Free Press ACT’s regular bulletin

Januarty 30, 2018

We’re Back
Free Press would like to welcome all our readers for another year. 2018 will bring a major private members bill, a surprise or two, and a rebuilt and retooled party to launch. Strap yourself in and hold on for the ride.

EoLC Submissions Close February 20
The End of Life Choice Bill is before the Justice Select Committee who are taking submissions. If you’d like to show your support for the bill, it can take as little as a minute to make a submission (obviously more effort will have more impact). You can submit online here. The anti-campaigners will be doing their best to swamp the Committee so it’s important that moderate voices are heard.

Medicinal Cannabis Bill I
There are two bills up for debate. The Government has a bill that will allow people with terminal illnesses to smoke cannabis, or at least give them a defense in court if they are caught smoking. ACT intends to support this bill. Why shouldn’t dying people be able to smoke a little dope? What is gained by stopping them?

Medicinal Cannabis Bill II
The second bill is more troublesome. It allows anyone whose doctor says they have a medical condition, which can include a bad back, to grow marijuana. We believe cannabis prohibition has been a failure, but we are not sure doctors should be the new frontline police. What does a rural GP say to a patched gang member who’s very insistent they are sick enough to qualify for a weed growing certificate?

Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Crown
Kingmaker Winston Peters knows he is only three defections away from losing power. David Farrar has an excellent article where he shows Peters has (publicly) fallen out with over half the New Zealand First MPs he’s brought into Parliament. There are eight NZF MPs and the Government has a majority of three. If the future is anything like the past, this Government fall without the Waka Jumping legislation. ACT will oppose this legislation.

Child Neglect Poverty Debacle
Last year, Free Press spelled out how a Government serious about measuring child poverty would do it. You’d ask a department that isn’t actually involved in the poverty business, such as Statistics New Zealand, to survey kids on whether they actually get breakfast and clothes, taken to school etc.

We Picked It
We were unexpectedly vindicated by the absurdity of the Government’s actual measure, which simply compares household incomes to the average. Because it’s statistical, and doesn’t measure how kids are actually looked after, it’s easy to make mistakes. It turns out the Government’s anti-poverty package will not ‘lift’ 88,000 kids out of poverty. Of course the figure was always bogus.

Government by Committee
The Government was always going to be hamstrung filling ministerial posts by its lack of, ah, horsepower. The likes of Ron Mark, of military medal infamy, aren’t exactly here because they got bored working at NASA. So far, they have or will set up committees to investigate: the Hobbit Law, tax, climate change, child poverty, pay equity and mental health. More to come.

Learning from the Germans
Germany’s FDP went from ruination, kicked out of the Bundestag in 2013, to 10.5 per cent of the vote in last year’s election. How did they do it? David Seymour went to Berlin (don’t worry taxpayers, at his own expense) over the break and found out.

Re-tooling ACT
The FDP story shows how a party can reinvent itself. No template is perfect, but the FDP way is a good start. We can’t share such valuable information with any old person who might be forwarded a copy of the Free Press, but ACT Members will be receiving a comprehensive communication on what to expect from next month’s regional conferences and beyond. If you haven’t already joined ACT and want to influence the rebuild, you can do so here.

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