India is a land of diversity and pluralism. Of different cultures and religious practices embedded over centuries of existence. India has always welcomed and embraced new people, offering them a home and a space to be free. Multiple invasions and a long imperial rule did not dent her spirit or her soul. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar reflected this deep feeling when he wrote the Constitution of India that came into force in 1950. It clearly outlines India as a sovereign, socialist, secular republic that will secure for all citizens justice, liberty and equality. Earlier last month, the government in power officially approved the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) now the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) The new law could give Indian citizenship to immigrants from three neighbouring countries – unless they are Muslim. The CAA cannot be seen in isolation from the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which the ruling party seeks to implement nationwide. Once excluded from CAA, should any Muslims become excluded from the NRC due to lack of proper documentation, they are condemned to extreme uncertainties and insecurities, thereby making their already de facto secondary-citizen status into a status of de jure non-citizenship or statelessness. In response there have been anti-CAA protests across nine states, including in major cities such as Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and the capital New Delhi, mostly around university campuses. These have turned deadly, with police using brute force, tear gas and lathi charge against peaceful protestors resulting in multiple injuries and deaths. All New Zealanders, Indians of the diaspora and those of Indian origin who believe in India as a secular, democratic republic should stand against this Act, against police brutality and in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in India. Sign this petition and join the resistance against a fascist India. We urgently call on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her government to publicly condemn this human rights violation. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/india-citizenship-bill-muslim-violent-protests-assam-vow-of-court-challenge-today-2019-12-12/

Sand mined from Pakiri Beach is irreplaceable... Yet it is the site of the largest single nearshore sand mining activity in the developed world. No other developed country allows nearshore sand mining – we need your help to stop this madness and take back control of this precious resource, which sustains this beautiful coastline. Sand miner McCallum Brothers (Clevedon Coast Oysters) are seeking to renew their consents to mine vast quantities of sand from the waters off Pakiri Beach and Mangawhai. There are other sustainable sources of sand, but they insist on taking Pakiri’s when all of the other miners have moved to other areas with sustainable sand resources. For this we urgently need your support - please sign and share the petition to say no now! What is sand mining? Sand mining involves extracting sand from the sea floor. Sand mining literally sucks the life out of our sea bed floor, destroying everything in its path and leaving 16km length of dust plumes in its place. With less sand making it onshore, it also causes erosion to dunes and foreshores. How much is being taken? The Dredging has been exercised by four vessels, sometimes operating all at once, working day and night and on public holidays. There are hundreds of dredges per annum. As a sign of their plans a new dredger vessel has been delivered, of double the holding capacity. This is the largest single nearshore dredging activity in the developed world, and these are amongst the largest offshore extraction volumes in the world. It is astonishing to think that even though there are other sustainable sources of sand elsewhere, Pakiri Beach’s sand is mined. Pakiri has paid its dues; it has replenished Auckland’s beaches and provided the raw material for much of Auckland’s development and has endured nearly 100 years of continuous extraction, the longest continuous industrial activity in NZ. Pakiri Beach is a natural treasure. We must protect its glistening white sand, miraculous dunes, precious ecosystems and the rare species that make it their home. We must preserve it for generations to come. Why is it so urgent we stop mining now? - Our sea beds are eroding at rapid rates in the face of rapid sea rises; to remove more sand is reckless. - There is a finite supply of Pakiri Beach’s sand and once it’s gone, it’s gone forever - Pakiri Beach is home to the Fairy Tern, New Zealand's rarest bird of which there are only 40 left - There are other non-erosionary sources of sand, so it’s not necessary to mine Pakiri Beach - Sand mining creates dead zones, killing every living thing in the process on the sea bed - The sea bed community is appreciated as ever more important. - Dredging releases carbon stores ("blue carbon"); it is out of step with these times - Science is revealing new effects; underwater noise pollution and sedimentation plume affects water quality - The dredging is by NZ’s oldest marine reserve, with two new Auckland Reserves are at either end of the beach. Can there be a less appropriate place for dredging? - Erosion to dunes is highly likely, the only question is timing - Locals see changes already (to the mid and rear dunes); exotics are choking the former shifting sands - Seeing what the McCallum’s have done to where they operate eg Karamuramu Island; what hope is there for Pakiri? - NZ is going against the position of the rest of the World. In Norfolk, UK, a 2 million cubic meter sand dune is being created, to guard against future erosion. This is the minimum amount that they wish to extract from Pakiri. The position could not be more different. - In a Year 13 UK geography curriculum text book, Pakiri sand mining is a Case Study of environmental mismanagement. NZ’s Green reputation is being diminished internationally by the dredging at Pakiri. We now live in an era of environmental awareness. Single use plastics bags have been banned, we all now think about and mitigate our environmental impact in everything we do. So why in this environmental era, in Green NZ of all places, allow permits to mine sand, in an intensive, primitive way from precious beaches like Pakiri, when there are alternate sustainable sources? We’re facing more flooding and erosion due to climate change, so sand mining is the last thing we should be doing. Join us in saying 'no' to sand mining. Sign and share the petition and make a difference.

