Baldock: Time to begin collecting signatures

I trust you have had an enjoyable holiday break. I know I have certainly felt the need to stop and rest awhile after a challenging 2009.

Now it is time to begin the work ahead for 2010. Earlier in the month I wanted to find out what the reaction of the general public would be when asked to sign the new petition. So with faithful and available volunteers here in Tauranga we set up at three events; The half ironman, Blues Brews & BBQ's, and an evening 20/20 cricket match.

The results were very encouraging with 500 signing the petition in 3 hrs on their way in to the BBB event. Considering there has been very little publicity as yet about the new petition we found that approx 7-8 out of ten were prepared to sign.
The conversation generally went like this.

"Will you sign our petition Sir/Maam?"
"What's it about?"
"Making referenda binding upon parliament. Do you remember the anti-smacking referendum last year when 87% said no and Parliament has ignored it?"
"Sure do. It was ridiculous. What's the point of having a referendum if they are going to ignore it!"
"Exactly, that's why we must now collect signatures for another one to make Parliament listen."
"Sure I agree with that, where do I sign?"

It was encouraging to be reminded that so many still feel strongly about being ignored, and concerned about what that means for our democracy.
We had the full petition question printed on one of our signs so anyone could read it if they wished, but most signed on the basic understanding that this was to make referenda binding.

The other signs were;

Don't let Parliament ignore you
Fight for Democracy Make Referenda Binding
Sign the Petition Sign the Petition Sign the Petition

Where to now!

Our next Stop will be the Field days in Southland Feb 10-12 and then Napier Art Deco week Feb 18-21.

Barbara and I have begun planning where we should travel over the next few months to attend events to collect. But of course we can never do it on our own. As part of the traveling we want to connect with supporters and hold meetings to enlist more volunteers and get media coverage where ever possible. We will look forward to hearing from any of you who may be interested in making arrangements for a visit.

Can you begin to look for events nearby where crowds will gather?

We will give more details of plans in the next update and further details of other strategies to collect signatures.

The petition form can be downloaded from www.campaign4democracy.co.nz

Warm regards,

Larry Baldock

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Baldock referendum update #8

Update # 8 25 March, 2010. On the Road.

The Fielding field days broke our previous records. With the help of Phil Peat (Fielding), Graeme & Jean McIntyre (Marton), Colin Whitehead (Wainuiomata), Renton Maclachlan (Porirua), Stephen Jenkinson (Hawkes Bay) and Gordon Copeland (Wellington) we saw over 2000 signatures collected in the 3 days.

The exciting part of it for us was that despite Barbara and I having to leave around 10am Friday morning to drive to a conference in Nelson, the collecting continued at a great pace. Most of the volunteers had collected during the Anti-smacking campaign but had not collected any signatures on this petition as yet. (Except Stephen)

Over the next few weeks we plan to concentrate our efforts around Auckland. This first phase of the campaign has been to convincingly prove to everyone that people will readily sign the petition.

NOW WE MUST MULTIPLY AND GET MORE PEOPLE INVOLVED.

Support needed

Of course it will become even easier when there is more publicity about the petition.
For that we desperately need to see donations made to the Campaign4Democracy. Barbara and I cannot continue to fund our expenses and take the campaign to the next level without your support. For more information hit the donate button at the top.

I wish we could be at the Easter Show, but will be collecting at the Jazz festival in Tauranga. If you are in Auckland and keen to get started let me know.

It is not all about collecting at events though!

It is not everyone's 'cup of tea' as they say to get out at an event to collect. Simply taking a form to work or circulating it around your family and friends can make an impact. Let's try and mail in at least one completed form each by Easter.

NB Please try and get the Date of Birth filled out on the forms.

Although it says 'optional' on the form this is only because by law no one can be forced to give this information, but it is really helpful when the sample of signatures is being checked by the Clerk's office. If someone's address has changed in the past 12 months or some details are difficult to read, the D.O.B can make all the difference.

Remember the forms are available to download from the Website at any time. Click here and then click on the form

Your Comments

It was great collecting signatures on the Saturday at the Feilding Field Day. People were keen to sign. There are a lot of good people in New Zealand. In fact New Zealand is like a sports team with a lot of talented players, but hopeless coaches and managers.

Stephen Jenkinson

We helped to collect signatures for the Campaign for Democracy petition at the Central District Feild Days in Feilding. We were a bit apprehensive at first as to how this would be received but found a very positive response from most people who were approached to sign the petition. There is still some strong feelings out there about the smacking referendum being ignored and people are keen to see referendums made binding.

