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Tuesday 20th August 2001

Newsletter July/August To Co-ordinators and Helpers.

Newsletter finally finished.........

TAUPO: Thank you to all those who made it to Taupo, especially to those who made a huge effort and travelled long distances. Some good constructive discussions were had and at present we are following up on these.

It was nice for all of us to put faces to the emails and phone calls. Thank you to Steve who chaired the meetings and Wendy who took the minutes. If anyone would like these minutes let me know I can either email or send a copy. They will not be on the website. We will try and get together again before the end of the year or at least early next year.

FROM TAUPO: Ian Walker and Malcolm Bailey presented a proposal for a structure for SST. Garth and I are following this up at present. Although Hawkes Bay and Hamilton are up and running it needs to be more structured elsewhere. If there is only one or two people doing all the work they will soon burn out!!

I have attached to this newsletter Malcolm's regional structure and Job descriptions. The next major task will be to find people willing to take on these jobs.... Hopefully with the regional meetings coming up we will find plenty of willing people. Please take time to read Malcolm's structure as we plan over the next two weeks to send out a survey amongst our co-ordinators and helpers. It would be nice for everyone to have some input into this, we do need plenty of ideas.

SURVEY: When Garth first started this campaign it was his dream to get changes within the political and justice arenas, he is still totally focused on his dream and will not back down until he does. The problem we are having at present is what the right way is to go about this. We felt at the beginning that lobbying the politicians was the right way to go and maybe it still is. It is very frustrating though, the time spent on writing legislation to suit our goals, Phil Goff accepting these, then Goff having to plea bargain with Matt Robson. So what we have now is a watered down version with a lot of "loop holes" for lawyers.

So are we going about it the right way? We certainly need some help with this!! I would like everyone to think of how we will handle this in the future;

• Do we need 100,000 members to get change?
• Do we need a small regional structure?
• Are we better to have just a National Base with more people?
• What do we do when we do have 100,000 members?
• Plan A was to lobby politicians for change - what is Plan B,C, etc.....
• Do we need a timeline to set goals against?
• Do we need to become political to make the changes?

What we are asking for is how do you as individuals see us fighting for the changes needed. Garth does have ideas, but would really like to hear the consensus - hence the survey next week.

One of Katrina's ideas is to have a famous personality as a front person for SST, we think this is a great idea if we can find that person. Having someone like that will bring the media - hopefully in droves.... If anyone knows a famous person, whether it is someone in sport, an actor, or a singer, we do not think it will matter as long as they have a top profile and are willing to front this organisation, please let us know!! ASAP.

Katrina does know a person in an advertising agency so this will be very helpful in putting the advert together.

MARKETING: We feel it is time to bring in a marketer, we will work on a letter of introduction, our goals, timelines etc. There is one or two opportunities out there, Lynn's daughter in Auckland is in the marketing field and has already done an initial proposal so we will follow this up.

ADOPT AN MP: As you will be aware Hawkes Bay and Hamilton are under way with this, I have held off with the rest at present to see if we adopt the regional structure. It will make it much easier if there is more people to deal with the work load, so at this stage there is not a lot to report on. It has been suggested we could try and canvas the MP's by post which would give answers in writing.

This is where the website could be valuable, as suggested the replies could go straight up online!! This is another way of pursuing the MPs if we can not get enough people who want to make the personal approach when adopting an MP. If you feel you are ready to pursue an MP please let me know, please also let me know which way you would like to do this. I will give you any guidance necessary.

ADOPT A JUDGE: I would like to get "Adopt a Judge" under way because I think these characters need to be pursued as much if not more than the MP's. So as soon as we decide on a structure I will get this underway. Could you please let me know if any of you would like to Adopt a Judge. I have the names of all our judges in each region, I do not think these people will be as easily accessible to us as the MPs, but they should reply to any letters we write. Once you let me know I will provide you with a letter of introduction.

After the Judges we could tackle the Parole Boards ??????

