CITIZENS INITIATED REFERENDUM REPORT

Greetings, Another busy week as media continued to carry more news of the impending referendum.
Congratulations to Bob McCoskrie and team on a successful launch of the http://www.voteno.org.nz website. If you haven’t seen it yet I encourage you to take a good look. Lots of useful downloads and information. Simon Barnett has done a great job fronting it with a 90 sec video, and has been prepared to make his stand for the principles he believes in.  Thanks Simon, Jody and family.  We are proud of you!

Also Muriel Newman’s NZCPR weekly newsletter was entitled “A smack in the face of democracy.” Muriel wrote a great article and invited me to be her guest commentator. Click on the link above if you haven’t received it direct. None of these events were co-ordinated or planned but the timing turned out to be great.

The controversy over Christine Rankin’s appointment to the Families Commission has helped keep media interest alive this week with stories about her being required by the PM to not actively campaign for a ‘NO’ vote.  You may have heard Chief Families Commissioner Jan Pryor say on National Radio that there had been robust debate amongst commissioners previously about the Families Commissions official position on the anti-smacking law. Since in her own words she said the debate was robust, there is a clear indication that the seven previous commissioners were not all in support of the law change.  Hear the interview here

Now with two new Commissioners that we believe would be opposed to the anti-smacking law, it would be very interesting indeed if the Families Commission had a fresh debate and vote concerning it’s official position of support for the law change.
You can hear my interview with Geoff Robinson here.
Perhaps if you were of a mind to write to the Chief Families Commissioner to urge them to re-open the discussion it would be a good way of supporting Christine Rankin.

Last week we had several meetings with media and creative production teams to finalise plans for Radio and TV advertising campaigns for vote NO.  Under the laws governing CIR anyone wanting advertise to promote one of the answers to the referendum question cannot spend more than $50,000.  View Sec 42 of the CIR Act

It is fairly obvious already that the Yes vote coalition has been spending up large to spread their half-truths and misinformation. I will give you some examples of this next week.

We need your help to make our campaign to the finish line in this long battle to make sure ‘the voice of the people is not drowned out!’ We have raised approx one third of our budget so far. Can you help us raise the rest of the total of $50,000? Whether you can afford $10, $20, $50, $500 or much more, whatever the amount, it will be an investment for the future protection of families in New Zealand.

You can send your checks made out to CIR Referendum, P.O. Box 9228, Greerton, 3142 Tauranga or direct Internet banking to our solicitors, McKenzie Elvin Trust account

For CIR Referendum Trust        02 0432 0393 450-02

Or donate on line with credit card via our Kiwi Party website donation page DONATE
100% of all donations will be used for the advertising campaign. The ads will not be mentioning the Kiwi Party.

Finally this week, a woman who writes under the pseudonym of Nonen Titi, has self published a book called ‘The Happiness Inquisition.” This fictional novel attempts to portray what the possible ramifications of the anti-smacking law will be in our communities and I found it a worthwhile read. You may find it useful to give to a friend to help explain why this law is bad and must go.

To view the book cover and make any orders click on her website link. The cost is $10 incl postage in NZ. http://www.nonentiti.com

Warm regards,
Larry Baldock