Message from Committee

With an early election some of our strategies leading up to the proposed November election have had to change. Although it wasn't that long ago that you all received the last Newsletter we did promise a pre-election one. So here it is but not as long as planned. It has been a very busy l2 months for the Trust, more recently three successful public meetings have been held In Auckland and Wellington.

The brochures have been very successful with membership pouring in. Those of you that are getting the message out there - a big 'Thank you'. As you will see by Garth's parting words this won't be the last Newsletter and we look forward to working with you all in the future. Thank you.

From Garth McVicar, National Spokesperson Sensible Sentencing Trust

When we formed Sensible Sentencing Trust 15 months ago one of our goals was to move the whole political arena. By staying non-aligned we felt this would give us the best opportunity to be able to talk to the various political parties on the Law and Order and Justice issues.

Another goal was to promote public awareness of the suffering and injustice that is happening to our Victims and their families in New Zealand at present.

A third goal was to try and change the sentence for premeditated cold-blooded murder to" Life without Parole" We are part of the way. We certainly have opened the door to parliament and created public awareness. Although we haven't got all parties saying Life should mean Life we are well on the way.....

We have a major push planned before the election to hopefully move the public mood a little more on this violent crime issue. (see articles on Rallies and TV Advert)

While we would like to acknowledge the positive moves that Phil Goff has made in the Law and Order area, in particular the DNA legislation, we believe there is still a long way to go and we will continue to promote our point of view at every opportunity.

We are totally convinced that if New Zealand is ever to get on top of this violent crime epidemic we must take our worst habitual offenders out of society FOREVER. They have had every opportunity of rehabilitation.

This category of offender has made a deliberate career choice. Why should our politicians continue to put our citizens lives at risk? How many more lives need to be lost before we are listened to?

APPEAL APPEAL!!

MEMORIAL MARCH
for
HOMICIDE VICTIMS

PLEASE CONSIDER CAREFULLY THE PAGE HERE ADVERTISING BOTH THE WELLINGTON AND AUCKLAND MARCHES.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO THE SENSIBLE SENTENCING TRUST TO
REMEMBER OUR VICTIMS
WE NEED CROSS BEARERS ON THE DAY OF THE RALLIES

NZ HAS LOST 2533 VICTIMS TO VIOLENCE OVER THE LAST 50 YEARS.

WE SAY THAT IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH....
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Please take the time and join us in Auckland or Wellington and show that you are a New Zealander who cares...

Contacts:
Auckland
Lynn (09) 5701795
Rita (09) 5752955
Wellington
Dennis (025) 456867
Sandra (04) 2347368
or Garth (025) 2487919

Remember the Law and Order Referendum at this Election!

Further words from Garth

TV Campaign

We need to admit that the politically correct social experiment of the last 30 years has failed; the cost to society is far too high.

The sooner we have policies of ACCOUNTABILITY, RESPONSIBILITY, RESPECT AND DISCIPLINE introduced the sooner we can get some PRIDE and PATRIOTISM back into our people.

The offender who murdered SIR PETER BLAKE got sentenced to 36 years. The offender who murdered MARCUS DOIG and JOHN VAUGHN will get a fraction of that. All sentences for him will be served concurrently under New Zealand's archaic Justice System (in other words he will serve only one Life Sentence of 10-17 years for two Murders, one being "freebie").

Baby Kahu's kidnapper got sentenced to 11 years? The offender who violated and committed the atrocities to Baby Lillybing got four years!! I could say a lot more but I will leave you to have the final say on July 27th.

REMEMBER THE LAW AND ORDER REFERENDUM AT THE 1999 ELECTION?

We have another Law and Order Referendum July 27th!!

Election 2002

MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT TOWARDS A SAFE NEW ZEALAND

If you are a traditional voter look towards making your second vote count

There are some political parties that have introduced "Life without Parole" policies for our worst offenders - check them out...... You can check by going into our Party policies page

Vote for the party whose policies reflect what you voted for in the 1999 Referendum. If you haven't access to our website, go to the candidates meetings and question them on Law and Order. Keep them honest about their policies.

WORDS FROM OUR NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON.

It was our original intention to wind Sensible Sentencing up after this election, but it appears that there is a need for an organisation such as ours in our MMP political environment. Everyone else who has an issue that is of concern to them has started a political party, mainly out of frustration, but they have effectively rendered themselves powerless.

It was and is our belief that the only way to be effective is to gradually build an organisation with a large membership base that crosses all political and racial divides. Having achieved that it seems pointless to let it all go. As we travelled around the country this last twelve months I have become very aware of the frustration people are feeling at the failure of the existing political system to actually represent the majority of the people.

It appears that this has been a gradual deterioration over the years. I would go as far as saying that the actual vote for MMP was a protest vote of NO CONFIDENCE in the political structure of the day.

But now we have the cat by the tail what do we do with it? The problem as I see it is, we now have MMP but the Government either listens to vocal minority groups or the entrenched bureaucracy manipulates policy that the silent majority have no say in. Consequently we end up with the chaos we have at present. A defunct Law and Order and Justice System and a population that has no clear idea on what the future holds for each of us, let alone our country.

Over the last three years we have experienced a unique situation, 92% of the voters gave this Government a very clear mandate with the Withers Referendum. We were not listened to. Hence Sensible Sentencing Trust.

While we are limited as to what we can actually do, it has been obvious that we can gradually move the whole political arena as the mood of the country moves. The SILENT MAJORITY can have a say through an organlsatlon such as Sensible Sentencing, our strength will be in staying politically non-aligned. Our Trust is proud to be New Zealands largest Victims Rights and Justice Reform Organisation.

As you are all aware, everyone who works for Sensible Sentencing does so voluntarily. The membership monies simply pay stationery and promotion costs. We have a few funding options we are looking at, but would appreciate any and all ideas. The decision has been made to continue as we are.

There have been some good Law and Order promises, we will be there to make sure the parties stay' honest' and carry their policies through. We will fight until we get "life to mean whole of Natural Life" while also expanding our goals to see that the Justice System gets an overhaul.

In finishing I would like to thank everyone for their support and help over the last fifteen months. Anne and I have covered a lot of miles, seen a lot of hurt and sadness but we have made some wonderful life long friends and hopefully made a little difference. As yet I cannot find the words to describe my feelings so I will just say THANK YOU.
Garth McVicar.

TV CAMPAIGN

As mentioned in an earlier newsletter we plan to make an Advert for Television, this is to raise the profile of the Law and Order issue. In 1993 the government of the day was given a clear message that the people of NZ wanted tougher sentences and again in 1999. We hope to show the politicians nine years on that things haven't changed, in actual fact have got far worse. We intend to show the politicians that the families of murder victims are still waiting....

Obviously with an early election date this has to be Number one priority for us at the moment. The production starts this week and we have TV time booked on TV One and TV Three starting on the 17th July. Watch out for this.... The expense is pretty horrendous but necessary. We would like to thank all those people who have already donated to make this campaign possible. If you know of anyone who is in the position to donate towards this it will be gratefully accepted. Any donations can be sent to Sensible Sentencing Trust P.O. Box 701. NAPIER. Thank you.