OK fine, what submissions do I have to make FFS?!

Don't worry - I got you. Here's everything you need in one place!

Edit 9/1/25: Had to include another bill FML.

This damn Government has rushed through a bunch of public submissions on controversial bills - all closing over the next week. This is the perfect time for them to do this, because almost everyone is on holiday. So, every crap bill gets to sail through.

At the best of times, nobody wants to do a submission on a boring bill. The Christmas period where people are financially stressed and overwhelmed with commitments and the first and second weeks of January when they’re returning to work and trying to manage that - look, I don’t have to tell you, it sucks. This is the worst of times!

So let’s try to make this easy. Here is a submission guide for three bills and one health consultation I really think you should submit on. I have provided steps on exactly how to do it. There’s no age limit and you don’t have to live in Aotearoa - you just have to care.

Bill: The Treaty Principles Bill

Do it by: 11.59pm Tuesday, 07 January 2025

Extended to 1pm Tuesday 14 January.

Why should I care? Honestly, only racists support this bill. That alone should be enough to tell you what you need to know. But if you need more info go to any charity, any human rights org, any community group, literally any church that isn’t a mega church run by a psycho - they’re all against it. Here’s exactly what is being proposed.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Click here - then click the button that says ‘I am ready to make my submission’.

2. Fill out the page. Oral submission means - ‘spoken in front of the committee’. Then press ‘next’. Carefully fill out your contact details - these must be correct or your submission may be voided. Your contact details will not be published, but your name will be. You can write your submission in advance and upload it as a pdf, .doc, .docx, or .txt file. Or you can just type directly into the submissions portal where it says ‘I/We wish to make the following comments’.

3. The first thing you need to say is: I strongly oppose the Principles of the Treaty Bill. Then keep it simple - here’s a list of reasons why you should be against this garbage bill.

4. Under ‘I/We wish to make the following recommendations’ you may wish to include any of the following points but the most important thing to do is to start with this sentence: The Principles of the Treaty Bill should be abandoned. Here’s a list of ideas of things you can end with.

5. Celebrate! You did your bit to stand up against racism, protect our founding document, our precious whenua, and our values as a country.

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Bill: Oranga Tamariki (Responding to Serious Youth Offending) Amendment Bill

Do it by: 11.59pm on Thursday, 09 January 2025

Why should I care? This one is also known as ‘The Boot Camps Bill’. There is no evidence base for the punitive actions of the bill - in fact, the evidence and data do not support a more punitive approach to young offending. It specifically puts neurodivergent and disabled children at risk. Instead of being supported, a child with Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) would be sent to a bootcamp where likely force would be used against them. Evidence from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had shown how force against children can cause serious harm.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Click here - then click the button that says ‘I am ready to make my submission’.

2. Fill out the page. Oral submission means - ‘spoken in front of the committee’. Then press ‘next’. Carefully fill out your contact details - these must be correct or your submission may be voided. Your contact details will not be published, but your name will be. You can write your submission in advance and upload it as a pdf, .doc, .docx, or .txt file. Or you can just type directly into the submissions portal where it says ‘I/We wish to make the following comments’.

3. The first thing you need to say is: I strongly oppose the Oranga Tamariki (Responding to Serious Youth Offending) Amendment Bill. Then keep it simple - Speak from your heart. If a young person is struggling with their disability due to lack of support, what do you hope for them? If a young person has only seen violence in their life and been conditioned in ways that make them act anti-socially because that is how they’ve learned to survive - what support would you want them to have? How would you want your child treated if they were in the youth justice system? What way should our country treat vulnerable young people?

4. Under ‘I/We wish to make the following recommendations’ you may wish to include any of the following points but the most important thing to do is to start with this sentence: The Oranga Tamariki (Responding to Serious Youth Offending) Amendment Bill should be abandoned and the government should focus on ensuring all changes recommended in the Abuse of State Care Inquiry report with urgency.

5. Celebrate! You did your bit to stand up against reactive attacks on vulnerable young people who deserve support and help to be part of the community. You’ve protected our values as a country and stood up against cruelty and ableism.

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Bill: Social Security Amendment Bill

Do it by: 10 January 2025.

Why should I care? So many people simply don't understand that they have far more in common with someone who needs a support to survive than they are to Christopher Luxon or any of the millionaires who want to sanction poor people.

You are far more likely to suddenly be diagnosed with a life limiting or terminal disease, lose your partner or a child, lose your job and struggle to find another one - than you are to be able to buy seven houses that earn you more passive income than your salary of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So - it's time to think about what you'd want for a loved one who needed support due to a disability, or awful life circumstance, or just shitty luck of the draw.

This bill inflicts new punitive sanctions on people who receive support. These include making them re-apply twice as often to keep the payments that they need, micro-managing that support so that it's harder to pay the rent, power bills, and buy school uniforms or shoes.

And forcing people to do unpaid ’volunteer’ work for community organisations to keep their support - a system that community organisations have said WILL NOT WORK.

I volunteer a lot at a range of organisations, we have all lost funding from this government. We are struggling to support long-term volunteers and keep the doors open. Forcing these organisations to somehow create capacity with no extra funding to onboard hundreds of thousands of people without any support for say - getting to the charity work which costs petrol or bus money - having hungry volunteers with no childcare...none of this has been thought through.