We have a very effective commercial ferry service operation on Lake Wakatipu which is well patronised by locals and visitors alike. As a resident of Kelvin Peninsula, I regularly use the service when heading to the centre of Queenstown. However it cannot continue without a similar subsidy to that which the $2 buses get. The service is scheduled to be shut down at the end of February 2020 to the dismay of the local users: https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/queenstown/lake-ferry-service-wind. Once shut down it will be difficult to resume operation. The Queenstown Lakes Region is facing increasing road congestion caused by exponential growth in local and visitor traffic. Queenstown Lakes District Council, the NZ Transport Agency and the Otago Regional Council have done a great job in moving residents to bus services with a subsidised service which as well as getting cars off the roads, has the added benefit of climate change mitigation. Water transport is potentially one of the most efficient and climate friendly means of transport for the Wakatipu basin. No roading infrastructure required and currently existing jetties are utilised. Plus the ferry is a really beautiful way to travel. As with all public transport, the ferry service must be reliable, frequent and reasonably priced to encourage use. We have a local commercial operator providing an excellent service for a year now but it is not cost effective for them. Queenstown Lakes District Council, the NZ Transport Agency and the Otago Regional Council recognise this but are slow in implementing a long term plan. Allowing an existing ferry service to fail through bureaucratic inertia would do the community a huge disservice and set back the momentum for positive change. As Chair of the Kelvin Peninsula Community Association, I urge the ORC to respond swiftly to this public transport need.

