Manukau City Council (Regulation of Prostitution in Specified Places) Bill

Violence, turf wars and streets littered with syringes and used condoms at Hunters Corner and Manurewa led the former Manukau City Council to have a bill introduced to Parliament. But with the advent of the Super City, the Regulation of Prostitution in Specific Places Bill has been amended to reflect the new governance structure, which means that the Auckland Council could pass bylaws to outlaw street prostitution anywhere in the city. Under the bill, the council must specify where street prostitution is outlawed. It cannot apply a blanket ban. The bill would enable prostitutes to be moved out of residential areas. The Greens labelled the bill “repugnant’! Although Labour supported this bill being referred to a select committee, almost 2/3’rds of the MP’s had previously voted against the ‘Manukau City’ version in 2010.

Source: NZ Herald http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10702523

Dominion Post http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/manukau-courier/6529662/Street-prostitution-move

Read more info http://familyfirst.org.nz/issues/ban-on-street-prostitution/

Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill

The gambling bill gives councils and the public power to cut the number of poker machines in their area and ensure that gambling proceeds are fed back into the immediate community. The Government has agreed to support this bill through to select committee as part of the Relationship Accord with the Maori Party. The bill:

• Gives councils power to eliminate or reduce pokies at a venue if the public feels they are harmful.
• Ensures 80 per cent of gambling proceeds return to the community where the money was lost.
• Phases out the corporate societies which distribute pokie earnings, and replaces them with transparent, local committees.
• Insists that venues introduce gambler tracking systems which measure losses, and pre-commit cards which allow players to preset the time and money they gamble.
• Removes special status of the racing industry as a recipient for the purpose of racing stakes.

Source: NZ Herald http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10804202

Read more info http://familyfirst.org.nz/issues/gambling-harm/

Bail Amendment Bill 2012

Ministry of Justice figures on the number of serious crimes committed while on bail shows the urgent need for improve public safety. Family First supports the purposes of the Bill to improve public safety, and to ensure that those accused of serious offences will find it more difficult – although not impossible – to get bail. We support the changes which reverse the burden of proof for those charged with the worst offences and with the highest risk of reoffending while on bail. We agree that public safety should be the court’s primary consideration. We support the extension to the list of offences that qualify a defendant to be subject to a reverse burden of proof when they have a similar previous conviction We agree that the presumption in favour of bail for young (17-19 year old) defendants who have previously been in prison should be removed. We also support new powers for the police to deal with bail breaches by young people (<17). Names such as Christie Marceau, Natasha Hayden, Aaliyah Morrissey and Vanessa Pickering highlight the need for improved bail laws to protect families. Bail is a privilege, not a right. And the rights of the public to protection from repeat and high risk offenders should take precedence.

Read more info http://familyfirst.org.nz/issues/bail-laws/

Child Support Amendment Bill 2011

The bill amends the child support scheme which was introduced in 1992 and which helps to provide financial support for over 210,000 children, by making provision for:

• a new child support calculation formula;
• Secondary changes to update the child support scheme more generally;
• amendments to the payment, penalty, and debt rules for child support.

A number of recommendations made by Family First in its submission have been adopted, including taking the income of both parents into account rather than just the paying parent’s income; recognising shared care of a child at lower levels than the current 40% of nights test; and automatic deduction of child support payments from wages. For the sake of the children in terms of contact and material needs, and the financial pressures on sole parents, we must ensure that the system is fair to both parents and places the same obligation, responsibility, and role on each parent. Many parents are being alienated from their children – even when they may oppose the separation – and are then financially liable in an unfair way. The current regime has been too inflexible and has led to unjust results. The latest proposals will go some way to addressing that unfairness. There is obviously an issue with parents going overseas and avoiding their responsibilities – and children are the ultimate losers in this.

