Tēnā koutou Ministers of the New Zealand Government, We would like to begin this letter by acknowledging the amazing mahi from essential workers and iwi, as well as the leadership taken by the Government in combating the COVID-19 health crisis. We’ve united and worked together to take care of our friends, families, and communities. Next, we must turn towards planning for our future as we move out of this critical situation. On September 27 2019, 170,000 New Zealanders took to our streets. The crowds stood in solidarity, flew their flags, chanted in unison and demanded climate justice. Together, we formed the largest protest in New Zealand's history. Today, School Strike 4 Climate and 4 Tha Kulture is calling on the Ministers of the New Zealand Government to respond to COVID-19 in a way that benefits both the people and the planet. The decisions being made today will play a crucial role in determining the state of tomorrow. We need to do this right. This is a critical fork in the road when it comes to meeting or not meeting the IPCC’s target of a 50% reduction in emissions by 2030. It is crucial that we take the right path to keep warming below 1.5°C and avoid the most catastrophic effects of the climate crisis. We need to listen to the indigenous voices that are too often excluded from the conversation. Colonial systems are at the root of the climate crisis so Mātauranga Māori and indigenous knowledge need to be at the forefront of our response to COVID-19. The Māori value of kaitiakitanga must guide our actions going forward. It is crucial that we collaborate with iwi, hapū and our Pacific neighbours to create a ‘new normal’ that benefits both all of the people and the planet. Better yet, the path to creating this ‘new normal’ will bring about the exact kind of stimulus the economy so desperately needs right now. By investing in zero-carbon infrastructure and sustainable businesses, we will create thousands of productive, green jobs while also improving our resilience when it comes to facing the climate emergency. Let's use this opportunity to create a better future. Let’s decolonise and honour the terms of te Tiriti o Waitangi. Let's fund accessible and affordable public transport and create walkable cities. Let's switch to 100% renewables and improve the energy efficiency of public housing and buildings. Let’s rapidly transition away from fossil fuels and invest in incentives to steer ourselves onto the right path. Let's support eco-friendly startups and empower New Zealand to become a world leader in innovative, sustainable agriculture. And let's ensure that any bailouts made come with an enforced commitment to emissions reduction goals. It would be a mistake to emerge from this crisis still clinging to the past, so we are urging the Government to invest in a better future, not a bigger failure. Our success so far has come from making saving lives our top priority. It is vital that we do not disregard this approach. Responding to COVID-19, the money needs to be spent on safeguarding our future, not undermining it. “Te toto o te tangata, he kai; te oranga o te tangata, he whenua.” While food provides the blood in our veins, our health is drawn from the land. You can read our full letter to the PM and Ministers here: https://www.schoolstrike4climate.nz/open-letter

As the next government prepares to take office, we want our newly elected leaders to put an urgent issue on the top of their agenda - child poverty. We heard very little about poverty during the election campaign, but the pressures are real and growing for many families. We are urging the next government to meet with the organisations on the frontline of child poverty before Christmas.

We urgently call on the Government to stop the repeal of the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act. We implore that they stop prioritising profit over our people and demand full implementation of the Smokefree Legislation as it stands, with Māori leadership as one of its top recommendations for action. We expect that the three measures introduced in 2022 are carried out in their entirety, including the: - Denicotisation of cigarettes to 0.8mg/g - Reduction of tobacco outlets from 6000 to 600 - Implementation of a smokefree generation policy

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Deputy Prime Ministers David Seymour and Winston Peters, Minister for Disability Issues Louise Upston, We, the undersigned, urge the New Zealand Coalition Government to acknowledge and apologise for the harm inflicted upon disabled people and their families since 18 March 2024. March 18, 2025, marks one year since the government began disrupting, removing and restricting supports for disabled tamariki and adults. It also marks one year since former minister Penny Simmonds falsely claimed in Parliament that parents and carers of disabled tamariki were misusing disability support funding. Her repeated public accusations were an attack on a vulnerable community. Her words caused families and carers shame, distress, and trauma.  This Coalition Government has forced disabled children and adults, along with their families, to endure untrue claims and cruel jibes. Alongside this, the Coalition Government has also limited the resources and support available to disabled people. It remains unclear if or when support will be returned to disabled communities. In wrongly suggesting parent carers were taking funds from disabled people, this government tried to create a wedge between disabled adults and parents and carers of disabled tamariki. This has not worked - the community is united. Disabled adults are not receiving increased or better support as a result of the removal of flexibility for carer supports, in fact - there have just been more restrictions on the use of all flexible supports, disrupting disabled adults' independent lives as much as those of their families.  In the current environment the NASC service acts as fund manager for the government, rather than in partnership with disabled people and families. NASC services must be sufficiently funded to meet the current and future need of the disabled community, but also they must act for, and with, disabled people and their families not as gatekeepers for those needing support. Parent carers of disabled tamariki have said the impacts of the March 18 changes have disrupted their family’s security, ended relationships, and instilled a persistent fear that remains. They say they are unable to plan for the future and feel in limbo, lost, and unsupported. There is now a mental health crisis for parents of disabled tamariki with higher-than-usual incidences of anxiety, suicidality and distress.  Rates of mental distress in Aotearoa continue to climb. International research shows that parents of disabled tamariki live with higher than normal incidences of anxiety, suicidality and distress.  Uplifting wellbeing and increasing supports to reduce prevalence of psychological distress and suicidal behaviour for this carers is crucial. The decision to end new or planned residential places has had an enormous impact on disabled tamariki, adults and their parents, despite this Government's denials. The decision to place a loved one into residential care is one of the most difficult faced by families. As published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, the decision is often made only when severe difficulties are being experienced, and family carers develop burnout and mental health challenges. Before addressing issues of insufficient funding, inadequate services, and shortfalls in the workforce, this coalition government must take responsibility for its role in perpetuating harm.  We call upon the government to do the following: 1. Apologise to disabled adults, and their families and carers for accusations of mismanagement of support funding and acknowledge the harm this has caused. 2. Ensure access to tangible mental health support for disabled adults and their families. 3. Develop supports and services that work alongside parents and disabled people. Where staff have the skill and experience to listen and support, rather than act as transactional gatekeepers.  Until steps towards repair are taken, attempts at consultation and solutions will be viewed as insufficient and insincere.  The time to apologise is overdue. It must happen now. We await your response and commitment to taking the necessary steps towards healing and justice for disabled people and their families in Aotearoa. 

