Aotearoa should be a place in which every child’s needs are being met. A country where children are not punished for the systemic inequalities inflicted upon them. Our young people deserve equal opportunities. They deserve to grow up in a society where they are empowered to build good lives for themselves and given the essential support they need to thrive. This is why we are saddened to hear of the Government's plan to reestablish the youth offender boot camps [2].  Research has shown the ineffectiveness of Youth offender boot camps and the effects they will disproportionately have on marginalised communities, creating further harm [1]. Youth offender boot camps are a band-aid approach that completely ignores the systemic roots of harm. We cannot continue to punish children for the failings of society. We are asking the Government NOT to reestablish youth offender boot camps.

Wayne Brown needs to reconsider the options available and provide a fair budget that is adequately researched. A cost benefit analysis of any cuts to community services should be provided within consultation documents, as well as a clear understanding by the council of exactly what initiatives and programmes will be impacted. Council must explore options to increase revenue alongside carefully executed budget cuts. We urge Mayor Brown to meet with community leaders to discuss a range of alternative options.

People in Aotearoa want to see a fairer future where everyone has the resources they need to build the lives they want for themselves and their families. We’re calling on you to take these seven steps to unlock people and whānau from the constraints of poverty: 1. Increase core benefit levels to the standard of liveable incomes 2. Raise the minimum wage to the living wage 3. Increase the Disability Allowance 4. Overhaul relationship rules 5. Remove sanctions 6. Wipe debt owed to the Ministry of Social Development 7. Improve supplementary assistance and urgent grants

Kia Ora Te Whanau, We need funding to provide professional kapa haka tutors in our schools. Not only do students need reliable and trained kapa haka tutors. But our talented kapa haka experts need a career pathway and a financially viable career. Please support this proposal for the funding of two full-time tutors allocated between 10 (ish) kura (schools), or Kāhui Ako, throughout Aotearoa. These professionals would work in teams and be of diverse genders (especially for larger schools and schools with older students). In addition, we must have specific, financially viable, and effective training courses (which include a teaching component) developed with tertiary institutions. We have talented people, so let's offer them a viable career and a way forward through honoring kapa haka as the taonga it is! For further support please refer to Ka Hikitia outcomes especially Ta Tangata, Te Kanorautanga, Te Tuakiritanga and Te Rangatira Tanga.