To: Hon Dr Megan Woods, Minister of Housing Cc: Sir Brian Roche, Chair of the Board, Kāinga Ora Cc: Andrew McKenzie, Chief Executive, Kāinga Ora Cc: John Edwards, Privacy Commissioner Dear Minister Woods, Damp, cold, mouldy homes are a silent killer in New Zealand. Every year, poor housing conditions contribute to illnesses like pneumonia which can be fatal. Everyone in New Zealand should have a home that is warm and dry, especially those whose homes are provided by our government. But nobody should have to sacrifice their privacy in order to have a healthy home. Recently, the government ran a pilot which put sensors into state homes to collect home health information. With the pilot completed, they are now formally rolling out a Smart Homes project to many government-owned homes, which will use sensors to measure temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide emissions and information on power usage. This week, Kāinga Ora will finish taking proposals from potential suppliers of home sensors so they can begin installing sensors in their tenant's homes next year, but we believe urgent changes must be made before this happens. Why do changes need to be made? The sensors provide Kāinga Ora with a lot of very personal information, including: - When someone is at home. - How many people are in the home. - If someone has opened a window. - When your curtains are closed or not. This sensor data is owned by Kāinga Ora. As part of their privacy statement, they have said they may share that data with other government agencies, including the Ministry of Social Development who are responsible for welfare and benefit provisions to many Kāinga Ora tenants. Families do not have easy access to either data collected about them and their house, or the insights gained from it. Given much of this home sensor information relates to a family’s health, but is not available to them to see, we believe this is a breach of the Health Information Privacy Code 1994. In addition, Kāinga Ora have only told tenants what measures they are collecting (temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide levels and power use), not what that data tells them (such as how many people are in the house). When combined with the power imbalance between a government landlord and public housing tenants, families may feel pressured to agree to sensors in their home in order to get their damp, mouldy, cold homes fixed, but without understanding just how much privacy they’re giving up. This situation would not be one of genuine, informed, consent. The combination of a lack of transparency and the ownership and sharing of family’s data with other government agencies creates a huge risk that family’s home sensor data will be used to control how whānau use their own homes, from policing how many visitors are in the house at any time, to cutting benefit payments to solo parents perceived to be in relationships, to evicting whānau for claimed overcrowding. The potential for misuse of this data is so high that it should not be available to landlords and this project should not be collecting it. We demand the following immediate action: This project must be stopped. The current process of seeking vendors to provide sensors must be withdrawn. Kāinga Ora must be directed to create a process for replacing it that fully engages tenants, iwi and relevant experts, with the aim of a principled, ethical and legally-compliant outcome. We seek the following changes to the program as part of any revised process: 1. Tenants must own the data generated by them and about them. 2. The data should be treated as medical data and handled under the Health Information Privacy Code 1994 (the “Code”). The purpose of this project is to improve the health of tenants by monitoring their houses and house use, so this should be classified as health data, and managed under the Code. 3. Tenants must be able to see the same data and insights as Kāinga Ora, without barriers. Currently, tenants have to make a request under the Privacy Act to get their information. This is totally unacceptable and a barrier for many people. 4. Immediately abandon use of carbon dioxide (CO2) sensors which can accurately measure how many people are in a house at any time. 5. Cancel use of power consumption sensors.This is exclusively a measure of tenant behaviour, not housing. 6. A complete reset of principles and community engagement. As it stands, the project does not outline any principles. Instead, it only focuses on outcomes for Kāinga Ora. There is no empathy, understanding or even acknowledgement of the potential issues and concerns for tenants. Furthermore, education and empowerment - which are a major part of the ability to make change - are not mentioned. Kāinga Ora must restart and engage meaningfully and honestly with communities, sharing the implications of data collection, and listening and acting on concerns. 7. Honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Kāinga Ora states they want to partner with Māori and iwi, but so far, the project has completely failed to honour Te Tiriti. Whānau have no autonomy over their own data, the technology and potential solutions for this project, and Kāinga Ora have not highlighted any engagement with hapū, iwi or Māori. As a Crown entity, the role of Kāinga Ora is one of a Te Tiriti partner. They must honour this meaningfully. The next phase of this project cannot begin without early engagement with hapū, iwi and Māori. Anything else is against both Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles and the Bill that gives Kāinga Ora its mandate. --- We the undersigned demand Kāinga Ora immediately stop their home sensors project and start again with better ethics, engagement and transparency.

* Lake Rotorua is a taonga as are all the waterways connected to it #TAONGAnotTOILET * Many communities and families still source food from the lake * Serious contaminants will still exist in the treated sewage when it is discharged into the stream that flows into the lake * No lake in Rotorua will be safe if this discharge happens * We must leave a legacy of clean water and air for our mokopuna, Rotorua and Aotearoa * Getting the lake the same legal recognition as a person, will make it more difficult for groups to purposely pollute and disrespect it Te Arawa Lakes Trust says no to treated wastewater in Lake Rotorua, NZ Herald, 4 Dec 2018 https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12170331

We all want to live in a country where children are healthy and thriving. The B4 School Check is an opportunity to provide children and families with the best information on their health. However the BMI test (the Body Mass Index is a measurement which combines a person's weight with their height) is just a tool and on its own does not show if someone is healthy. In fact on its own relying on a BMI test can have negative results. By naming children as 'fat', 'overweight' or 'obese' because they are outside of the ‘correct’ measurements gives them the idea early on that they are judged by how they look, and that weight is a measure of their health. According to the BMI formula, a handful of the All Blacks are obese and the rest are overweight. Weight on its own is no measure of health. Worse than that, this language can plant the seeds that lead to disordered thinking around food and exercise, leading to eating disorders in the future. Eating disorders are the number one cause of mental health-related deaths.[2] We should be publicising body neutrality and promoting body positivity, in contrast to a diet obsessed culture. The BMI test is unnecessary for B4 School Checks and misguides children and parents when looking for healthy solutions. Dietician Lucy Carey, from Christchurch says "Instead, (of BMI tests) we should be taking a universal approach where every family, regardless of the size of their child, could have a conversation with the health professional about healthy living." [3] Please sign to ask the Minister of Health, Hon. David Clark, to remove the BMI from the B4 School Check. 1 - 2 - Anorexia nervosa is the third most common chronic disorder affecting adolescent girls, with the highest mortality rate of all psychiatric disorders. https://www.nzeatingdisordersclinic.co.nz/anorexia-nervosa 3 - https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12289228

