HEY LISTEN UP

[labellementeuse]

SO it seems that Murray McCully, minister for foreign affairs & trade, is going to merge NZAID (the new zealand aid agency) back into MFAT (ministry of foreign etc). This is basically a real disaster for our aid funding because it means aid will become contingent on politics, something that is basically really bad for the Pacific (where most of our aid goes.) It is really in our interest to have a strong and flourising Pacific - the Pacific is our home; we have to look our for the people who share our gardens, kitchen, and our plumbing (man, this metaphor sucks so bad!)

Anyway, NZAID is less than a decade old, it was innovational and based on a strong report from people whose names I forget about the value of our then-political not-thought-well-of aid agency. Since it was disassociated from MFAT it has gained rather a good reputation and considered a leader in the OECD. National want to merge it back - well, I'm not totally sure why, because it's working pretty well - not perfect, but a hell of a lot better than it was before it was merged.

What can we do? The decision's kind of already been made. But WELLINGTONIANS!!!!! MEET OUTSIDE THE MAIN ENTRANCE OF THE LAW SCHOOL (pipitea conference, by the railway stn) TOMORROW (1ST OF MAY) AT 12PM TO EXPRESS YOUR DISAPPROVAL. If you can take half an hour from your lunchbreak to swing by between 12:15-12:30ish - please do. If you can make signs - please do.

Crossposting to wellingtonnz, sorry kids who get it 2x.

Comments

[maudlinrose.livejournal.com]

Without discussing this one at all, because I seriously don't know anything about it, you should also be concerned (if you're not already) about:

Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Bill (gives police the right to get a DNA sample from anyone who has committed a specified offence and, in a few years, from anyone who [hes been charged? or the police intend to charge? something like that] with an offence that is punishable by imprisonment of a term longer than 3 months. Which is... just about everything. I don't know how long they can keep your DNA for or what precisely they can do with it, but it's a bit of a worry.)

Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill (the 3-strikes non-parole thing. This has one of the ugliest, least positive departmental report attached to it in the form of a Regulatory Impact Statement I have ever seen: particularly the "Risks and Likely Impacts" section. Sample:

"Public safety: it is not possible to conclude with any certainty to
what extent any of the options will improve public safety. There is a
possibility that removing the worst repeat violent offenders from the
community for longer periods of time will result in less serious violent
offending in the community. However, offenders who commit
serious violent offences do not necessarily have previous sentences
for serious violent offences."

"There is a great deal of evidence indicating that offending rates
decrease only marginally as a result of penalties being increased." Et cetera.

This is IN THE BILL PARLIAMENT HAS INTRODUCED.

It remains to be seen what will get changed at select committee, but.)