Graeme and Jean McIntyre

UPCOMING EVENTS BACK TO TOP
Please email me about events in your area so the list can be added to.

Short Term
Tauranga Jazz Festival Easter weekend April 2-5

Medium term
Hamilton Super V8 street races April 16-18

Longer Term
Hamilton Mystery Creek Field days June 16 – 19

Campaign4Democracy
PO Box 9228
Greerton
Tauranga 3142
New Zealand
Ph: 07 5430600 or 021 864 833
www.4democracy.co.nz

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Baldock update #9

Following is an update by Larry Baldock on the progress of his initiative campaign.

9 April, 2010

Dear Steve,

On the road

Collections over Easter have now brought us to the 10,000 signature milestone.
Yes there is still a long way to go, but the first 10,000 are much more difficult than the last 10,000 believe you me!

If we can achieve this in two months with just a handful of volunteers, imagine how easily the target can be reached when we all begin collecting!

What is it all about?

On the 10 March 1992 the Hon Muray McCully said in his speech on the first reading of the Citizens Initiated Referenda Bill that the new Act would “profoundly change the way in which we conduct our democracy in this country.” I am sure he probably had in mind positive rather than negative change, and he thought real power was being given to the people to be heard on important issues.

The reason for change in his opinion was because “our system permits the executive to have too much power. The Executive is too easily able to dominate Parliament and that Parliament has become the puppet rather than the master of cabinet.”

Of course New Zealanders in 1992 still had the option of recourse to the Privy Council, but when Helen Clark abolished that right in 2004, the power of the executive grew even greater.

The Prime Minister in this country controls the Executive and Legislative branches of our Government and the Attorney General appoints our Supreme Court Judges without much scrutiny. If we add to that the fact that the Queen appoints the Governor General only upon the recommendation of the Prime Minister, and the Governor General in this country then only acts upon the recommendations of the Prime Minister, you can begin to understand the extent of the abuse of power that can occur.

With no written constitution to define the boundaries of power, and no Upper House such as a Senate or House of Lords you can perhaps see why John Key may feel nothing wrong about telling parents to disregard the anti-smacking law, because he has instructed the otherwise independent police to not prosecute good parents who break the law.

Perhaps if the National Party had made Citizens Initiated Referenda binding when the Act was passed in 1993, we could have seen the fulfilment of Murray McCully’s envisaged 'profound change in our democracy'.

Unfortunately those of us who believe that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, must now follow the Member for East Coast Bay's advice when he said in the same speech in 1992,

“To those who want to step immediately to binding referenda, I say that they will have their opportunity when the legislation is in force to express that view by the mechanism that the bill will provide. In other words, those who wish to promote that referenda shall be binding will be able to initiate a non-binding referendum to demonstrate public sympathy for their view. I commend that course to them.”

I have attached my 'as yet unreplied to letter' to Hon Murray McCully for your interest.

regards,

Larry and Barbara Baldock

Upcoming events

We are still looking for volunteers to help over the V8 street race in Hamilton next weekend. Please let us know if you can be available April 16 - 18.

Barbara and I will be around the Auckland area for April and May so please let us know of any market days or events coming up.

Field days at Mystery Creek June 16 – 19

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Ex NSW MP calls for Recall

An interesting article in the Sydney Morning Herald by former Liberal MP for Epping, Andrew Tink which is well worth reading click here

Thanks to one of our avid supporters, Ian Andrews, for pointing this out.
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Baldock update #10

Home and Away. Collections at the V8 supercars in Hamilton in April were difficult due to the spread out nature of the event and no helpers. 250 collected.

Last weekend at the Home Show in Tauranga was much better due to the kindness of the event manager Graeme Martin who allowed us to position the van right at the main gate. Thanks also to the great helpers Elspeth, Michelle, Felicity, Carol and Peter. 1070 collected.

Last month we made the decision to rent our house for the next year as we envisage spending most of our time on the road. For that reason we have been more home than away since the last update due mainly to our having to spend time packing up our house to prepare for tenants to move in April 30th.

There are encouraging signs of slightly more mail with completed petition forms appearing in the P.O. Box and some new collectors joining the database with definite plans to collect more than a few.

Last week I was given the great opportunity by Muriel Neuman to be the guest commentator on her NZCPR weekly bulletin. It is widely distributed and read.

I have added the full article below also.

Regards

Larry & Barbara
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Iceland to Hold Referendum on Icesave After Veto

A good Bloomberg story about Icelands money problems and how the voters will decide what happens in a referendum. click here

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