People Power (New Zealand)

Now it’s your turn to fight for Democracy, citizens of NZ.

peoplepowernz — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:30:15 +0000

The passing of the Electoral Finance Act on 1/1/08 was a significant nail in the coffin of democracy in NZ. For a Government to both vote itself a multi-milion dollar electoral war chest, whilst at the same time restricting free speech, dissent, and expenditure on political campaigning for the private citizen was beyond belief in a supposed “representative democracy”.

Over the last month, People Power NZ have recorded their active dissent against the passing of this Act, by taking “direct action” protest againt the instigators of this anti-democratic assault on personal freedom.

Having “led from the front” on this issue by taking protest action (as opposed to just writing about it and doing nothing to back up the rhetoric), People Power NZ believe that it is time for the citizens of this country to take their own action in reclaiming real democracy for New Zealand.

Both longitudanal apathy and a sense of “learned powerlessness” seems to have permeated the majority of the NZ voting populations mindset over recent years.

Over the last month, People Power NZ have demonstrated that apathy and learned powerlessness can be overcome with motivation and action. We now wish to establish as to whether there are any NZ’ers left in this country (apart from us) who have the courage and determination to stand up for what they believe in, and to actively fight against the growing Government-sanctioned totalitarianism that now permeates our nation.

People Power NZ thus now invites the citizens of NZ to become motivated and active in the fight for democracy in this election year.

Because if you don’t, then we as NZ citizens will deserve everything we get.

People Power NZ

Press Release 7/2/08: NZ First is next, says People Power NZ.

peoplepowernz — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:41:06 +0000

People Power NZ would like to announce that our next direct protest action against the passing of the anti-democratic Electoral Finance Act will be against the NZ First Party Electoral office located at 33 Wyndham St, Auckland City on or about the 28th February, 2008.

People Power – “Power to the People”

www.peoplepowernz.wordpress.com

NZ Herald 7/2/08: Anti-democratic Greens claim to be representatives of Democracy?!

peoplepowernz — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:33:46 +0000

Brick attack smashes Green Party office window:

New 1:45PM Friday February 08, 2008

A brick was thrown through the window of a Green Party office in Auckland last night, the party’s co-leader Russel Norman says.

Dr Norman told NZPA party staffers arrived this morning at the New North Rd office in the suburb of Sandringham to find the window smashed by a brick after an overnight attack.

He said staff would continue to work at the office and the party would not be intimidated by the attack, which was meant as a protest at the Greens’ support for the Electoral Finance Act, which opponents say will cramp free speech.

He said People Power, the same group who threw a brick at Prime Minister Helen Clark’s electorate office on New Year’s Eve, had claimed responsibility.

“The Green Party will continue to stand up for free and fair elections in spite of this campaign of intimidation being run by some opponents of the Electoral Finance Act,” he said.

“Those who attack the offices of democratically elected officials in an attempt to intimidate them are attacking democracy itself.”

Dr Norman said the Greens had supported the spending cap on election campaigns in the Act because it did not want power concentrated in the hands of the wealthy. It stood by that view.

Under the Act, which came into force on January 1, anyone spending more than $12,000 on political advertising must register as a “third party”.

Those who do register with the Electoral Commission can spend only up to $120,000.

- NZPA

Newstalk ZB 7/2/08: Greens continue to bleat.

peoplepowernz — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:25:28 +0000

So, the Greens attacking private property (science buildings), public property (railways), and businesses (poultry farms) is OK, but such acts are not OK when the Greens are the target for protest? – give us a break!

Brick thrown through Greens office window

8/02/2008 13:52:01

Vandals have thrown a brick through a window at the Green Party’s Auckland office.

The attack happened overnight, and party officials believe it was carried out by opponents of the Electoral Finance Act.

Co-leader Russel Norman says the “anti-democratic vandals” are trying to intimidate the Greens, because of the party’s support of the legislation.

Prime Minister Helen Clark’s office in Sandringham was attacked in a similar way last month.

Radio NZ 7/2/08: Greens can dish it out, but can’t take it.

peoplepowernz — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:48:29 +0000

The Green Party says it will not be intimidated by what it calls “anti democratic vandals”, after an attack on its Auckland electorate office.

The protest group People Power has taken responsibility for the attack, in which a brick was thrown through a window on Thursday night.

The group says it gave the Greens a “brickbat”, in response to the party’s support for the controversial Electoral Finance Act.

