Family Integrity

Category: CIR Petition

  • If you don’t sign you can’t complain

    If You don’t sign the petition calling for a referendum on the “anti-smacking’ law then you can’t complain about the law at present.

    With just over 1 month till we have to submit the petition back to the Clerk of the House to check for validity, NOW is the time to sign in order to have some democracy over the “anti-smacking” law.

    Please go NOW to

    Download the petition + FaQ (3 pages)

    Download the petition only (1 page)

    and print it sign it and post them into P.O. Box 9228 Greerton, Tauranga.

    Also you could email your friends and family and ask them to sign it, or alternatively take it into work. You will be amazed by the positive response. Or do both

  • FI385-U4L; It’s now or never

    30 May 2008 – Family Integrity #385 — U4L; It’s now or never

    —–Original Message—–
    From: Craig Hill [mailto:craighill@maxnet.co.nz]
    Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 7:51 AM
    To: Craig; Craig
    Subject: U4L; It’s now or never

    Hi All,

    *IT’S NOW OR NEVER,

    *It has been a conscious effort on the part of Unity for Liberty not to
    send out *too many e-mails* over the last few months. But now that we
    are at the business end, all is becoming serious.

    I would like to thank those who have placed their hand to the plow, it
    has been through these efforts on your part that have put us on a
    pathway to keep our politicians honest and restoring common sense to
    this country.

    *HOWEVER: IT’S NOT OVER TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS

    *Larry Baldock explains the current situation below, please read._*

    The new goal.

    At least 370,000

    The final plan.
    We have until the end of June before the final deadline to resubmit the
    petition with all the additional signatures.
    However I am a little concerned that since they take 2 months to
    complete the audit, and then there is another month allowance under the
    Act before the Governor General sets a date I do not want to find that
    the PM has set the election date and dissolved parliament before the
    date for the referendum is set to coincide with polling day.

    We know that the election won’t be before October 1st as that is when
    all the lollies are given out from the budget .However parliament can be
    dissolved 5 weeks before polling day.
    This means Parliament could rise for the elections anytime from about
    the end of Aug.
    My own view, along with many others is that the elections will not be
    until November 15th.
    However it would be wise to get our signatures collected and in as soon
    as possible.

    If we have a good weekend over Queens’s birthday, our total could be
    well over 360,000 by the first week of June. With a concerted effort
    then for the two weeks of June we could reach our new target of 370,000
    by about June 14th and be ready to hand them in.

    I have had discussion with Craig Hill from Unity4Liberty about a final
    effort in Auckland the weekend of June 7 & 8 through to June 14th. It
    will be tables on footpaths in normal shopping areas, (not malls) for a
    few hours everyday over lunchtimes.
    Can I please hear from anyone who could volunteer some time for this in
    Auckland or Hamilton to include efforts at Mystery Creek if we can get in.

    /From Natalie, Southland/

    Hello,
    I am calling on you all to make contact with people that you may know to
    help collect signatures this week during the Gold Guitars in Gore. This
    is a big event and some help would be super. There will be busking
    Thursday, Friday and Saturday so I do need to plan with H&J Smith’s.
    All that is required is a warm coat,gloves, hat and a smile. Come along
    to The Gold Guitar events at the same time. Gore is the place to be this
    Queens Birthday weekend. My prayers will be with you and your team this
    weekend Andy.

    Kind regards
    Natalie
    Phone 0272174666

    From Craig,

    Yes, we are gearing up for a big push in Auckland and Hamilton. Looking
    for all possible assistance.

    Phone 021746113

    *LET’S BRING THIS PUPPY HOME

    Kind Regards

    Craig Hill
    021746113

    http://www.unityforliberty.net.nz

    “All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do
    nothing”     (Edmund Burke 1729-1797)

  • CIR Update no 28

    Hi everyone.
    Well after a few productive days and the joint efforts of Craig Hill from Auckland, Marion, Elspeth and Jo from Tauranga and David and team from Hamilton that collected approx 1200 at the Winter show and other efforts around the country we now have a total of 357,706.

    In our travels around the South Island last month we managed to collect 370 in Invercargill, 170 in Gore, 270 Timaru and 150 in Greymouth. In every place we were simply parked in a parallel park downtown with a table beside the van and three signs out. People were so happy to have a chance to sign. You could make someones day like this also! Some even phoned their friends and they jumped in their cars and came down to sign.

    I know that Christchurch are going hard at it this weekend with plans to collect at the Super 14 final, the Marathon and also a motor-cross event.

    Natalie is going to make her presence felt down south at the Gore Golden Guitars and is looking for any helpers that may be available.