We call upon the responsible Ministries and their respective Ministers to decline Application FTA229 and refer it to the standard Resource Management Act (RMA) consent process, where robust environmental assessment, public participation, and mana whenua engagement are properly upheld. Submitted on 3 May 2024, the application to build a 250-berth marina is fundamentally flawed and fails to meet key eligibility criteria required for referral and approval through the Fast-Track process. It also breaches legal, environmental, and cultural requirements under both the Fast-Track Approvals Act and the Resource Management Act (RMA). It further ignores matters critical to our community, our vulnerable environment, our cultural landscapes and our way of life in the Eastern Bay of Islands. The proposed Waipiro Bay Marina development is based on a flawed and misleading economic assessment. The application inflates projected demand and misrepresents existing data. Currently, Northland is home to nine marinas with a combined total of 1,575 berths. An additional marina is under construction in Whangārei, which will initially provide space for 117 vessels, with spaces still available. Also, according to NRC data, 46 berths are currently vacant and available across Northland, including 20 at the nearby Ōpua Marina-just a 49–56-minute drive from Waipiro Bay. Many of these berths remain vacant throughout the year and are being offered at discounted rates due to persistently lower demand than previously anticipated, which is a clear regional trend the proposal fails to acknowledge. In addition to marina availability, Waipiro Bay already accommodates 62 moorings, with neighbouring Parekura Bay holding a further 69. These have been introduced incrementally over time, allowing the local community and natural environment to adapt without overwhelming visual or ecological disruption. By contrast, the proposed 250-berth marina would nearly triple the current number of vessels in the area—from 131 to 381—an increase of over 80%. This would result in a sudden and dramatic escalation in boat traffic and density, significantly altering the visual landscape and placing immense pressure on the marine ecosystem. The adverse environmental consequences—particularly to biodiversity, water quality, and the ecological balance of the inlet—would be immediate and long-lasting. Critically, the application also bypasses public consultation, Māori landowners of whenua Māori around the proposed development site and inlet, denying local residents and mana whenua the opportunity to meaningfully participate in decisions about the future of this coastal taonga. It disregards Māori rights and interests protected under Section 7 of the Fast-Track Approvals Act, including obligations relating to Treaty settlements and recognised customary rights. Furthermore, the proposal fails to meet the criteria outlined in Section 22 of the Fast-Track referral criteria of the Act, which require projects to demonstrate clear and significant national or regional benefits and alignment with strategic priorities, such as support for primary industries (Section 22 (2) (v)). Notably, the proposed marina site is located within an aquaculture exclusion zone—where aquaculture operations are not permitted—placing it in direct conflict with established regional planning provisions.  We call for this proposal to be declined under the Fast-Track process and instead referred to the standard Resource Management Act (RMA) consent pathway, where robust environmental scrutiny, public participation, and mana whenua engagement are guaranteed. The proposed development does not address local iwi and hapū concerns and does not consider the potential impacts on local hapū and Iwi in accordance with the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act (MACA). If Application FTA229 is referred by the Minister to an expert panel under Schedule 2 of the Fast-Track Approvals Act and subsequently approved, the Government risks breaching multiple legal and constitutional obligations. These include statutory duties under the Resource Management Act, particularly those relating to environmental protections, planning consistency, and public participation (Section 6 (a, b, e & f), Sections 12 & 17). It would also contravene key provisions of the Fast-Track Approvals Act itself—specifically Section 7, which upholds Māori rights, Treaty settlements, and recognised customary interests, and Section 22, which requires that projects demonstrate clear, significant, and regionally or nationally beneficial outcomes aligned with strategic priorities. Furthermore, proceeding with this application in its current form would be inconsistent with the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, including active partnership, meaningful participation, and protection of our taonga. It would override existing regional planning instruments—such as aquaculture exclusion zones—without proper due process, setting a dangerous precedent for coastal development and undermining the integrity of New Zealand’s environmental and planning framework.

We, the people of Vailoa, Palauli are coming together to contest the sale of the land and property and demand its return to the village of Vailoa, Palauli. 🌏 Background of the "Lands" in Contest - Vailoa, Palauli Vailoa village located in the district of Palauli in Savaii Island - Samoa. It is the birth ground of Afu Aau, holds one of the oldest historical sites in the Pacific "Pulemelei". This land has been contested and fought over in a series of court cases between the current landowner Nelson Properties Limited and the people of Vailoa, Palauli village. 1872 - Land was illegally sold to one Frank Wilson, then to Moors then to Nelsons. Many Court cases that had developed between the Nelsons and the people of Vailoa, Palauli, outcome Vailoa, Palauli lost and Nelson now has full ownership of these properties. Purpose of this Petition These properties are now for Sale under the current owners' Nelson Properties Limited in Samoa http://www.nelsonpropertieslimited.com . These lands are our heritage and identity, the lands of our ancestors. We seek help from our people, here and aboard, to use this platform to hear our voices and make our concerns VALID. To make the lives of our children and their children VALID, to make the lives of our ancestors VALID, to make the pursuit of our people who had fought and failed still VALID. These lands are our faasinomaga, they are part of who we are. We, the people of Vailoa, Palauli are coming together to CONTEST THE SALE OF THE PROPERTY AND DEMAND ITS RETURN TO THE VILLAGE OF VAILOA, PALAULI. What can you do to help this cause? Sign the Petition. Make your stance with the people of Vailoa Palauli in pursuit to STOP the sale of their lands and for the Nelson Properties Limited to return these lands to the people of Vailoa, Palauli. Finally we ask also the Nelson Properties Limited to do the honourable thing, if you represent the true fa'asamoa and the true respect of the Samoan culture, please return these lands to its people - the people of Vailoa, Palauli

We call on all those who aspire to govern our country to have the courage to make the big changes needed NOW to build a peaceful, just and innovative society. One that will help us survive climate chaos and overseas instability, leaving no one behind.