MEETINGS: Here is the list of SST Public meetings coming up over the next 6 weeks;

Tauranga: August 26th 2pm Tauranga Boys College Hall, Guest Speaker Greg Newbold with Hank Bouma, Garth and Kartina. (Louise to Chair / Wendy minutes)

Auckland: Pukekohe , September 9th, Pukekohe Town Hall 3.30pm, Guest speaker Phil Goff, with Dave Merryweather - Victim Support, Garth and Katrina.

Masterton: September 16th 2.pm.- details to come.

Auckland: Central, September 23rd 3.00pm, Pakuranga Community Centre, Speakers to be confirmed, Dr Muriel Newman, Dr Waynne Mapp, Greig Steinbeck V.O.I.C.E, Garth and Katrina. (Louise to Chair)

Christchurch 29th September - details to be confirmed.

Timaru 7th October - to be confirmed.

Louise and Garth are speaking at Napier Rotary and Garth has Grey Power Cambridge, these meetings have all been confirmed.

Good Luck to everybody organizing a meeting, we know it is time consuming and hard on the nerves, but what we are striving for is well worth it. Like us no doubt a lot of you have been waiting for someone else to lead the charge, well why not all of us, let us give this our best shot.

SENTENCING AND PAROLE BILL: Submissions for this bill are due on the 5th October, Garth would like as many SST people as possible to send in submissions. The submissions need to be short and to the point. He will be in touch middle of September with guidance on submissions.

In the meantime you will all need to phone or write to Phil Goffs Office for a copy of the Bill - "Good nighttime reading"! After reading Goff's Bill, our view is that although there are a lot of "loop holes" the bill is a small step in the right direction.We have a number of professional people analyzing the bill at present as it does need a lot of submissions to make the changes.

DEBATE: Garth is working on putting together a debate on the Sentencing and Parole Bill hopefully on Face the Nation. As soon as he has all the details and the guests I will let you know. It is quite a struggle to get the medias' attention at times. It seems, to get the attention you have come up with the ideas. This is why we feel it is important to have someone market us and to have that famous icon!

WELLINGTON MEETINGS: Garth has met with all the Justice spokespeople for each of the parties in Parliament except for the Greens. Nandor was not available when Garth went to Wellington last. He has done a short profile on each of the people he has met.

Stephen Franks (Act) Stephen would be the one of the most genuine and honest people in Parliament at present. The Act party have agreed to incorporate our goals within their Law and Order policy, except for the retrospective aspect. No matter what any of our personal politics are, you have to admit that the Act party are doing a great job keeping the others accountable. They have been very supportive of our cause.

Ron Marks (NZ First) Again Ron Marks is a very genuine person, he personally supports our goals. He needs to place them before New Zealand Firsts policy committee before he can commit fully to our goals being included in their Law and Order Policy. I haven't heard back yet.

Peter Dunne (United) Very supportative to what we are trying to achieve. Our communication is ongoing and I do not see many problems here. I am hoping to go to their policy discussion meeting.

Wayne Mapp (National) National at present do not have a Law and Order Policy, we have been invited to have some input into that so let's hope we can get some constructive policy, they will no doubt want to better Phil Goff's Sentencing and Parole Bill so that should give us a good opportunity.

Phil Goff (Labour) I have had two meetings with Mr Goff, the Sentencing and Parole Bill reflects some of what we are wanting but we will have to work very hard at the Select Committee stage to try and beef it up.... Labour will also be developing a Law and Order Policy before the next election so this will give us another opportunity.

Matt Robson (Alliance) The most Liberal of the liberal, the minister who said we didn't understand the question on the Law and Order Referendum. The Minister who believes prisoners should have conjugal rights in prison. My meeting with Mr Robson was pretty much a waste of time, how a list MP who only got 1100 votes can be Minister of Corrections beats me!!!!.....

Nandor Tanczos (Greens) Although I haven't met with Nandor yet, Katrina has, and has passed on that he is supportive of SST and the changes we want to make. I have yet to see their Law and Order Policy.

At this stage I think that is all, we will get the survey out to you over the next two weeks.

Keep the memberships flowing in.

We look forward to the up and coming meetings.

Congratulations Urban and Christel who are expecting their first baby in March next year

Bye for now