Voting History
N/A Family First Rating
Candidate Survey
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Marriage 1 Man/Woman – Oppose
This video is worth watching to explain my stance, especially the views of the young man at the end: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIVuCP8I4wM It is not the sexuality of the parent that should dominate, but how good they are as a parent.
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Oppose polygamy / group marriage – Oppose
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Encourage marriage – Oppose
What we ultimately want is stable, caring relationships and families and marriage doesn't exclusively determine this. I am also not sure, unless there is a definition here, what the the term marriage is really referring to.
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Role and support of parents – Support
However we need more effective support systems in place, whether community or government based to ensure the safety and well being of children who are not being nurtured by their parents. NZ has one of the worst records in the OECD for the health and safety of children.
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CYF Complaints Authority – Support
CYFs is under resourced and isn't always acting in the best interests of children and families. One way of not having to create another bureaucratic layer could be just to have more resourcing and training for CYFs and internal avenues of review.
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Parental choice for education – Support
While we should have a well resourced and public education system there should be some allowance for home schooling or other alternatives. There should also be some assurance that those alternatives meet minimal requirements in curriculum and instruction.
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Income Splitting – Oppose
Sadly there are real issues with this concept as it tends to favour the most wealthy and discriminates against those in struggling circumstances: https://www.greens.org.nz/node/24197
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Decriminalisation of Abortion – Support
There appears to be no advantage in making those who have abortions criminals. There are better ways to reduce the too high level abortions we have.
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Unborn child right to life – Oppose
There are complications around this issue that cannot be addressed in a simplistic oppose or support question. i would say that every child born should have the right to a good life.
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Informed Consent for Abortion – Support
This is a very important decision involving a potential child and proper (unbiased) information and support should be available.
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Parental notification – Oppose
The ideal would be that all young women have a positive and supporting relationship with their parents, sadly this is not the case. It is too difficult to determine what should be exceptional circumstances as the complex relationships within families are often hidden well or unknown.
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Abstinence-based sex education – Oppose
It would be far better to teach respectful relationships and save sex than an emphasis on abstinence. Abstinence as the primary element to sex education has failed where ever it has been tried: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstinence-only_sex_education
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Surrogacy – Support
https://www.greens.org.nz/bills/care-children-adoption-and-surrogacy-law-reform-amendment-bill
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Embryonic stem cell research – Undecided
I have a personal difficulty with this one and understand that stem cell research can occur without the need for using embryos http://www.eurostemcell.org/factsheet/embyronic-stem-cell-research-ethical-dilemma
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Same sex couple adoption – Support
Same sex couples (as shown be earlier video) have shown to be no worse as parents and can often be better.
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Decriminalise euthanasia – Undecided
A very complex issue, a lot would determine how the legislation is written. There is a body of anecdotal evidence showing that elderly parents have been killed to access an inheritance and it is too easy to get away with.
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Full resourcing of palliative care – Support
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Decriminalise marijuana – Support
I support anything that minimizes harm and do not support increasing the availability of recreational cannabis, especially to young people where it is medically shown to have a detriment effect on emotional development. Making users criminals is not the best form of support or rehabilitation.
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Ban on residential brothels – Oppose
There should be regulations around the siting and management of brothels, but to ban them entirely from residential areas is not practical. It is the worlds oldest profession, is not likely to go away and we need to ensure that those involved in the industry are protected as best as they can be. Smaller and small owner brothels are supposed to be more protective and less exploitative of their workers and it would be more difficult to set these up in more expensive commercial areas.
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Ban on street prostitution – Undecided
A lot would depend on the legislation and its intent.
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Criminalise buyer of prostitution – Oppose
I would support the criminalization of any abusive buyer and support resources and support for prostitutes who want to leave the industry. This is another angle on the issue of prostitution: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/7926324/Disabled-seek-sex-life-choice
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Improve broadcasting standards – Support
I strongly support this and see the value of a public broadcasting service that provides a choice for parents, so that they know there is at least one channel that is safe viewing for their children.
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Public Indecency – Undecided
A lot depends on what is determined as offensive nudity. The naked human body is not offensive in itself, but public nudity that is being exploited for exploitative and overly sexual reasons I don't support. For instance I found the Air NZ safety video bordering on offensive.
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Billboard advertising – Support
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Raising drinking age – Oppose
What we really need is a change in our drinking culture, here are my views in greater detail (this my personal blog and my own views): http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/10/nz-alcohol-industry-triumphs-again.html Our alcohol abuse is one of the most damaging elements in our society today but we have much more work to do than just look at age.
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Alcohol law reform (5+ Solution) – Support
I mostly support this (see above link). the Government should have introduced more of the Law Society's recommendations. I strongly support Doug Sellman's efforts in getting reform in this area.
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Decriminalise smacking – Oppose
The law as it stands works well and we still have a huge problem with physical child abuse. As a teacher and parent I have not needed smacking to manage children well.
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Liberalise Easter trading laws – Undecided
A lot depends on the legislation concerned. We need to have more holidays where families can spend time together without always having expectations to work. The work life/balance and the importance of families needs to be the priority and not necessarily attaching it to one Christian celebration. We are a multiethnic society.
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Regulation of loan sharks – Support
Loan Sharks are how they sound, they are predators of the poor and need much stronger controls.
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Reduced gambling – Support
I thought the Government's cut in support to the Problem Gambling foundation was appalling. They were successful because they were limiting the availability of gambling machines. http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2014/03/problem-gambling-foundation-too.html
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Welfare Vouchers for At-Risk – Undecided
I am worried that it may also be used to take away the choice and independence of responsible parents who are welfare dependent for genuine reasons. A lot depends on the management and it does not become a blanket policy that has the opposite effect than is intended.
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Binding Citizens’ Initiated Referenda – Oppose
Citizen's initiated referenda have a very important function in providing a means of getting public opinion on a single issue and any government would be foolish to ignore them. However the wording of referenda in the past have often been too open ended and to make them binding could be a fraught process when voters had different intentions when they participated. If we did have binding referenda, as occurs in some countries there would have to be much tighter criteria and a change to our constitution. I would like to see a higher level of participatory democracy through other forums am appalled when Governments ignore the solid support or rejection of particular policies through the select committee process.
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Paid parental leave (6 months) – Support
parenting is a hugely valuable role in the early years of a child's life and needs to be recognized and supported more. My wife and I both worked part time when our children were young so that we could spend more time with them.
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Three strikes legislation – Oppose
I think people who are a real danger and risk to society need to be in secure situations, but at a cost of $95,000 per year to keep someone in prison and the fact we have one of the highest imprisonment rates in the world means that we need to rethink our levels of incarceration. We need to spend more time and money on rehabilitation and properly supporting victims of crime.