Ōwhiro Bay is one of the most beautiful places in Wellington, with the worst bus services in the city. Support our small but vibrant community in calling for better bus services to help us be connected with the rest of the city. As a small community of just over 2,000 people in the south of Wellington, we are not provided the bus services a suburb of our size requires. The current services provided by Metlink, and the Greater Wellington Regional Council have done in the past and continue today, significantly underdeliver and under-represent our suburb.  We are trying to get community support to show Metlink that there is a large demand for bus services in Ōwhiro Bay, so they increase the number of buses that service the suburb. We are calling on Metlink to adopt the 8 recommendations in the Better Buses Report: Recommendation 1: Revert all school-only bus stops to public ones • Currently, just under 40% of all Ōwhiro Bay’s bus stops are exclusively for School Buses, including all the bus stops on the main street, Happy Valley Road. • Important community locations such as the School and Community garden are located on Happy Valley Road and are unable to be serviced by bus routes due to these stops being school bus only. • Reverting them back to public bus stops will allow for more access to bus routes, as well as more buses going through the suburb. Recommendation 2: Route 1 Extension • The level of bus services in Ōwhiro Bay needs to, at minimum, double in order to get up to a level that is proportional to the population. • Route 1 is a high-frequency service that operates close to Ōwhiro Bay. Extending it to cover the suburb every second service, will not severely impact its frequency, but will provide more services to Ōwhiro Bay. Recommendation 3: More Route 39’s • Route 39 is the peak-hours direct Route to Ōwhiro Bay. It currently sees 8 daily services, with four each in the morning and evening. This is the lowest frequency direct Route in the entire network. • Increasing the number of services of Route 39 will enable more residents to catch the bus to-and-from work.  Recommendation 4: Consistent Route 29 Schedule • Currently, the schedule of Route 29 is between 20-60 minutes, leading to significant uncertainty about when the bus will arrive. • Ensuring a 30-minute frequency, will bring consistency and trust back to the main off-peak Route that services the suburb. Recommendation 5: Removal of Short Runs • Route 29, has 4 services which start/stop in Island Bay, neglecting Brooklyn and Ōwhiro Bay. These services occur during morning peak and evening hours and cause lots of disruption to residents who might need to get to suburbs such as Newtown. • These “short runs” make no sense and only disrupt commuters. Removing them will ensure that all services of Route 29 complete their full routes. Recommendation 6: Route 29 Loop Service • Currently, it is impossible to get a reliable journey into the city centre during off-peak hours. As Route 29 stops in Brooklyn, commuters are left waiting for Route 7 in order to transfer to the City, however, this is frequently unreliable. • Extending Route 29 to the Wellington Station, creating a loop service, will give constant and consistent travel options to the city centre for residents not just of Ōwhiro Bay, but also Brooklyn and Southgate. Recommendation 7: New Brooklyn-Kilbirnie Route • In the current bus network, no bus route connects the southern suburbs with the eastern suburbs, despite this type of Route being considerably popular with Brooklyn, Ōwhiro Bay, and Island Bay residents. • Creating a route travelling from the Brooklyn hub to the Kilbirnie hub will ensure quick and direct access to the eastern suburbs for residents of the southern suburbs. Recommendation 8: Ensuring that disproportionate Bus services can not occur in the network ever again • Having been ignored by Metlink, being victim to mass suspension and cancellations on a scale unseen anywhere else in Wellington City, and receiving vastly disproportionate levels of bus services when compared to other similar suburbs, the Bus service in Ōwhiro Bay is in dire circumstances. • Creating institutional remedies to ensure that this level of poor bus services can never happen again, will create a trustworthy bus network not just in Ōwhiro Bay, but throughout the entirety of Wellington City. Read our full Report here: https://betterbusesowhirobay.wixsite.com/home