The situation for the Uyghur people in China is horrific and urgent. Mass ‘re-education camps’ are now holding at least one million Uyghur people in China, which many are now acknowledging as concentration camps. Thousands of people have vanished. Children are being removed from their parents and being placed in re-education schools. Women are the subject of forced sterilisation. Muslim Uyghur people are unable to practice their religion, associate with each other or travel freely. More and more reports of torture and sexual abuse are emerging from the camps. Uyghurs who have fled their homeland are still not free to speak up on what is happening, as China is enforcing a policy of punishing the families of those who do. Words such as ‘concentration camps’ and ‘ethnic cleansing’ should not be used lightly, but it is now widely acknowledged that this is the reality of the strategy being employed by the Chinese Government on the Uyghur people. Even here in New Zealand, we are aware of harassment and intimidation of the small Uyghur community by the Chinese government. Recently released documents obtained from the Chinese Government show what a pivotal role technologies involving data and artificial intelligence are playing in this mass scale repression and ethnic and religious forced assimilation. That iFlytek is involved in supplying technology to the police of the Xinjiang region, where the Uyghur people live, is not speculation but rather well evidenced and documented. Mass surveillance technology has assisted the Government to identify tens of thousands of people recommended for interrogation or detention in just one week. Massey signed a funding agreement with iFlytek in 2017, a chinese artificial intelligence company worth around $15 billion. The arrangement involves the company funding the salary of an academic who splits their time working at Massey and at iFlytek. The New Zealand Government has joined more than 20 countries in an official letter condemning the Chinese Government's treatment of the Uyghur people. Human Rights Watch has published an extensive reports exposing the complicity of iFlytek in the violence against the Uyghurs. The US has blacklisted the company. MBIE alerted Massey to the blacklisting “so it could consider any implications for itself”, but Massey has not responded. Publicly funded institutions like Massey University have no place working in close collaboration, and sharing new technologies and research, with a company involved in these atrocities. Massey ending this funding agreement would send a signal that the world is watching what is happening to the Uyghur people and will not stand by with complicity. More information: Masseys ties with iFlytek: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/11/26/913921/massey-working-with-chinese-firm-blacklisted-over-human-rights# A quick guide on the situation: https://aucklandpeaceaction.wordpress.com/2019/11/28/hard-to-imagine-mass-repression-of-uyghur-people-by-chinese-government/ More info on the camps and mass surveillance: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/secret-papers-reveal-workings-chinas-xinjiang-detention-camps-191125004212642.html Human Rights Watch report on iFlytek: https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/10/22/china-voice-biometric-collection-threatens-privacy

A creative culture needs critics and forums for discussion about art. NZ Review of Books reviews books published in New Zealand, it is solely dedicated to NZ books and is the only long form print review channel left in NZ. They have been running for nearly 30 years, and their editors estimate they've reviewed 15,000 NZ books in that time. Without funding this journal cannot survive. Without NZ Review of Books, writers, publishers, readers, librarians, booksellers, academics and students lose a vital part of the conversation about NZ literature. We wish to communicate our dismay at the decision Creative New Zealand have made to stop funding the journal New Zealand Review of Books Pukapuka Aotearoa. We ask that Creative New Zealand reconsider this decision. We believe that by deciding not to fund the journal Creative New Zealand is doing harm to the literary arts ecosystem in Aotearoa by removing one of the load-bearing pillars of critical discussion of books and ideas across multiple disciplines. As writers, readers, librarians, booksellers, publishers, academics, students and promoters of New Zealand writing, we rely on journals such as this to inform how we buy, lend, read and talk about our own literature. Our understanding is that Creative New Zealand’s work is to encourage, promote and support the arts in New Zealand for the benefit of all New Zealanders. We believe the decision to stop funding NZ Review of Books undermines this work. It also sends a message that open discussion, debate and critical exploration of the literary arts and the world of ideas are not valued. We sign this statement as a protest against the withdrawn funding and to ask that Creative New Zealand will reinstate it so that NZ Review of Books can continue to publish.

