Successful Campaigns

June 2020 To all supporters of the Save Playcentre petition Hopefully those of you who backed the Playcentre petition will have seen the Government announcement today of an urgent funding boost. Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin is making $3.7 million available for Playcentre Aotearoa as well as a further $500,000 to deal with our property issues. This will allow us to offset our deficit, save a lot of Playcentres from closing and means we have some certainty to plan for our future. More than 16,000 people signed the petition and I and all our Playcentre whānau are most appreciative of that support. It was really special to read all the many thoughtful comments a lot of you the took time to make. It was a great insight into why you were signing the petition and to see what Playcentre means and has meant to so many New Zealand families over the past 79 years. The overwhelming message was that Playcentre is valued and must not be lost. In my meeting with Minister Martin I was able to present many of those comments to her. Thank you again for all your support. Sean McKinley General Manager Playcentre Aotearoa

July 2020: We won! The Education and Workforce Select Committee launched an inquiry :)

The petition had the desired effect of causing the Board to take the approach they should have taken in the first place. Once Martine got the chance to get in front of them in open session, she was in her element and she did the rest.

As you may have heard by now Massey University has cancelled the 'Feminism 2020' event! (Massey University cancels 'Feminism 2020' event, 16 Oct https://bit.ly/35Qqs6i) Last week we delievered our petition of 6,000 signatures to the Massey Senior Leadership Team. Being able to have a conversation with our community completely changed the way they were viewing the event and framing the discussion around this hate speech. If you want to write to Massey and thank them for eventually coming around and making the right descision (and to ask them to continue to actively show support for the trans community) you can write to acting VC Giselle Byrnes at: [email protected] Thank you for signing the petition and standing with our trans community, when we stand together we can make change. 

Porirua city council has officially declared a climate emergency!! We would like to say a big thank you to Ana Coffey and Josh Trlin for their mahi to get our petition into council, the Extinction Rebellion team and other signatories who attended the petition reading last night but most importantly... you!! Without you signing the petition Porirua City Council would have never declared a climate emergency and for that we are thankful. However this is only the start, we need to make sure we hold Porirua City Council accountable and to let them know we will not settle until there are ambitious policies, initiatives and deadlines so we can create real climate action in our city. Thank you to every single person who signed the petition, your voices were all heard by the council, tēnā koutou katoa. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1906/S00705/porirua-moves-with-the-changing-world.htm

Wellington City Council declares climate emergency, Stuff, 20 June 2019 https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/113633374/wellington-city-council-declares-climate-emergency-but-councillors-remain-divided

I'm pleased to update you and say that the Rodney Local Board who are driving the development of this park have included a fenced dog park in the initial needs assessment of what should be included in the reserve. This is an awesome result and one that wouldn't have come about if we hadn't had the support of our petition and of those who also completed the council online survey about what they want to see at Green Road Reserve. So a big thank you to you all. While the park is years away from being developed it is crucial that a dog park was in the mix from the beginning. We will let you know of any new developments/milestones. The next step is that a masterplan for the park will be developed, once that is available we will need your help again to make sure a dog park stays as a key component of the reserve. Thanks everyone! Claire Teirney, On behalf of the Hibiscus Coast Dog Training Club

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

The application for a new off-licence (bottle store) at 509 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, has been WITHDRAWN by the applicant, meaning it won't be going ahead. The information provided notes the withdrawal is because of the large number of community objections - well done everyone for speaking up and making sure Super Liquor and the applying business owner knew Three Kings wasn't ok with another bottle store in our community. This is a huge win, thank you so much for your support!

NZ Rugby has been talking behind-the-scenes, since our petition began, with Le ART and their mentor Johnny Viliamu. Clearly they were as captivated by the young women's talent as we were. NZ Rugby is excited to announce that sweet-sounding trio Anastasia Sirila, Rosetta Lopa & Tiresa Foma'i, Le ART, will sing at a domestic competition Final this year. Their music mentor Jonny Viliamu has said, "It's perfect for them & they are so excited." I'm excited too. So while it's not an All Blacks test, Le ART are really happy with the outcome. I reckon they'll blow everyone away, and we'll see them on bigger stages. My final note is to you and the ActionStation community - thanks for supporting this petition and for backing those young women. It won't be the last time you hear about them! Ross