We call on the "Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction" to recommend that New Zealand make counselling and talk therapy universally available and FREE to ALL Kiwis. Sign the Open Submission to support the call for Free Counselling and Talk Therapy for all Kiwis.

We're asking the NZ House of Representatives to pledge their commitment to the following:  1. Leave no-one behind: Ensure that steps are taken to address digital exclusion and that no-one is left behind or left out because they can’t or don’t wish to engage online.   2. Public services accessible to all: Implement accessibility and inclusion standards for the delivery of public services that include offline channels as part of the proactive design of government service delivery.  3. CAB compensated for cost-shifting: Ensure that the Citizens Advice Bureau is properly funded to meet the demands and cost-shifting that has resulted from government services going online. Add your voice to this call to address digital exclusion!

To The Tumu Kaituna 14 Trustees: • Stop sand mining our whenua and destroying it. You were appointed to protect it but you have failed. • Stop converting our land to general land for selling or securitisation. We don't want to sell it.

We're calling on the Minister to adequately fund GeoNet so they can provide a 24/7 monitoring centre to provide scientifically informed timely and clear advice to New Zealanders immediately after natural disasters like the recent Kaikōura earthquakes and resulting tsunami.

We are calling on you to stop the destruction of Foulden Maar, near Middlemarch in Central Otago, by Plaman Resources Limited. We ask that you reject Plaman Resources Limited’s application to purchase the neighbouring farm (sensitive land), which is currently with the Overseas Investment Office. We ask that you acquire the land currently owned by Plaman Resources Limited and turn Foulden Maar into a scientific reserve under section Section 21 of the Reserves Act 1977. Additionally, we ask that Foulden Maar is classified as an area of outstanding natural features so that it may be protected by section 6(b) of the Resource Management Act.

This petition is the continuation of the petition started by Friends of Pakiri Beach; it has been updated to to announce the support of GreenPeace and the shocking news of 2 new consents that are being applied for by McCallum Brothers. These relate to sand dredging consents 1) In-shore and 2) Mid-shore. They are in addition to the McCallum’s existing 2020 application for 3) Off-shore dredging*. The two new applications are closer to shore and they directly impact the beach and its precious environment. Thank you for your previous support in opposing the first consent. We urgently need your support and action again in two ways;- 1. Please make TWO opposing submissions to the council.- deadline is the 10th Dec 2. Please share the page to others so that they may also submit their opposition and say “no”! Your voice counts, if you have also observed changes to the beach please tell your story through a unique submission or please feel free to copy and paste suggested wording below. Every submission counts and takes only a short amount of time to complete. Best case, please make two separate opposition submissions, being as against each application, below. Using the provided template wording below, it should only take two minutes per submission by clicking on the blue box on the Council’s submission pages, “Make A Submission”. Links to the two Council submission pages; 1) In-Shore consent; https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/have-your-say/have-your-say-notified-resource-consent/notified-resource-consent-applications-open-submissions/Pages/ResourceConsentApplication.aspx?itemId=481&applNum=BUN60352951 2) Mid Shore consent; https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/have-your-say/have-your-say-notified-resource-consent/notified-resource-consent-applications-open-submissions/Pages/ResourceConsentApplication.aspx?itemId=482&applNum=BUN60369079 Information below can be copied and pasted into the three boxes on page 3 of the Council’s online submission process. Box 1; The specific parts of the application to which my submission relates to are; The non complying activity and the form(s) of its exercise. Being the offshore, gross extraction of sand from, and disturbance to, the sea bed, using a (trailing) suction pipe, in the Mangawhai -Pakiri embayment. Box 2; The reasons for my submission are; - causal offshore and onshore adverse environmental effects to: coastal processes, flora, fauna, sea bed, water quality, biodiversity & the onshore beach system - recent science has clarified closure depth, effective sand inputs & the overall annual sediment balance for the near shore Mangawhai Pakiri embayment - the near shore sand system is in annual deficit from effective sand inputs minus total dredging extraction volumes - the beaches have lost significant volumes of onshore sand reserves & are in a critical state - the consent Holder has breached many key conditions of the consent, on and off the water - significant & persistent seabed trenches have been created further offshore by the dredgers, which they never revealed - there are alternative & sustainable sand supply sources - a finite, precious resource as enjoyed by the greater public, is being depleted for private profit - near shore sand dredging is out of step with the Hauraki Gulf, Regional and National directives and Climate Change considerations, protocols and commitments - Auckland Council, via its Coastal Consents unit, is an incompetent and ineffective Regulator - Pakiri is one of the last remaining constant indigenous territories in the Auckland Region Box 3; The decision I would like council to make is; The ending of all dredging in the Pakiri Mangawhai embayment and the non renewal of any consent(s) or amendments thereto