Here's a good laugh

Satire can cut to the bone and here is a very amusing satire based on an interview with the Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Qweasal. Interviewer Renton Maclachlan discusses the results from the 'Smacking’ Referendum, and the National Government response to it.

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The march for democracy

For the first time in my life I have decided to join a march/protest. On Saturday 21st November at 1.30pm this march will start and walk up Queen St, Auckland. If you are planning to come along please email me so I know how many signs to get printed. My email is steve@betterdemocracy.co.nz
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Leighton Smith Newstalk ZB

Referendum discussion Wed 28th October. Seems more and more organisations are becoming involved with a push for more direct democracy.
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Smacking law march aims to be big

Colin Craig has set aside a budget in the 'hundreds of thousands' for the march.
Will you march to support action on the smacking referendum? It would be great to see a number of "Binding Referendum" signs there.

NZ Herald: 4:00AM Wednesday Oct 28, 2009
By Simon Collins

March to call for action on smacking referendum

An Auckland property manager who is spending $450,000 to promote a march against the smacking law says he hopes it will be the biggest protest march in New Zealand history.

Colin Craig, 41, and his wife Helen own companies which manage high-rise apartment buildings including Nautilus at Orewa and the Sentinel at Takapuna.

He says he has never belonged to or donated money to a political party, and had never given money to the Family First lobby group until Prime Minister John Key refused to change the smacking law when 87.4 per cent of voters said in a referendum that smacking should not be a criminal offence.

But yesterday he teamed up with Family First leaders Bob McCoskrie and Bev Adair to announce plans for a "march for democracy" in Queen St at 1.30pm on Saturday, November 21.

Mr Craig will be the major funder with a budget "in the hundreds of thousands - I hope not more than $450,000".

"If this becomes a protracted battle, obviously the budget will have to be adjusted."

He and his wife have a 4-year-old daughter. Asked if he had smacked her, he said: "On occasion I've found it necessary to give her a little flick on the hand, yes."

But he said his motivating force was the principle of democracy rather than the smacking law.

"My involvement came out of discussions with friends saying we don't think it's right for such a considerable majority of voters to be ignored. That prompted me to look at what I could do about it."

He said his wife fully backed the decision to put much of their savings into the march.

"I'm Scottish by background. I'm married to someone who's half-Scottish and half-Jewish," he said.

"I'm never going to own a boat, but some things are more important."

A family friend, North Shore fulltime mother-of-two Shelley Vitali, is acting as the march's unpaid media liaison officer, other volunteers have been enlisted, and Mr Craig said he hoped ordinary New Zealanders would turn out.

"The reality is if we have the biggest protest march in the history of New Zealand, which I'd love to know how big it was ... [we can't be ignored]," he said.

"The [2004] hikoi got more than 10,000. The [2005 Destiny Church] march for family values got close to 15,000. I'm absolutely hoping to get an awful lot more than that."

However, the author of the political history No Left Turn, Chris Trotter, said recent protests came nowhere near the biggest historical turnout of 50,000 to 70,000 people for an Auckland Domain rally by Labour politician John A Lee before the 1938 election.

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Letter writers needed

Robbie Mac, one of our keen supporters would like to organise a letter writing group who will write letters (NOT email) to MPs and include local newspaper clippings on referendums and democracy matters. If you would like to become a part of this group please contact Robbie directly on 0274 828703 or write to him C/- Cherrywood Post Office, Tauranga, 3110.

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State agency spy powers 'chilling'

Human Rights Commission chief commissioner, Rosslyn Noonan, said the Search Surveillance Bill was giving the powers away to a 'grab-bag of every possible agency'.
Related links:

NZ Herald
4:00AM Friday Oct 23, 2009
By Patrick Gower

Sweeping powers to spy, bug conversations and hack into private computers could be given to a web of state agencies as diverse as Inland Revenue and the Meat Board

The Human Rights Commission yesterday warned Parliament of the "chilling" implications of a proposed law that would see the intrusive powers usually only available to the police extended to all agencies with enforcement responsibilities.

