Posted October 13th, 2009

Letter To Northland MP John Carter – The Dargaville Meeting

Dear John

We had a very well attended meeting of 62 people at Dargaville last night and it is a shame that you could not be at the meeting yourself. 

Although similar in its purpose and goal to the meetings organized by John Boscawen, this was not an ACT meeting, but a meeting organized by Northlanders and for Northlanders.  We wanted to create a platform to discuss the highly contentious issue of Sue Bradford’s Anti-Smacking Bill, the Referendum and the Government’s unacceptable response to the will of the over 90% of Northlanders voting NO to the question ”Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand!” 

It became clear that every person in the room understood that the issue has moved on from the Anti-Smacking Bill and is now really an issue of how our democratic processes are applied and safeguarded by our elected representatives. John, I think it would be foolish of you, the National Party and the Government to believe that this issue will go away by a bit of “window dressing” in the form of reviews and inquiries as suggested by John Key. How many reviews and inquiries did we have during Labour’s reign? Even the most placid and uninformed person has realized by now that these reviews are not worth the paper they are written on. What we want and why we voted for you are clear and decisive actions in line with the will of the vast majority of New Zealanders.

Although I can understand to some degree that John Key and the Government and maybe even you are scared of the small, but often ferocious minority of demagogues pushing for these anti-freedom and anti-family laws (these people are often ruthless, foulmouthed and not the least interested in democratic processes) you must not underestimate the power of the “silent majority” – there is only so much we can and will take.

John, people were disappointed that you did not take a stand and you did not answer the questions we put before you. One day you will have to make a clear stand and be rest assured that the eyes of your Northland constituents will be on you watching whether you represent our clearly expressed will or not.

Like most people, I am realistic about the political processes and although my clear preference would be to reinstate the well working Section 59 as it was before 2007, I realize that might be considered not possible, even in the current political landscape. Supporting the Boscawen Amendment, which has its origin in National’s own Burrows Amendment which John Key claimed would have been his choice back then had he had the numbers, is possible – you have the numbers now (most likely even for both options)! 

This is not a time for cowards. For the sake of our freedom, for Democracy and the future of our children and grand children we want our elected representatives, like yourself, to show backbone and stand up against the small group of anti-democratic political activists and we want to know that you are representing us, the vast majority of Northlanders  – if not, there is no point in voting for you or National ever again, is there?

 

With kind regards,
Peter