Your Dose of Hope for November

Kia ora tātou!

Our team faced a serious challenge when planning this Dose of Hope.

It turned out we had too many hopeful stories to share with you, which led to one of our longest doses of hopes ever!

From animal rights, to reality television, to alcohol harm minimisation — we are seeing people-powered progress everywhere! There is a committed group of people, past and present, behind every kaupapa. We may never see them in the national news, but they have contributed to making our country a better place. That fact certainly brings me hope.

So, stretch out in the sun this weekend and enjoy this chonky boi kererū of a dose of hope.

🐐🦌 No more perilous sea voyages for our farm animals 🐑🐮

Animal rights charity SAFE and activists across the country have secured a major victory for the welfare of our livestock animals. Caring animal lovers in our communities spent decades sending emails to ministers, attending local protests and signing petitions. And now The Animal Welfare Amendment Bill to ban Live Export by Sea has passed! All exports of live cattle, deer, goats and sheep by sea will stop on 30 April 2023.

SAFE are confident that Aotearoa’s ban will have a knock-on effect. Other countries are also considering phasing out live exports, including Australia and the European Union, potentially saving hundreds of thousands of animals from suffering a cruel fate.

This petition has been delivered and you can get updates by signing up on the petition page here.

📢 Call to ban classroom streaming loud and clear 📢

As a nation we pride ourselves on being fair. We want to believe that no matter the circumstances you are born into, we all have an equal opportunity to achieve our potential. But right now, an unfair practice stands in the way.

This practice is called streaming, or ‘in-class grouping’ in primary schools and ‘banding’ in secondary schools. The top groups get more challenging work, more teacher time and higher expectations.

While the Ministry of Education agrees that both fixed-ability grouping and streaming is harmful, any moves away from the practice lie with individual schools. In a 2020 interview on current affairs programme The Hui, Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins stated, “All of the international research is very clear: streaming does more harm than good, it isn’t justified, it’s wrong, it’s discriminatory, it’s unfair.” There is official advice, but no mandate yet. Key teacher unions recently voted in support of ending streaming and are demanding to end the practice by 2030. Let’s keep the pressure on.

What can you do to help?

📖 Read this report from Tokona te Raki who’ve led the conversation since 2019.

📺 Watch the webinar we hosted on this issue last year.

✍🏽 Sign the petition and get involved!

🗣️ Start a kōrero to end streaming in your local school community.

📺Better reality TV is on its way📺

Many of us love to sit down after a long day and chill out with our favourite reality television. Even if it’s a guilty pleasure, we expect that the shows we watch will treat everyone with respect.

But TVNZ’s recent show, F-boy Island has come under fire. The programme is based on the idea that women have to choose a man, who either could be a ‘nice guy’ or a ‘f-boy’. Project Gender were deeply concerned that the show normalises and champions predatory and dangerous sexual behaviour that harms people, particularly young people.

So they started a petition to pull the show from our public broadcasting provider. Thanks to the support of the ActionStation community, the petition gained over 5000 signatures within the first two weeks. This pushed TVNZ to respond and their CEO, Simon Power met with Project Gender to discuss their concerns.

The result was “an open, honest and fruitful kōrero” and a commitment from Simon to work with Project Gender at a strategic level to help TVNZ apply a gender lens across their content development and support them to, in his words, ‘get it right’.

The power of community campaigning shows up clearly in moments like these. Thank you to everyone who has supported this campaign so far, and to Project Gender for stepping up to lead on this important issue.

💪 8,000 of us called for communities to take control of our health 💪

Image: Whakaata Māori and Hāpai Te Hauora

We want to draw attention to a huge win this week for our collective wellbeing. Our individual health is dependent on the health of our communities as a whole. And when communities have the power and resources to determine for themselves how to do that, all of us benefit.

So we are thrilled that, earlier this week, the government announced they will put more power in the hands of communities to decide how, where, and when alcohol is sold. They’re also going to review alcohol marketing and sponsorship early next year.