It said that under the law, council dog control officers would be able to enter homes to install a surveillance device and the Commerce Commission would be able to detain people.

Inland Revenue would get the powers to assist its tax investigations, while the Meat Board would get them to enforce breaches of export rules.

The Human Rights Commission chief commissioner, Rosslyn Noonan, said the Search Surveillance Bill was giving the powers away to a "grab-bag of every possible agency".

It is the second major public watchdog to issue a warning about the bill after the Privacy Commissioner last week said it needed more safeguards.

Ms Noonan said the Government needed to justify to the public why it was giving the powers to each agency.

She said while the police were largely respected by the public, and subject to scrutiny and constraints, "most of these other agencies the community as a whole would notknow who they are - and suddenly they are all getting these powers".

Ms Noonan told the justice and electoral select committee search and surveillance were among the state's most coercive powers and open to abuse if sufficient human rights safeguards are not put in place.

The New Zealand Law Society also objected to the expansion of the powers, citing how the Overseas Investment Office or the Environmental Risk Management Authority could "remotely and covertly access an IT network".

National MP Chester Borrows, who chairs the select committee, told the Herald it also heard from Law Commission deputy president Warren Young, who wrote the bill and disagreed with the submitters.

He said Dr Young believed it did not give agencies any added powers but merely prescribed how they used what they already had.

Mr Borrows said if that was the intent, the submitters' views meantthe bill was obviously so unclearthat it would need to be amended.

Ms Noonan raised concerns about the bill's effect on journalists and their commitment to protecting sources.

She said the bill needed to more explicitly preserve the tradition that journalists should be able to protect confidential sources unless otherwise ordered by a judge.

WHAT'S IN THE BILL

THE POWERS:

Video surveillance, watching private activity on private property, installing tracking devices, detaining people during a search, power to stop vehicles without a warrant for a search, warrantless seizure of "items in plain view", power to hack into computers remotely, power to detain anyone at scene of search.

WHO WILL GET THEM:

Every agency with enforcement responsibilities, such as: Inland Revenue, Meat Board, local councils, Overseas Investment Office, Accident Compensation Corporation, Environment Risk Management Authority, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Pork Industry Board.

Source: Human Rights Commission, New Zealand Law Society.

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Letter to Editor

Government borowing for ACC

Brian Reiersen
North Shore City


Dear Sir/Madam

The Government borrowing $250 million per week offshore because of shortfalls in the tax take; ACC accounts and the like is crazy. These are Kiwi dollar shortfalls and not overseas transactions, so why are we incurring foreign debt? The Reserve bank should fund these shortfalls internally avoiding further deteriations in our standard of living caused by crippling interest payments on overseas debts.
The trilllions created out of thin air by the BIS, Bank of England and The US Federal Reserve in the corporate bailouts highlight money creation by privately owned banking cartels, these moneys did not exist until they were borrowed into existence. As Abraham Lincoln famously stated on money creation...
"The Government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credit needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of consumers. The privilege of creating and issuing money is not only the supreme prerogative of Government, but it is the Government's greatest creative opportunity. By the adoption of these principles . taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest. Money will cease to be master and become the servant of humanity."

.... but of course these are the sentiments that attracted a bullet to him.

It is time to put money creation back into the hands of the people instead of the Private Banksters who have enslaved mankind with debt and taxation for 200 plus years.Virtually every entity in the world is mortgaged to these financial parasites.

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Can you help?

Better Democracy NZ plans to get in behind Larry Baldock's campaign to make Citizens Initiated Referenda seeking to repeal or amend a law binding. However, Larry will need hundreds of people around New Zealand to collect signatures. If you are prepared to help then Larry would like to hear from you now, so we can hit the ground running when formalities have been finalised.

Please email him on l.baldock@xtra.co.nz or visit his website http://www.4democracy.co.nz/ and register.

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