People Power says being a traditional supporter of grassroots movements, the Greens should appreciate the irony of being on the receiving end of such a protest.

Greens co-leader Russell Norman says the party will not be intimidated. He says there was little damage and no-one was hurt.

The EFA just gets worse and worse – home addresses now required.

peoplepowernz — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:08:27 +0000

Hat Tip: Kiwiblog

February 8th, 2008

Bill English has raised another problem with the Electoral Finance Act – probably because it was rushed through so quickly.It relates to the address one has to put on election advertisements. The requirement for third parties is that their financial agent list their home address on all their adverts. Now I have no problem with this (and in fact my home address is on the FSC billboards) as a third party can be hard to track down – we saw the Brethren being less than upfront with the addresses they listed.

But in a fit of stupidity they have also required every single candidate and party financial agent to list their home address on every advertisement. Now this is ridicolous and serves no good purpose. Parties and candidates are known accountable public figures.

In the last election the National Party adverts listed the office block the party HQ is in. They have been there for around 20 years so are hardly a fly by night outfit.

Now instead of listing the party’s registered physical address, every advert has to list the home address of the party’s financial agent or party secretary if none appointed.

Not many would be overly keen to have their home address on every single newspaper ad, pamphlet, leaflet, TV ad, radio ad and billboard up and down the country. And the sad experience of those of us in politics is people will ring or pop in without warning if your address is highly publicised.

As I said, there is absolutely no public policy reason why party advertisements should not be able to use the registered office of the party, instead of the financial agent’s home address. But the law as written doesn’t allow this. It should be changed.

Press Release 7/2/08: Green Party – Welcome to the receiving end of “People Power”.

peoplepowernz — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:44:49 +0000

Greens receive a “brickbat” from People Power NZ – while the Government, Electoral Commission, and media go quiet.

People Power NZ welcomed the Green Party (Auckland Electorate office – Sandringham) to its ongoing citizens initiated active protest against the passing of the Electoral Finance Act this evening.

“The Green Party is a particular fan of “grass roots” People Power movements, so we are sure that they will appreciate the irony of being on the receiving end of our protest against the EFA” says People Power NZ.

“The Green Party is not a party of enthusiastic environmentalists, but rather a loose association of jaded Marxists long past their use by date – it is time for the Green Party to join their EFA voting partners NZ First, and be consigned to the dustbin of political oblivion come the 2008 Election” says People Power NZ.

“On another matter, People Power NZ have noticed that the Government, Electoral Commission, and the media have gone very quiet over our recent activities – we are assuming that People Power NZ are a little harder to push around than a 21 year old living with his Mum operating a $50.00 “dontvotelabour” website, and we are still waiting for the Electoral Commission to take us to task over our website at www.people-powernz.org” says People Power NZ.

“And to make the whole campaign a little more interesting for the media, People Power NZ would like to announce that our next direct protest action will occur on the 28^th February, 2008, venue to be advised”.

Bad Moon Rising – Annette King

peoplepowernz — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 05:30:23 +0000

Hat Tip: Whale Oil

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=6deM9vN4W-A

A whopper lie from the PM.

peoplepowernz — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 05:18:04 +0000

Hat Tip – Kiwiblog:

February 7th, 2008

Helen got all bitter on Tuesday and lashed out at the warm reception John Key got at Waitangi. She went on to say:

“I am waiting for the National Party to vote for a single treaty settlement negotiated by us.”

So has National been voting against all the treaty settlements this decade? Let’s look at the record:

Pouakanui Claims Settlement Act – voted for in 2000
Te Uri o Hau Claims Settlement Act – voted for in 2002
Ngati Tama Claims Settlement Act – voted for in 2003
Ngati Ruanui Claims Settlement Act – voted for in 2003
Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi Claims Settlement Act – voted for in 2005
Ngati Tuwharetoa (Bay of Plenty) Claims Settlement Act – voted for in 2005
Ngati Awa Claims Settlement Act – voted for in 2005
Te Arawa Lakes Settlement Act – voted against in 2005
Ngati Mutunga Claims Settlement Act – voted for in 2006
Te Roroa Claims Settlement Bill (second reading) – voted against in 2007

Incidentially National initiated and settled 10 claims in the 1990s. Of the ten claims settled since 2000, only the Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi settlement was initiated and settled by Labour. And that was voted for by National. So 19/20 settled claims were initiated by National.

