Dear Directors We the under-signed call on you to recognise Martine as a passionate, hard-working, successful, blind New Zealander who has already made a considerable contribution to the World Blind Union, and to enthusiastically support her taking the next logical step and stand for the position of President of that organisation. Martine Abel-Williamson is a totally blind New Zealander who advocates passionately for people with disabilities both here and around the world. Her energy and leadership over more than twenty years has been widely recognised. In 2016 she was awarded the Beamish Memorial Medal, the most prestigious award from Blind Citizens NZ, the primary consumer organisation (Disabled People's Organisation - DPO) of blind New Zealanders. In 2018 she received a Queen's Service Medal (QSM) for services to the disability community. Later that year she received an Attitude ACC Supreme Award "for changing the lives of people with disabilities". You only have to "Google" her to see all the things she does. The World Blind Union (WBU) is the primary global organisation representing the estimated 253 million people world-wide who are blind or have low vision. Martine became active in this organisation in 2007 as one of two New Zealand delegates. Since then, while still working hard for disabled people right here in New Zealand, she has put a lot of her energy into the WBU, advocating at the international level for blind and low vision people to be more included in everyday life throughout the world. She started by advocating for better recognition of the needs of blind and low vision women in developing countries, focusing on our own Asia Pacific Region. Very quickly she took on other truly global projects on issues important to blind people around the world, such as making urban environments more blind-friendly, lessening the impact on blind people from silent cars and e-scooters, and making it easier to travel internationally with a guide dog. In 2016, she was elected to the global position of Treasurer. Martine's international travel expenses have been funded generously by Blind Low Vision NZ, (formerly the Blind Foundation or the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind) New Zealand's main provider of specialist blindness services, with a smaller contribution from Blind Citizens NZ. These are the two member organisations representing New Zealand in the WBU. The cost has been roughly NZ $20,000 per year. Given Martine's energy and enthusiasm for the work, this is a reasonable contribution for a small country like New Zealand to the work of the WBU. This investment brings back much greater returns to New Zealand through Martine's hard work. Martine does not receive any payment for this effort. Last year, Martine sought support from New Zealand to nominate her for the position of President of the WBU, with the encouragement of high profile members of the WBU internationally. This requires both Blind Citizens NZ and Blind Low Vision NZ to agree. The Board of Blind Citizens NZ put forward Martine's nomination as WBU President. However, this nomination has been blocked by your decision with no reason given. We are deeply disturbed by your decision! It absolutely defies the outstanding record of work Martine has done on our behalf. It damages Blind Low Vision NZ's fine reputation as an organisation that supports blind people, and undermines the very principles of the WBU as found in that organisation's Constitution. Your decision prevents blind people in New Zealand from putting forward the candidate selected by our primary DPO and stops people from across the world choosing between Martine and other potential nominees. Martine is well known for her strong empathy for disabled people, particularly blind and low vision women, in developing countries. She is equally at home presenting on our behalf at a comfortable air-conditioned international conference centre, or just sitting and talking to other blind people while sipping fermented mare's milk in a Mongolian yurt. That is why she is an inspirational role model for so many disabled people around the world who dare to dream. They know she is there for them, but also she gives them a sense that they too can succeed. Standing for President is one thing; Martine would still have to do a lot of work to win support around the world. If she is successful, she would make all New Zealand proud. But unless you as the Board of Blind Low Vision NZ change your mind, she will not get that chance. Time is running out as nominations are due in early March. Therefore we call on all of you now to come out into the open and enthusiastically give your full support to Martine as a passionate, hard-working, successful, blind New Zealander - the person that Blind Citizens NZ has nominated as its candidate for WBU President. Let her at least stand in the election.

We demand New Zealand end its involvement in the US and UK-led military operation in the Red Sea which is risking lives and aligns us with US support for Israel’s war on the people of Gaza.[1] We are opposed to NZDF involvement in the Red Sea because it enmeshes NZ with US militarism and Israeli war crimes, it is hypocritical and risky, and has no democratic mandate.