For the reasons above, the following organisations have signed the open letter: ✏ Auckland Action Against Poverty ✏ Child Poverty Action Group ✏ ActionStation ✏ Auckland's Women's Centre ✏ The Aunties ✏ Disabled Persons Assembly ✏ CCS Disability Action ✏ Te Kupenga Whakaoti Mahi Patunga: National Network of Family Violence Services ✏ Mental Health Foundation ✏ FinCap ✏ HELP Sexual Abuse Wellington ✏ Barnardos ✏ Pax Christi

Our wild oceans are places of beauty, the living spaces for countless animal species, and our places of recreation. The Pacific Ocean is not a dumping ground. A South Canterbury-based dairy company is applying for permission to build a 7.5 kilometre-long pipeline to discharge up to 10 million litres per day of wastewater into the Pacific Ocean just south of Timaru. No business should be making profits at the expense of harm to Papatūānuku. Waste systems should be designed within the business and not externalised into the environment. The proposed pipeline would take waste into an area proposed as a protected marine reserve. The South East Marine Protected Area (SEMPA) will stretch from Timaru to Southland and aims to protect the habitat of Hoiho (yellow eyed penguin – threatened, nationally endangered), kororā (little penguin – at risk, declining) and Hectors Dolphin (nationally vulnerable). We ask ECan to reject this proposal and suggest Oceania Dairy uses the latest technology and best environmental practices to treat its waste on site. You can also make a personal submission to ECan here: https://www.ecan.govt.nz/do-it-online/resource-consents/notifications-and-submissions/notified-consents/oceania-dairy-limited/ https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/117493826/oceania-dairy-wants-to-discharge-10-million-litres-a-day-of-treated-wastewater-into-pacific-ocean https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/388982/new-zealand-government-announces-marine-protection-plan-for-coast-of-south-island Photo: Paul Kennedy

We are parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, wider whanau and people who care about the world our children and all children will grow into. Every signature on this letter sends the strong message: co-operative politics over adversarial to keep moving progress forward on climate mitigation. We need this Memorandum of Understanding to allow the political leaders of Aotearoa New Zealand to commit to work together to protect younger generations from the worst effects of climate breakdown. To help our Parliament form strong binding policies and develop trust with all New Zealanders that successive governments will continue to progress climate mitigation and reducing our emissions to net zero without delay. To enable our political leaders to create a different vision for upcoming generations and ensure New Zealand continues to be a world leader in positive change. Our country has a history of stepping up and doing what is needed and inspiring other countries by our example, and we hope that will continue. Thank you, Alicia Hall and Millions of Mothers Please find Our Why and Full Letter here: https://www.millionsofmothers.org/post/calling-for-formal-cross-party-partnership-to-protect-children-from-further-climate-breakdown

Although aviation only accounts for about four percent of all warming activity, it is growing at a rate of five percent each year. This means it is on track to double in 15 years as people in poorer countries become accustomed to the kind of lifestyles westerners have been enjoying for decades. People living in New Zealand are among the worst offenders for greenhouse gas emissions from aviation. There are no currently-viable technologies that can enable people to fly without adversely affecting the climate. In New Zealand the cost of taking a bus or train is very high relative to flying. Flying is so cheap there is no incentive to travel by means which emit less CO2. In Sweden the amount added is very moderate, ranging from $10 to around $60. If you can afford to buy a ticket, you can also afford to pay the tax. Despite the fact that the amount is so small, the effect in Sweden has been very positive, with a decline in flight passengers and rapid growth in train ridership. There has been a significant shift in attitudes and these are outcomes we need in New Zealand as well. Each of you holds a portfolio which will either be impacted by climate de-stabilisation, or is directly linked to taxing aviation. Please bring in an Aviation Tax now.