The evidence overwhelmingly shows that sanctions, especially money management and mandatory work experience, do more harm than good. It can even make it harder for people to transition into decent work or education.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Click this link. In your submission where it says: "I/We wish to make the following comments" - you can write any variation of 'i oppose the Social Security Amendment Bill' or 'I am against the Social Security Amendment Bill' Then you can include any thoughts you have on how you'd like a loved one to be treated if they need government support.

2. Keep it simple - Here are some points you might like to include either as a reason for opposition or as a recommendation -

   
   - Cruel and pointless sanctions on people will only push more whānau deeper into poverty at a time when the gap between rich and poor is wider than ever.
   - Sanctions just don't work and don't bring people any closer to finding decent work or education.
   - Forcing people to use money management systems and limiting their choices takes away the dignity and mana of people who are already so vulnerable. It'll also make it harder for people to pay their rent or bills on time and will actually undermine their financial skills.
   - Mandatory work experience is unfair and burns people out, without doing anything to help them into work or training. It also places an terrible burden on community organisations already doing so much to address poverty while having their funding cut by this government.
   - These new sanctions are purely about punishing people on benefits and do nothing to help them out of poverty.
   - I’m opposed to putting people through the unnecessary hassle of re-applying twice as often, plus the admin burden on a public sector that already can't manage the enormous workload given this government fired so many people.
   - These changes will lock more people in poverty and make it even harder and more stressful for people receiving benefits to get by.
   - This isn't who we are as a country.

   More ideas here.

3. Under ‘I/We wish to make the following recommendations’ you may wish to include any of the above points but the most important thing to do is to start with this sentence: “I oppose/I’m against the Social Security Amendment Bill’.

4. Celebrate - you didn’t fall for us against them bullshit. You showed class solidarity and care for others. You’re a good human.

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Bill: The Regulatory Standards Bill

Do it by: 13 January 2024.

Why should I care? This bill is the twin to the Treaty Principles Bill. So much so that you can use your submission for that bill as the template to this one. It has been described as: The ‘dangerous’ bill flying under the radar and “arguably one of the most regressive and dangerous Bills ever considered”.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Open an email and put RSBconsultation@regulation.govt.nz in the address field. If you wish, send a copy of your submission to your MP and ask them to oppose the Bill.

2. Begin with any variation of “I oppose the proposed Regulatory Standards Bill. It prioritises big business over people and the environment. Instead, we need regulations that protect New Zealand’s resources, our whānau, and future generations.”

3. Keep it simple - I included statements like: “It gives far too much power to its architect Minister for Regulation David Seymour” and “This bill has been rejected three times already” and “Taxpayers are put at risk of having to pay the losses of a corporate's profits resulting from legislation even if that legislation protects workers or the environment or the public.” Get more info here.

4. End your email with any variation of “Please abandon the Regulatory Standards Bill 2021 and its proposed updates. There is no need for this bill and it should not go to an expensive and unnecessary referendum.”

5. Celebrate! You did your bit to stand up against greedy corporates and exploitative business, protect future generations, our precious whenua, and our values as a country.

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Submission: Manatū Hauora's consultation on healthcare for transgender children

Do it by: 20 January 2024.

Why should I care? For transphobic reasons Manatū Hauora has opened up consultation on the rights of transgender children in Aotearoa to access the healthcare they need. I know, it’s gross and weird. Here’s why.

Transgender people face poorer health and wellbeing outcomes in Aotearoa as a result of systemic and structural intolerance and gender minority stress, and face inequitable access to healthcare in Aotearoa - in many places, puberty blockers are already near-impossible to access.

The Ministry of Health’s evidence brief had methodological flaws that meant that it did not accurately assess the full benefits of puberty blockers to transgender children, nor the full risk of not providing this care.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Send pbconsultation@health.govt.nz a quick email today saying "I do not support any further restrictions on the use of puberty blockers for transgender children". That's all it has to be - anything else is a useful extra.

2. If you have the time - here’s some amazing guides you can use to help you provide a more fulsome response.

• Transgender children deserve access to healthcare

• Gender Minorities Aotearoa: Analysis of puberty blockers review

• InsideOUT: Submission guide for puberty blockers

• Te Ngākau Kahukura: No need for further restrictions on puberty blockers

• Emily Writes: How you can stand up for trans kids being targeted by this government

• How to: Submit in favour of gender-affirming care

3. That’s it! Only three steps! Celebrate now - you stood up against transphobia and told our young people they’re worthy, valued, loved and deserving of healthcare just like everyone else in the world.

Please don’t hate me. I know everyone wants a fun newsletter full of jokes and all that. Trust me when I say I didn’t want my first proper post of 2025 to be about this government.

But - I like to think this is a great way to start off 2025 too. It’s a commitment, we’re going to keep doing the mahi. We’re going to keep pushing back to protect our people, our whenua, and our precious communities. I believe in us!

I appreciate you and am grateful you’re here trying to build a better world for all of our kids.

Photo by Rosie Kerr