Successful Campaigns

The new Labour-led Government have announced a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State care. The Inquiry will have wide scope to investigate all types of abuse and neglect and the places it occurred. Thank you for adding your voice to the chorus of support for the brave survivors, Ngā Mōrehu. It mattered. May this Inquiry be a another powerful step in the reconciliation and healing process. When we stand together for what is right change happens. Thank you. Anneleise 4 Feb 2018

Thank you for helping to make a difference. On the 25th of May I flew down to Wellington to deliver our petition to the Minister. It was because of your support, and the support of more than 9000 others, that Minister Anne Tolley agreed to meet with me. Together we showed her this issue cannot be ignored. When I asked her what could be done to help people and families facing the impossible choice between homelessness or unmanageable debt over the coming winter months, the Minister acknowledged the urgency of the situation and told us she would look into possible solutions. Just a few hours after our meeting, the Minister’s office called to tell us that changes to the policy will be brought forward from September to 1 July. These changes will mean that the first week of emergency housing would be covered by a special needs grant rather than a loan. A week is not going to be long enough if there is nowhere to go once that week is up, so the Government still has a lot of work to be done to make sure there are enough houses for people to move into.

It is now with the Primary Production Committee

October 2019 A container deposit scheme trial has been announced! https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/returning-empty-bottles-refund-could-revived-v1 The Kiwi Bottle Drive team delivered our petition to Parliament on December 2nd, 2018. We handed over our petition, signed by 15,450 Kiwis (including offline signatures), to Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick with the support of her Parliamentary colleagues MP Gareth Hughes and Minister Eugenie Sage.

Thank you for helping to make a difference. You were amongst the 32,337 who demanded the unfreezing of Radio New Zealand’s funding, and on 25 May the ice thawed. A month after we delivered our petition to Parliament (together with Jo Bond's Fund RNZ petition - see https://medium.com/actionstation/32-337-demand-government-unfreeze-radio-new-zealand-funding-2b310ed3271d), the Government responded with a $2.85m funding boost in the Budget 2017. People power has prevailed in this case. The quality independent journalism that RNZ delivers is crucial to maintain our democracy. The Government has finally done something to recognise this. But, it doesn’t go as far as we’d hoped. Dr Peter Thompson (Coalition for Better Broadcasting Chair) recently calculated that RNZ is now underfunded by $14m a year. When you compare this boost to the $60 million per year the Government has committed to attracting Hollywood Producers, it does make you wonder about priorities. While we celebrate the $2.85m boost there’s still work to do to ensure RNZ thrives beyond the next four years.

I want to give a massive mihi to all those who are continuing to mount the pressure on our elected officials to stand up and condemn the blatant genocide we have all been witnessing for at least the last 9 weeks, but which has been occurring for 75 years. Kia haha, kia māia, kia manawanui. Keep up the pressure and do not relent - they underestimate the power of the people. Whilst we had indications that the petition would be able to be added to the agenda at the final public hui of the year, December 14th, those verbal assurances were not honoured by those who uttered them. Instead, the petition has to be validated by governance, which must be done within 60 days or 2 meeting cycles depending on what comes first. Once validated and accepted, the petition will be added to the agenda and the public/petitioners should be invited to speak. We do intend to speak to council should the petition make it to an agenda, and bring up their utter failure on not honouring the critical nature of this issue and limiting their humanity to the bounds of ‘council policy’. We will update you in due course. BUT, THIS IS NOT THE END. I want to issue another call to action for you all. A suggestion of various actions you can and should take to make sure the pressure does not let up this holiday season. Continue to email and message Mayor Paula Southgate ([email protected]) and remind her that a private statement is not the same as a statement from HCC and does not mean much when her power is so much more - and reference the hypocrisy of all HCC did for Ukraine in 2022. Comment on HCC and elected officials instagram and FB posts with “Free Palestine”, “HCC must stand against genocide” etc. Let them know we’re judging them. Do steps 1 and 2 for our national government officials too! Keep an eye on local events, rallies, and vigils and SHARE and show up if you can. Presence matters. BOYCOTT AND CANCEL - https://boycott.thewitness.news/ https://bdsmovement.net/ Continue to talk about the issue with everyone, and keep sharing. Keep signing and sharing other petitions. Again, thank you for all you do/are doing. Keep up the pressure, we owe Palestine endurance. Mai te ara, ki te moana, Free Palestine. Ngā mihi, E

Food wastage is a global problem that has lasting effects on the surrounding physical and cultural environment. In Aotearoa-New Zealand, it is estimated that approximately 571,000 tonnes of food waste are dumped in landfills every year. The flow-on effects are seen in soil and water contamination, and the release of greenhouse gases from landfills, which contributes to climate change. In the Thames-Coromandel district, 60.9% of kerbside rubbish bags are food and organic waste (food/kitchen waste makes up 52.4%, garden and other organic waste is 8.5%). Thames Coromandel District Council’s (TCDC) solid waste contract is up for renewal shortly. The current contract with Smart Environmental finishes in October 2023, and a new contract needs to be available for tender no later than October 2022. The new contract is likely to run for the next 10 years, until 2033. This is a window of opportunity within the Council’s waste management planning, to prevent further food waste from going to landfill, and implement other measures that transform waste into resources. We need to make sure that this contract is part of the solution, and does not continue to send food and organic waste to landfill, when it can otherwise be transformed into resources. The Council is required to consult with the community on this contract. To avoid filling up our landfills unnecessarily with food waste, the Thames Food Waste Minimisation Group (TFWG), together with the Seagull Centre Trust and Whangamatā Resource Recovery Trust, are calling on TCDC to: 1. Subsidise home-scale food waste solutions such as worm farms or compost bins, as has been done in Taupō. 2. Implement a kerbside food waste collection and composting scheme, alongside existing rubbish and recycling schemes. This is already taking place in Ruapehu, Hamilton, Tauranga, Christchurch, Auckland, Timaru. 3. Provide free support (e.g. waste audit and a professional advisor ) to businesses that commit to reducing their food waste, as has been done in Taupō. 4. Develop and deliver an education campaign for households and businesses to maximise the use of the previous initiatives, and promote ideas for food waste minimisation (eg. better planning, use of leftovers, sharing excess, composting). 5. Adopt more ambitious waste minimisation goals in the next Long Term Plan (LTP), ensuring sufficient funding is allocated to attain the above initiatives. TFWG is made of Thames residents that came together a couple of years ago. Our group is made of representatives from the Seagull Centre Trust, Transition Town Thames, and passionate residents. Our vision is that Thames is taking innovative action in whole community food waste reduction, which will help to reduce emissions, conserve resources and increase food security. To further support this campaign, please answer our 5 min survey here - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfDst-0bRmUiI1guyj3tmbQlKX8P7czhiJPktQXKcWAj6Lvww/viewform?usp=sf_link THIS SURVEY IS NOW COMPLETED AND HAS BEEN DELIVERED TO COUNCIL.

We negotiated an increase on the morning of our strike. The company have committed to a Living Wage by May 2019.

The petition got nearly 1000 signatures in a short time, and while that doesn’t sound like a lot, it’s now clear that along with all the other people, around the world, your voice was heard! As of the 1st of March Facebook has “add[ed] suicide-prevention tools directly into Facebook Live that will give users watching a live video the option to reach out to the person directly as well as report the video to Facebook. In addition, Facebook will provide resources to the person reporting the live video including the ability to contact a help line immediately.”

We won! 'Power of the people prompts Timaru penguin protection turn around' https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/101804193/power-of-the-people-prompts-timaru-penguin-protection-turn-around