Manawatū District only pathway to an inclusive democracy https://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/opinion/300303919/mori-ward-in-manawat-district-only-path-to-an-inclusive-democracy Te Ao Māori news Manawatū Council vote against Māori wards dishonours Treaty partnership - Teanau Tuiono https://www.teaomaori.news/manawatu-council-vote-against-maori-wards-dishonours-treaty-partnership-teanau-tuiono Te Ao Māori news Mayor backs down in face of hikoi protesting Māori wards delay in Manawatū Te Pāti Māori backs hikoi protesting Māori wards delay in Manawatū https://www.teaomaori.news/mayor-backs-down-face-hikoi-protesting-maori-wards-delay-manawatu Scoop Hikoi to Manawatū District Council gains momentum https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK2105/S00206/hikoi-to-manawatu-district-council-gains-momentum.htm Te Karere Response to Manawatū District Council’s deferral of Māori wards https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1t6SBlHxOg Waatea news Manawatū chokes on Māori ward decision https://www.waateanews.com/waateanews/x_news/MjcyNDc/Paakiwaha/Manawat%C5%AB-chokes-on-M%C4%81ori-ward-decision

The current emblem was introduced in 1946 and represents the colonial history of our city as a settler military post in the 19th century. It does not align with the Treaty of Waitangi and Maaori representation in our current emblem is non-existent. Our emblem does not depict any partnerships and the crown is the main overpowering feature in the emblem. It does not hold any in-depth cultural, metaphorical or traditional meanings and is an emblem that was introduced almost 100 years ago!!! Kirikiriroa means 'long strip of cultivated land' and it represents the abundance of people who shared, took care, and lived off the land before colonisation. Gradually, like our city name or street names around our city Hamilton was overpowered by European settlers who made Kirikiriroa their own. Updating our city emblem and discussing it's relevance is important because it currently represents and supports years of our city’s colonial, traumatic history where indigenous people had land taken, were oppressed, and even murdered. Some people might think something small like an emblem doesn't matter, but the history and significance behind something so small has been the meaning of life or death for many. Today, Hamilton is the youngest city in New Zealand and one of the most multicultural cities with more than 160 ethnicities. We are a vibrant young & developing city and we need an emblem that reflects this! We want an emblem that we are proud of. We want an emblem that we understand and can relate to. We want an emblem that represents maaori, our city, and our diverse multicultural population. We want our city emblem to represent 'Kirikiriroa'. We want to have an emblem that we can share with pride! Sign to call on our Council to update City Emblem! To be able to present the petition the Council requires over 150 signatures with postal addresses, to show signatories are residents. Your address will be supplied to Council but not be made public.

The following excerpt is taken from our open letter. On April 15, Stuff published a detailed case study of one woman’s treatment within New Zealand courts. This poignant story shows state power and ignorance colliding to harm a vulnerable woman: a woman who should have been able to rely on the state and the courts to understand her situation and protect her. Instead, it wrongly criminalised her, causing further harm and suffering. Mrs P was a party in Family Court proceedings. She provided a stack of evidence to the court that she had been abused by her former partner. In one of the documents she submitted in evidence, she twinked out private information that she did not want before the court. She initialled the change. In what was arguably, at worst, a misdemeanour ‘lay person’s redaction error’, the trial judge accused her of lying to the court. He appeared to take umbrage, bullying her during the trial and finding in favour of her former husband who had abused her. Not only did the trial judge disbelieve the woman had been abused, saying “I am in no doubt that she was not abused by [her ex-husband]”, he referred her to the police on the grounds of perjury. The case was prosecuted by the Crown, and Mrs P was convicted, narrowly missing a custodial sentence. Eventually the Court of Appeal overturned Mrs P’s conviction, but not before she had served a sentence of one year on home detention; been ordered to pay $400,000 in costs, resulting in bankruptcy; and lost her job as a teacher. The Government has refused compensation. The story highlights multiple occasions where the system has failed Mrs P – as a woman who suffered domestic violence, she was further harmed by the very institutions that women are urged to turn to for help. The treatment of Mrs P within both the Family Court and the District Court is a stinging indictment of the operations of our courts, and some of the judges and lawyers who operate within them. The detailed revelations about how Mrs P was treated in the Family Court are particularly significant, because such information is rarely provided for public scrutiny. Her mistreatment by the courts may seem extreme. However, core elements of this case resonate strongly with what advocates tell us about women’s and children’s experiences in the Family Court, and with what some of us know from our own practice and/or research. That is, the Family Court is currently unsafe for too many women who have experienced violence and abuse from their male partners, and for children who are subject to violence and abuse from their fathers or father-figures. In 2018, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), as part of its four-yearly review of New Zealand, was so concerned at the treatment of women and children in the Family Court, it recommended that there be a Royal Commission of Inquiry held. In March 2021, in its midterm review of New Zealand’s progress on that recommendation, CEDAW stated that the Government’s review into the Family Court failed to address the root causes of the problems and the issues of safety for domestic violence victims who come to the Family Court. CEDAW has recommended that the New Zealand Government “take appropriate action to address the root causes of the drawbacks for women, the obstruction of justice for women and the hindrances to their safety inherent in the family court system.” And furthermore, CEDAW has recommended that the state “operate the legislative and structural changes necessary to make the family courts safe and just for women and children, in particular in situations of domestic violence.” It is not good enough for New Zealand to say it is committed to preventing family and sexual violence, and to tell our population ‘It’s Not OK’, when the very courts many women will need to turn to for protection and for care-of-children arrangements are at risk of turning on them in their time of need. We continue to be deeply troubled by stories that mothers involved in the Family Court system risk being treated as vindictive and ‘alienating’ if they disclose violence and abuse they or their children suffer. Many of us have heard from women desperate because they have been warned that if they don’t stop raising concerns related to abuse of their children, they risk losing their children. We are writing to you, Prime Minister, with the following requests, because although the most excessive misuse of power in Mrs P’s case was in the Family Court, the problems rippled out more widely, implicating the District Court, the High Court and Crown Solicitors, and with ramifications for the safety and success of New Zealand’s family violence prevention messages. These problems, therefore, need to be tackled in each of these places, but with an overview of the interconnectedness of the problems. --------------------------------------------------------------