Read more info http://familyfirst.org.nz/issues/child-support

Shop Trading Act Repeal (Waitaki Easter Trading) Amendment Bill

According to New Zealand law, most shops must close on Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Christmas Day and the morning of ANZAC Day. Politicians are constantly trying to liberalise the laws in their local areas – the latest attempt being this one by National MP Jacqui Dean in her Waitaki electorate. There have been two previous attempts to free up Easter trading in Rotorua. Poll after poll has shown that both parents and children want to spend more time together doing family things like picnics and holidays together. However, this is becoming increasingly difficult as the retail industry is required to work almost every day of the year, and shoppers focus on the holiday specials. Public holidays are traditions. They create rituals for families, not based on shopping but on celebrating together, reconnecting, and making memories. Many countries have public holidays with shops closed, and tourists simply plan around it, accepting it as part of the local culture and identity. The politicians should give the workers a break and leave the Christmas and Easter trading laws alone.

Read more info http://familyfirst.org.nz/2010/04/new-zealanders-not-yet-ready-for-a-change-to-easter-trading-hours/

http://familyfirst.org.nz/2009/12/rejection-of-easter-trading-good-for-family-life/

Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill

Successive governments have undervalued families and families are being penalised for having children. The political and policy focus has been on the needs of the economy, rather than on the welfare of children and the vital role of parents. In reality, this policy would represent about 0.2% of the total government spending, yet research shows that the role of mothers and the early bonding between mums and babies is vital for healthy child development. Ironically, the spending on early childhood education has almost tripled in the past ten years – yet there was no suggestion of a veto by the government then, as there has been on this bill. A 2008 report by UNICEF rated New Zealand 23rd out of 25 countries for effective paid parental leave. Kiwi parents get 14 weeks paid parental leave while the average in the rest of the developed world is approaching one year. In 2009, the Families Commission called for an extension of paid parental leave to at least 12 months. A recent Department of Labour evaluation of paid parent leave showed that only ¼ of mothers thought the paid parental leave was long enough, and up to 75% said ideally they would take a year off. Yet the average time at which mothers return to work is when their baby is six months old. Only 14 weeks of that is paid. ‘Financial pressure’ was cited as a key reason for returning to work earlier than desired. The role of parents during the crucial early years of a child should be acknowledged.

Read more info http://familyfirst.org.nz/issues/paid-parental-leave/

Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill

The same-sex marriage bill was introduced by Labour MP Louisa Wall to “provide the same rights, responsibilities and privileges of marriage to two people who choose this form of expression of their relationship”. But equality does not mean we must redefine marriage. Many people in the homosexual community do not agree with same-sex marriage. Like us, they simply hold a particular view on an important social issue. This argument has nothing to do with hate or fear, as is wrongly charged by supporters of the bill, and everything to do with history, culture and tradition. For many, marriage is more than just a legal agreement or social contract. We must consider the rights of people who have deliberately chosen marriage because of its cultural, religious and historical meaning. By changing its meaning, we would be trampling on the rights of a significant proportion of New Zealanders. It is perfectly possible to support traditional marriage, while also recognising and respecting the rights of others. There is absolutely no need to redefine marriage to provide legal recognition and protection for committed same-sex relationships. In 2004, the government introduced Civil Unions and changed over 150 pieces of legislation to achieve this very thing. Adults have a right to form meaningful relationships – they just don’t have a right to redefine marriage.

Read more info http://www.protectmarriage.org.nz/

Alcohol Reform Bill (Increase Drinking Age)

Health boards, health professionals, police, family groups, addiction experts, the Prime Minister’s chief science adviser, leading scientists, and the general public – including young people – were all shouting to politicians to raise the drinking age to 20 in order to protect young people and to save lives. The split-age proposal would have been confusing, sending a mixed message, and was not supported by frontline workers who were mopping up the mess of alcohol abuse on a regular basis. Alcohol policies and decisions about a legal drinking age should be firmly based on the health and well-being of New Zealand’s young people. New medical evidence on accident probability, disease and brain development, along with the Child and Youth Mortality Review, and the recommendations of the Prime Minister’s chief science adviser, made it absolutely clear that delaying the age at which teenagers and young people have easy access to alcohol would reduce the level of damage they and society suffer at the moment as well as contributing to their future health and well-being. Raising the drinking age was not intended to be a cure-all solution to alcohol abuse, but it was intended to challenge a liberal environment in which alcohol is easily accessible and too often abused, especially by young people. Unfortunately the politicians ‘dropped the ball’ yet again on this issue.

Read more info http://familyfirst.org.nz/issues/alcohol-law-reform/