    I am trying hard to find a way into the Mystery Creek field days June 11-14th. If anyone may know of a stall or booth to sublease, or someone that might let us set up a table in one corner of their space, please let me know. The thousands that we could definitely collect there would be a great way to finish the campaign and ensure we have sufficient.

    Media coverage on Monday after Family First’s poll results were excellent and I am confident there are thousands of Kiwis out there desperately wanting to put their name to our petition before it closes off.

    The new goal
    At least 370,000

    The final plan.
    We have until the end of June before the final deadline to resubmit the petition with all the additional signatures.
    However I am a little concerned that since they take 2 months to complete the audit, and then there is another month allowance under the Act before the Governor General sets a date I do not want to find that the PM has set the election date and dissolved parliament before the date for the referendum is set to coincide with polling day.

    We know that the election won’t be before October 1st as that is when all the lollies are given out from the budget .However parliament can be dissolved 5 weeks before polling day.
    This means Parliament could rise for the elections anytime from about the end of Aug. T
    My own view, along with many others is that the elections will not be until November 15th.
    However it would be wise to get our signatures collected and in as soon as possible.

    If we have a good weekend over Queens’s birthday, our total could be well over 360,000 by the first week of June. With a concerted effort then for the two weeks of June we could reach our new target of 270,000 by about June 14th and be ready to hand them in.

    I have had discussion with Craig Hill from Unity4Liberty about a final effort in Auckland the weekend of June 7 & 8 through to June 14th. It will be tables on footpaths in normal shopping areas, (not malls) for a few hours everyday over lunchtimes.


    Can I please hear from anyone who could volunteer some time for this in Auckland or Hamilton to include efforts at Mystery Creek if we can get in.

    It would be fabulous if we all collected what we can over the next three weeks and we were surprised that our total could even grow to 390,000 to match the number in the film ‘Amazing Grace’ where William Wilberforce rolled out the petition in the House of Commons and shouted, “No matter how loud you shout you will not drown out the voice of the people!”


    If everyone receiving this could spend even 1 hour at a table on the street and collect just another 40 signatures we could do it!

    Let’s make sure they hear us!

    Remember to ask if people have already signed. No duplicates!

    Warm regards

    Larry Baldock
    Party Leader Kiwi Party
    Phone: 021 86 4833
    Email: l.baldock@xtra.co.nz

  • NZ Herald editorial reeks of arrogance!

    Responding to the NZ Herald editorial this morning, Petition organiser & Kiwi Party leader Larry Baldock said the author’s opinion would change rapidly if they were a parent and had just received a visit from the Police or CYFS.

    “The author is right about one thing and one thing only. The law change has made no difference to the awful rates of child abuse it was intended to address. When it comes to the 48% of good parent’s in the survey that have admitted to still occasionally smacking their children it is not true to say it has been business as usual. We have heard tens of thousands of Kiwi Parents at our petition tables express that they now operate in a climate of fear. That is what this law change has done and the amendment of John Key has done nothing much to alleviate that.
    The NZ Herald shows an enormous contradiction in their attitude when they railed against the EFA and said it had to be repealed, but are prepared to allow the climate of fear to prevail over the majority of good Mums and Dads in this country with a do nothing about it attitude.

    By publishing the true and accurate accounts of those affected by this law, Bob McCoskrie at Family First has done everyone in this country a service. That is hardly alarmism. There have been many other stories identified but because of the fear of further consequences some have not wanted to publicly tell their stories.

    The arrogance and superior attitude behind the editorial statement “there are, as every sensible parent knows, better ways to correct bad behaviour, but if parents sometimes use more primitive means the law can be reasonable,” makes my blood boil. For thousands of years loving hard working parents have raised healthy well balanced respectful kids by using appropriate physical discipline and this journalist, with a stroke of their pen, feels so enlightened in our modern world to be able to pass judgement upon them by calling their parenting primitive. That is appalling!
    What will definitely create a primitive society and return to us the barbarianism of the past, is the failure to properly discipline children and teach them respect for authority.

    If the author is worried about the debate being stirred up all over again after the election and the referendum I would put their mind at rest. If the Kiwi Party is in a position to exercise influence over a National led government the Bradford Act will be gone by lunchtime. No drawn out select committee with submissions and debates. One session of urgency is all it will take, and good parents will be able to get on with the most important job in this country, that of raising good kids, without having to look over their shoulder all the time to see what liberal do-gooder might be watching and waiting to dobb them in.