So National has voted for eight out of ten claims negotiated and settled by Labour. For Clark to claim she is waiting for National to vote for a single settlement is a lie of mammoth proportions.

Fran O’Sullivan: Problems need answers rather than blame game.

peoplepowernz — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:44:41 +0000

Prime Minister Helen Clark’s attempt to take the wind from John Key’s election sails, by claiming today’s young violent criminals are the children of “the mother of all budgets”, betrays an element of desperation.

Toss in Police Minister Annette King’s claim that the hot summer and full moon have contributed to a mad January in South Auckland and you would have to wonder when Nicky Hager will get around to penning a sequel to The Hollow Men.

If the spate of summer madness afflicting the Beehive continues, The Hollow Women promises to be a pre-election best-seller.

New Zealanders are justifiably unnerved by reports of the groups of thugs who are alleged to have senselessly bludgeoned lovely young people enjoying our great summer without the slightest provocation. And the youngsters who have been knifed to death as they help out in dairies, or go out for strolls.

Too many lives have been ruined or lost in a demonstration of psychopathic behaviour by our teenagers, something we do not want to continue.

My stomach turned when I read news reports passing off the murders as a statistical blip.Middle New Zealand knows the syndrome is much more dangerous than that. Parents of my generation know what happened in the 1980s and 1990s when young men and women took their own lives in a spate of copycat suicides.

How we feared for our vulnerable youths whenever reports surfaced of another such death, particularly as those youngsters became increasingly despondent at the lack of job opportunities after the 1980s sharemarket crash impacted on our disastrously over-leveraged economy.

Today’s parents have a new fear that their children will get in with the wrong crowd and come to believe that using a knife on one another is a demonstration of urban cool.

Or that they will be the victims of some random killer.

There are no easy answers.

The social malaise may have some linkages to the family breakdown which has occurred since the introduction of the domestic purposes benefit in the mid-70s.

This led to an explosion of solo parent families living on the DPB rather than trying to make their relationships stick.

And a situation where one-quarter of families are now headed by a sole parent with all the attendant strains that causes.

Clark is now in her ninth year as Prime Minister. But surely she doesn’t need reminding that National Finance Minister Ruth Richardson’s mother of all budgets took place in 1991.

If she truly believes Richardson’s benefit-slashing budget spawned a tribe of young Damiens then she should set about trying to rectify the conditions.

We want our Prime Minister to seek answers and try and unite us in facing up to some unpleasant realities.

Not play “dog whistle” politics by trying to seed in the public’s mind the belief that electing National to government again would simply exacerbate youth murder sprees if the Key Government embarks upon a hidden agenda.

Clark’s not on solid ground when it comes to hidden agendas. As deputy Prime Minister and Labour’s key strategist at the 1990 election she helped perpetrate the big lie of that campaign.

In 1990, New Zealand was teetering towards economic recession. But the Labour Cabinet kept claiming right up to election day that the Government’s accounts were in surplus.

National Prime Minister Jim Bolger’s plans for a decent society were scuppered when he was confronted by officials just one day after the election with news of a serious fiscal crisis that they had kept secret under Labour’s orders.

The Bank of New Zealand was about to go belly-up, something senior Labour ministers had known about for weeks, and the Treasury was forecasting a $3.7 billion deficit for the 1991/92 year which would blow out to a $5.2 billion deficit by 1993/94 unless drastic actions were taken.

Bolger’s Cabinet had to cut costs to avert a major credit rating downgrade for New Zealand.

These are the conditions that led to the mother of all budgets.

But beneficiaries were not the only ones to feel pain.

New Zealand businesses folded as the recession bit and many Kiwis lost their jobs and were forced into major reductions in their living standards. It was a horrible time because the country was broke.

I’m sure we would rather have been prepared for the hard times ahead by a truthful Government instead of being conned by the snow-job perpetrated by Clark and her senior colleagues at the 1990 election.

It’s notable that Bolger later pushed through the Fiscal Responsibility Act to make sure no other Government could deceive its successors or the public in such a way again.

Ironically Clark is now the political beneficiary of Richardson’s tough calls.

The expenditure cuts made then deepened the recession in the short term but quickly got the country back onto a growth path.

The problems New Zealand households face today – low wages and increasing financial stress caused by the rising costs of mortgages, petrol and food – are where Clark should put her focus. Not playing a two-decade-old blame game.