More than 8,000 ActionStation members supported a petition, delivered to Parliament in September, calling for the adoption of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Harm Minimisation) Amendment Bill. While the announced changes don’t cover everything in the Bill — like ending alcohol advertising and sponsorship in broadcast sport — they signal huge progress toward communities deciding for themselves how alcohol is regulated.

✊🏼 Porirua shows its enthusiasm for tackling climate pollution ✊🏼

Our Porirua-based climate justice campaign saw a flurry of activity over the past few months, with events and local election efforts.

Here’s just a snapshot of what happened to generate support for climate action for the Wellington region:

1. Getting out the vote! ActionStation’s climate team got more people enrolled so they received their voting papers in the mail, especially Māori based in Porirua. This included visiting kaumatua and door knocking around Takapūwāhia pā. And it was all worth it! As you may have seen, there’s been some great outcomes for Porirua and Greater Wellington regional councils with more mana whenua present than ever, and a strong crew of progressive representatives for Wellington City who are taking a stand for climate action. Thank you to everyone who made it to the ballot box!

2. Our climate justice campaigner, Pania, organised several events to reduce biowaste emissions in Porirua. This kicked off with a bus tour for local mana whenua of the wastewater treatment plant and its catchment. Wellington Water explained to attendees about how the wastewater network functions, the issues that cause pollution of the harbour and planned solutions to help slow this down. This was followed by a speak-out session where mana whenua had the opportunity to come together and discuss how wastewater pollution continues to negatively impact their health, wāhi tapu (sites of significance) and cultural practices. This has built further momentum for local solutions to climate pollution in Porirua.

🗓️ Join us for GivingTuesday 🗓️

GivingTuesday is a global event that reimagines a world built upon shared humanity and radical generosity. For some people that means going to a community planting day. For others, it looks like donating to a local organisation.

ActionStation is participating in GivingTuesday on November 29 and would love your support!

Here are the ways you can get involved:

🗓️ Mark your calendar: Here’s a link to our GivingTuesday event so you can stay in the loop.

✍🏽 Take an action: Check out the community based campaigns on OurActionStation and sign your support on a kaupapa you care about.

💸 Donate if you can: You can help keep campaigns running by making a donation here.

🗣️ Spread the word: Let your friends and fams know you are supporting us by sharing a favourite ActionStation campaign on your social media. Make sure to use the hashtag #GivingTuesday and tag us so we can share!

🎉 Welcoming new team members 🎉

This month we say a temporary goodbye to two of our staff, who are embarking on the political challenge of having their first babies. Nau mai ki Te Ao Mārama, e ngā pēpi!

We are excited to have Vera Seyra Kruger-Tagboto providing parental leave cover for the OurActionStation Community Organiser role. Vera (Ghanaian Ewe and German) grew up in West Germany, before moving to Aotearoa when she was seventeen. She has just finished her post-graduate study in Health Psychology (congratulations!) and was a key organiser of the 2020 Black Lives Matter March that took place in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Her passions lie in anti-racism, intersectional feminism, decolonisation and climate change movements.

Joe Salmon is our new Senior Developer. Joe (Pākehā) has over 15 years experience as a web developer and graphic designer, working mainly in the arts and cultural sectors, as well as for local government. Originally from Ahuriri (Napier), Joe is currently based in Whanganui, where he lives on Ngā Rauru whenua with his wife and two young tamariki. He’s excited by the capacity for digital technology to enable folk to participate in meaningful social change.

That’s all for now! In unshakeable hope for the better world we dream of,

Kassie, Madeleine, Ann, Pania, Aiko, Ruby, Vera, Joe, Nikky, Ella Grace, Indi, Ali and Max — your ActionStation team.

P.S. Did you see the riveting election win in Brazil? Congratulations to everyone involved in pushing out the far right incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, including our sister organisation Nossas. We wish the Brazilian people all the best!