    Finally I have to say how disappointing it was to see that the author was unwilling to put their name to their opinion piece. More than 350,000 Kiwis have been concerned enough about the Bradford anti-smacking law that they have placed their name to the petition in broad daylight. Some of them, like police, social workers and Plunket employees have done so while expressing a concern that there have been veiled suggestions that they should not be doing so.
    We undermine our freedom when we lack the courage to put our name to our convictions,” said Mr Baldock.

    Ends
    Contact

    Larry Baldock
    Party Leader Kiwi Party
    Phone: 021 86 4833
    Email: l.baldock@xtra.co.nz

  • See presentation of 2nd petition. It’s just gone online.

  • Time for a new approach on addressing family breakdown, family violence and child abuse.

    Time for a new approach on addressing family breakdown, family violence and child abuse.

    Presented by Larry Baldock, Kiwi Party Leader, at press conference 1.15pm May 14, 2008

    “Today marks the end of 14 months of collecting signatures for a CIR petition in my name to request a referendum on the question, ‘should the Government give urgent priority to understanding and addressing the wider causes of family breakdown, family violence and child abuse in New Zealand?’ The collection of signatures for Sheryl Savill’s petition, which is a separate question entirely, is ongoing and we have now collected approx 350,000 for that petition. I will resubmit those when we are sure we have sufficient to cross the hurdle of the audit process.

    Today I will deliver approx 300,000 signatures to the Clerk of the House of Representatives for my petition and we will now await (once again) a seemingly bizarre audit process to be carried out according to the CIR Act 1993.

    Whatever the outcome of this process, 300,000 signatures represent a huge response from the people of New Zealand who have consistently expressed their concern at our deplorable child abuse and family violence statistics.

    After nearly nine years of a Government lead by Helen Clark and supported entirely or in part by Jim Anderton, Jeannette Fitzsimons, Peter Dunne and Winston Peters, there is not a single statistic that can be referred to that shows their ‘lame duck policies’ have worked. This is despite huge tax surpluses and a strong economy.

    A clear example of this is that we now have the Minister of Social Development openly acknowledging her own department’s report that reveals the poor are worse off under a Labour Government than after the ‘mother of all budgets’ in the 90’s.

    This petition and these signatures are calling for greater action on understanding and then addressing the wider causes of family breakdown, family violence and child abuse.

    We begin our question with the call to “understand’, as that is the first step to solving any problem. Clearly this Government does not have any understanding of the real causes of our problems and has simply continued to keep bringing so many ‘ambulance at the bottom of the cliff’ type responses that there is no parking space left. What we really need are some solid fences constructed at the top.

    Our social statistics reveal such systemic problems within our society that the Kiwi Party believes the Government should urgently appoint an independent Royal Commission to respond to this.
    Surely it is time to look for new answers and solutions?

    Anti-smacking advocate and nanny state zealot Sue Bradford, now admits (contrary to her earlier claims) that her Anti Smacking Bill was never intended to address the causes of child abuse and reduce our awful statistics for child maltreatment deaths.

    Anyone with a modicum of common sense now acknowledges that with 7 child deaths in less than a year, Bradford‘s Bill is a feel-good fantasy dressed up as a complete waste of time, unless of course Bradford‘s real plan was to deconstruct the traditional family unit.”

    Contact

    Larry Baldock

    021864833

  • Timaru Herald Editorial Mouthpiece for Anti-Freedom Government

    More good comments on the media over at section59.blogspot-Thanks Andy and Simeon:

    http://section59.blogspot.com/2008/05/timaru-herald-editorial-mouthpiece-for.html

    Timaru Herald Editorial Mouthpiece for Anti-Freedom Government

    By Simeon, with notes by Andy [A]

    The Timaru Herald published an editorial today slamming the petition calling for a referendum on the “anti-smacking” law as a “a sideshow“. The editorial then goes on to say that Sue Bradford’s comment telling opponents of the law to “move on” is actually popular opinion.

    But this article is wrong in the assumptions that it is making. Firstly it says that “National’s last-minute intervention that the police would not pursue inconsequential smacking took away much of the objection and the bill was easily passed.” No this took away NO objection to this legislation, if you look at recent polling then you will see that public opinion is very much the same.

    In fact, just over a week ago, a small group of volunteers collected 5,800 signatures at the V8 Racing event in Hamilton. Ahem, sorry, what did you say? public opinion has changed? Don’t make me laugh. [A]

    Next it says “But while the petition attracted 324,511 signatures, only 267,000 have been deemed valid, well short of the 285,000 to force the poll”. 267,000 is not far off 285,000 and is one of the largest petitions handed in in recent history.