We all celebrated to hear of the legislation being enacted that bans conversion therapy after years of campaigning by the LGTBQI+ community. However the win does not go far enough. The same underlying techniques of torture and dehumanising coercion continue to be applied to autistic children. Any legislation which is so selective as to ban only “conversion therapies” that target a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression is in itself discriminatory. If a government moves to ban the mistreatment of one minority in a particular manner but neglects similar mistreatment of other minorities it is more than negligent, it is actively legitimising prejudice. If a ban were to go through with specific reference to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression alone, it would be much like an anti-racism bill that protected black people but left all other people of colour out in the cold. Instead of acknowledging anxiety and depression as the result of the highly stressful environments and dehumanising treatments that autistic children are exposed to, many "autism professionals" prefer to treat autism as the 'problem', and then use medication as treatment. The message to autistic people is very clear: 'you are not normal and we need to fix you'. This is wrong. The University of Auckland and other institutions in New Zealand still teach ABA. In Aotearoa certified ABA practitioners continue to advertise their services for children with “compliance” problems. Many autistic people who have been subjected to ABA and similar “treatments” end up with PTSD. Multiple studies confirm that the suicide rates for autists are are more than twice (1.9 to 9.9 times) the rates found in the general population. It is so important that people, and especially parents of autistic children, start listening to the lived experience of autistic adults. Many of us are in our 50s, 60s and 70s. We all started out as autistic children, without formal diagnosis, and without intensive ABA "therapy". We have found our path in life, we've experienced decades of discrimination comparable to the level of discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people 50 years ago, and we have remained autistic throughout. Neurodivergence is at the core of creativity. Autistic people don’t play social games, instead we actively resist them. Autistic people are best understood as the agents of a well functioning cultural immune system within human society. What are conversion therapies? Conversion therapies are “normalisation” therapies rooted in the techniques of torture and dehumanising coercion developed by Ivar Lovaas and Burrhus Frederic Skinner. The same techniques that are used by ABA therapists have been named as abusive in domestic abuse prevention legislation. Dehumanising abuse of all children, including autistic children, must be made illegal. The actual results that are achieved with conversion therapy include depression, PTSD, suicidal ideation, social expectations that are toxic for autistic people, as well as environments that create sensory overload. Why do we propose to consider a ban of all forms of conversion therapy? Conversion therapy never achieves its stated goal of “normalising” LGBTQIA+ or autistic children. Instead there is overwhelming evidence that conversion therapy results in extreme levels of irreversible trauma. The autistic population is much smaller than the LGBTQIA+ community, but the intersection between the two is significant. Compared to the general population, autists are 7 to 8 times more likely to identify as LGBTQIA+. It makes perfect sense to tie legislation around the protection of LGBTQIA+ rights to the protection of the rights of autistic people. What practices would need to be considered as part of a ban? Of the many labels used “Applied Behaviour Analysis” (ABA) and "Positive Behaviour Support" (PBS) are the most common ones. It is important to focus on all “therapies” that are rooted in the techniques of torture and dehumanising coercion developed by Ivar Lovaas and Burrhus Frederic Skinner. This initiative is part of the global Ban Conversion Therapies project (https://autcollab.org/projects/ban-of-conversion-therapies/), which keeps track of all the bans of conversion therapies that are already in place and all initiatives towards bans. More background information has been compiled by the Autistic Collaboration Trust in collaboration with the autistic community in New Zealand on the following web page: https://autcollab.org/2021/03/10/banning-autistic-conversion-therapy-in-nz/.