We request the House of Representatives to guarantee the right of Deaf/Hard of hearing voters/candidates to barrier-free Elections by 2020. Therefore we request the House of Representatives to update the Electoral Act 1993 and any relevant legislation to ensure the official languages of New Zealand have the legal means to be fully inclusive of New Zealand's Elections. Make available NZSL Interpreters for Electioneering (take participation in a campaign to be elected to public office - meet the candidates, multimedia election debates, campaign activities). Make available funding for captioning that voters and candidates on all multimedia platforms can use (Television and Internet). Make available access to new technology (video interpreter services) during voting periods at polling booths. Make available funding for NZSL Interpreters and communication supports (hearing loops, captioned content, note-takers) for Deaf/Hard of Hearing members to fully participate in their own choice of party or group annually.

Dear Minister of Health, we applaud your reversal of your decision to provide funding for our most vunerable pepi with pepi pods/wahakura but we would please urge you to roll out a nationwide programme where all families are able to have one of these for their most precious taonga.

We want the government of Aotearoa New Zealand to initiate a bottle deposit scheme to prevent drink packaging waste. This would help stop plastic pollution while building a circular economy. Let’s make it happen!

The permanent exhibit ‘The Treaty of Waitangi: Signs of a Nation’ is deceitful and must be changed with all due haste in order to accurately reflect our history. As a first step, we call for the urgent removal of the illegitimate English Treaty version from its current place of prominence alongside Te Tiriti o Waitangi and for it to be replaced by an accurate English translation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

We are calling on you to support the wellbeing of our communities repealing and replacing the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 to make sure that drug use is treated as a health and social issue. The recent referendum on the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill brought to a head a long overdue public conversation about drugs and shone a light on the stigma and shame that has held back progress on this issue. Although the referendum on that specific law change did not pass, there is clearly a growing consensus from people and communities across all sides of the referendum debate - our current approach to drug law is hurting our communities. Since the referendum results, more people than ever are now in favour of a new approach to drug law, as indicated in a poll conducted earlier this year*. Our laws prevent people accessing help when they need it, and they leave thousands every year with a conviction that impacts on livelihoods, mental health, relationships, travel, housing and education. We urge you to adopt international best practice, which increasingly favours removing all criminal penalties for low-level drug offences. We call on you to overhaul the Misuse of Drugs Act and put in its place a system that puts health and social justice first. The new law should ensure that people are no longer prosecuted for low-level drug offences and are instead offered a pathway into treatment if they need it. We call on you to take this decision in our collective best interest, based on good evidence and a shared vision for a fairer and more equitable society. Let's keep moving on drug law, and take this step forward for the wellbeing of all of our communities. * https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300247798/new-poll-shows-majority-support-for-decriminalising-cannabis-use List of organisations: ActionStation Amnesty New Zealand Auckland City Mission Child Poverty Action Group Dapaanz Drugs, Health and Development Project E Tipu E Rea Hāpai te Hauora Helen Clark Foundation JustSpeak Lifewise Make It Legal MCANZ Mental Health Foundation Māori Law Society National Hauora Coalition New Zealand Medical Association New Zealand Needle Exchange New Zealand University Students Association NZ Drug Foundation People Against Prisons Aotearoa Public Health Association Te Hauora o Turanganui a Kiwa Te Rau Ora Wellington City Mission Wesley Community Action YES 2020 List of individuals: Chester Borrows, QSO, previous MP for the National Party Joe Boden, Professor and Director, Christchurch Health and Development Study, University of Otago Christchurch Dr Fiona Hutton, Associate Professor, Institute of Criminology, Victoria University Wellington Richard Medlicott, Fellowship of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners Doug Sellman, Professor, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago Christchurch

We call on Erica Stanford, Minister of Education and the current government to reinstate the Creative in Schools Programme.  Young people need access to the arts more than ever in this ever-changing world. CiS was a fantastic programme that worked on many levels.  The programme was unexpectedly axed by the government in June 2024, despite consistently positive evaluations, including a 2023 report that stated: "Creatives in Schools provides a powerful example of how to deliver to the school arts curriculum in the 21st century… Creatives in Schools continues to deliver important benefits to ākonga and students, schools, creatives and communities."[1]

We request that Pāremata Aotearoa, New Zealand Parliament supports the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Harm Minimisation) Amendment Bill. This petition will close on the 28th September, 2022. All signatures at that point will be presented to Parliament.

We, the undersigned, call on you to reassess the Sensible Sentencing Group Trust's charitable status and independently investigate the links it has with the Sensible Sentencing Trust in terms of funding and resource sharing for the purposes of non-charitable political lobbying.