    “one of the largest petitions handed in in recent history.” – how much is this editor being paid? He’s just filling up paper with worthless points. It is a normal number of signatures to be submitted, and the audit is not bad news at all! Norm Wither’s “law and order” petition lost 60,000 signatures in it’s audit. [A]

    Thirdly it says “But consider what has happened since the bill was passed. The worst fears have not been realised. We have not seen a procession of parents through the courts charged with assault in the name of child discipline — there have been just five cases. Nor have we seen the law preventing the most extreme cases, with children still dying or being badly injured at the hands of their parents.” That is five cases which did not need to happen. Five families have had unneeded police interference.

    Of course “the worst fears have not been realised”. I have been saying this from the beginning. The Labour/Greens government knows it would be suicide to allow the police force to administer this draconian law to it’s fullest extent. No indeed, they will wait until (they hope) they get elected into Government again next year, and then will begin the regime of Government initiated home-invasion on thousands of good, caring family-homes. [A]

    Fourthly it says “So what has happened? Until the research is done it is only guesswork to assume the legislation is producing behavioural change. Anecdotally, there appears to be greater awareness by parents of alternatives to physical discipline, which is a good thing.” We will reap what we sow.

    Perhaps it is a good thing, but it doesn’t even begin to justify the introduction of such a anti-freedom law, against the will of the majority of the population (83%). [A]

    Lastly it says “Politicians will welcome the prospect of no anti-smacking referendum at this year’s election. It would be a sideshow to the far more serious main event, and yet could also be a rogue element in terms of colouring voters’ intentions. It is time to move.” Yes that is true, Helen Clark and Sue Bradford will welcome no referendum at this election because if we have one everyone will be reminded at the ballot box about what Labour and the Greens have done. But no it is not time to move on because politicians are our servants not our masters.

    Why are you lot so paranoid, so beside yourselves with concern at the prospect of a referendum being held? [A]

    to comment on this go to:

    http://section59.blogspot.com/2008/05/timaru-herald-editorial-mouthpiece-for.html 

  • Clerk Reports on Petition: 20,000 signatures to go

    Thanks again Andy for a great summary:

    http://section59.blogspot.com/2008/04/clerk-reports-on-petition-20000.html Clerk Reports on Petition: 20,000 signatures to go

    “Smacking law petition fails to gather enough valid signatures” screams the headline on the TV3 news site.

    NewstalkZB picks up the story, picking up on comments from Sue Bradford, the Green MP who introduced the Anti-Smacking bill. “The opponents of the “anti-smacking” law are being told to move on, as their petition calling for the repeal of the legislation change does not have enough valid signatures to force a referendum.”

    Stuff.co.nz presents a confused story, claiming that the petition organisers have been dealt a “major blow”.

    David Farrar at Kiwiblog tells it like it is.

    “They needed 285,027 signatures valid signatures. They got 324,216 but a sample found around 11% were not able to be found on the electoral roll plus 1% illegible and 0.5% duplicates. This is about normal off mory.So their valid signatures were calculated as 269,500 so they need 16,000 more valid signatures which is probably 20,000 more total signatures to be safe.

    I suspect the Government is nervous about having every voter reminded of the law they are primarily identified with, at the very point at which they are voting.”

    Meanwhile, Bob McCoskrie doesn’t have any time for the media hype, and gets to the main point, which is:

    “the success of the petition demanding a public referendum on the highly unpopular and extremist anti-smacking law shows that politicians should respond now, not after the election, to the wishes of NZ parents.”

    The Clerk of the House has disqualified 16,294 signatures – this comes as no surprise, despite the wild exaggerations from the mainstream media. In fact, this is a relatively low number of signatures to be crossed out, as we see in an excerpt from this article (23 Feb 08) from the Section 59 blog:

    “In the last petition demanding a referendum (Norm Wither’s 1999 law and order referendum), almost 60,000 signatures were disallowed by the Clerks who check the validity of the signatures.”

    “We have already collected an additional 20,000 signatures” says Larry Baldock in his Press Release, 29 April 2008, “We were always concerned about the hurdles to be crossed in the audit process, said Mr Baldock, and for that reason we continued collecting signatures after we handed in the 324,511 signatures on Feb 29th.”

    Click here to download the petition form. If you haven’t already, sign it, get your friends and family to sign it, and then send it to the address on the bottom of the form.

  • The Petition

    The Petition

    If you haven’t already signed Larry Baldock and Sheryl Savill’s petitions, download the petition below, print it, sign them and post it to the address included – simple.

    also, you can be gathering signatures for the petition. Download and print it and get your family, friends, neigbours and work mates to sign it!

    Download the petition + FaQ (3 pages)

    Download the petition only (1 page)

    You will need a PDF reader, such as adobe Reader, to open these documents. If you don’t already have it, you can get it here – Get adobe Reader