Successful Campaigns

May 2021 After months of campaigning we welcome the news that New Zealand will support temporarily relaxing patents on COVID 19 vaccines. New Zealand joins the vast majority of member states at the World Trade Organisation as supporters of a proposal that seeks to ramp up the production of vaccines and ease distribution in the Global South.

This petition was delivered in July 2020: https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/122241314/30000strong-petition-to-make-matariki-a-public-holiday-moves-onto-next-stage. In September the Labour Party joined the Green and Māori parties in confirming they would make Matariki a public holiday if in government. Of course, it is not only this petition that led to Labour’s announcement. Many Māori over many years have been working for Matariki to be given the recognition it deserves. The first public holiday for Matariki will be 24 June 2022! https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/future-matariki-public-holiday-dates-revealed

December 17, 2020 was a very significant day for our tūpuna and whānau of Makaurau Marae, for the Ihumātao papakāinga and for the iwi and hapū who whakapapa to this whenua. The Crown announced it will acquire the contested land from Fletcher and activate a process to determine its future.

19 September: The annual refugee quota will lift from 1000 to 1500 by 2020, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced! https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/107203279/Refugee-quota-lifting-to-1500-by-2020

1 Feb 2021: The Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced she will introduce new legislation that will remove the ability to petition and block Māori wards on Councils who wish to have them. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/changes-to-fundamentally-unfair-process-to-make-way-for-mori-wards The legislation will be retrospective to allow the councils which have voted for Māori wards in the last few months to not have to face referendums. It will give other councils around Aotearoa until May to decide whether to introduce a Māori ward in time for the council elections in 2022. From next year our councils will have better Māori representation, make better decisions with better outcomes, and stronger connections to local hapū. Our hearts are with each and every person who has pulled it into reality.

March 2020: This week we achieved abortion law reform, largely because of the support you and the rest of the country have shown toward reproductive rights through polls, demonstrations, lobbying efforts, and petitions like this one.

15 May 2018: It's been announced this morning that funding has been restored for the 'Growing Up in NZ Study', the biggest longitudinal study about growing up in NZ. Katie Tuck is a parent of one of the children on the study who led a community campaign on OurActionStation to restore the funding. She says: "This is fantastic news as this means that all study families will have the chance to participate, we will get to hear the voices of all the study children and the cohort is maintained. Thank you all for your support." https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/103901353/budget-2018-2m-for-nzs-biggest-longtitudinal-study-about-growing-up-in-nz

June 2019 - We’ve just heard that the plan by a company to build a water pipeline from Mt Aspiring National Park through a Kiwi sanctuary has stalled - the sanctuary is safe! You were one of many thousands of people who came together to preserve the home of the Haast Tokeka Kiwi. Together we protected their home and stopped a new bottled water business selling precious spring water overseas. The company, Okuru Enterprises Ltd, had permission (first given 25 years ago) to take and export 800 million litres of spring water each month from a catchment high in the mountains - right through a sanctuary for the Haast Tokoeka Kiwi. However the company's permission ran out last week and the Department of Conservation stopped considering their new application because of insufficient information. As a result of our combined people power there was constant pressure on the project, and on the politicians with the power to make decisions on the project. Okuru Enterprises still have permits from the District and Regional Councils for the water take, land use and coastal use. While there is nothing stopping the company trying to restart the project they will need to reapply for permission from the Department of Conservation all over again, and face public scrutiny each step of the way. For now the kiwi sanctuary and surrounding forest is saved! Here’s how our community made it happen it happen: 🌏 When news first broke in April 2017 we launched into action, launching a petition calling for the end of the project and save the Haast Tokoeka. 🌏 18,534 of us came together to support the call. 🌏 The petition showed public support which helped power media stories keeping attention focused on the issue. 🌏 We consulted with allies and conservation experts. 🌏 We targeted Maggie Barry, the then-Minister of Conservation to put pressure on her decisions on the project. 🌏 In August we went to Parliament to deliver it to MP Eugenie Sage - who a couple of months later became the new Minister for Conservation. ActionStation members chipped in to make it a positive, visual event. Volunteers dressed as kiwis and students from Tuia te Matangi, a bilingual Maori-English school from Nelson, stepped up to give the kaupapa awesome support. 🌏 We presented our crowdsourced submission to the politicians considering the issue sharing personal stories on why we need to save the Haast Kiwi. It included expert opinion from conservationists to the Environment Select Committee.[2] After our coordinated collective actions, it’s a win for the Haast Tokoeka Kiwi!

11 April 2018 - Inquiry announced! The volunteer Hit & Run Inquiry campaign team with the support of the ActionStation community ran a year-long campaign to give justice a chance. Read more: https://bit.ly/2HrYIZU

Dec 2019 https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/wider-range-medicinal-cannabis-products-made-available-kiwis 2 June 2017 Today Associate Minister for Health, Peter Dunne, has just announced that the Government will allow doctors to prescribe medicinal cannabis. Thanks to you and the over 6000 people who signed the petition calling for this change! Associate Health minister Peter Dunne on Friday announced the medicinal cannabis product cannabidiol (CBD) would no longer require a person to get Ministry of Health approval to use it. The changes mean CBD would be able to be prescribed by a doctor to their patient and supplied in a manner similar to any other prescription medicine. Mr Dunne said it was a move towards legalising medicinal cannabis, but wouldn't "immediately bring about a revolution". "I have taken advice from the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs (EACD) that CBD should not be a controlled drug, and am pleased Cabinet has now accepted my recommendation to make this change.  "Therefore, I am now taking steps to remove restrictions accordingly." Common sense has prevailed with overwhelming public support. This will make a huge difference to people dealing with severe chronic pain and improving their quality of life. You can email the Associate Minister to congratulate him on his decision at [email protected] News coverage: Kiwis will now be able to get medicinal cannabis from their doctor, Government announces http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/93268869/restrictions-on-medicinal-cannabis-product-to-be-removed-government-announces Doctors now able to prescribe cannabidiol http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/332137/doctors-now-able-to-prescribe-cannabidiol Restrictions to come off cannabis-based medicines - Dunne http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/health/2017/06/restrictions-to-come-off-cannabis-based-medicines-dunne.html