Signathon this weekend

Written By: - Date published: 4:28 pm, November 21st, 2012 - 36 comments
Categories: Privatisation - Tags: ,

On the weekend of 24-25 November we are mounting a major nationwide collection drive to reach the signature target we need to force a citizens initiated referendum on asset sales. Can you help to collect signatures?

So says the website for this weekend’s Signathon.

If you look at their map of over 300 collection points, there’s places you can help everywhere.

The Keep Our Assets coalition* have the 310,000 signatures needed to force a referendum already, but want 80,000 more to cover all the duplicate / unreadable / not on the electoral roll signatures.

The aim is to get them all this weekend, so that the Electoral Commission can be well into accepting them by Christmas, and the Government has to announce when the referendum will be early in the New Year.

You know you can and want to help, so Sign On!

[Incidentally the list is a great source of the fantastic events happening this weekend in our vibrant Aotearoa!]

* Grey Power, Labour, Greens, Unions, Student Associations and Greenpeace.

36 comments on “Signathon this weekend ”

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  1. Lanthanide 1
    21 November 2012 at 4:36 pm

    So when does time run out on this signature gathering exercise?

    • alex 1.1
      21 November 2012 at 5:08 pm

      Not until about Feb next year, and given that the count is now over 300,000, I think we will make it. The point of this exercise is to overshoot the required number, just in case some signatures are double ups, not filled out correctly, wrong address on the electoral roll, that sort of thing.

      • Lanthanide 1.1.1
        21 November 2012 at 5:31 pm

        Yeah, but there were previous lofty aims of being able to get all the signatures wrapped up in 6-9 months, because it had such widespread support by the public.

        Guess not.

        • Shane Gallagher 1.1.1.1
          21 November 2012 at 5:42 pm

          IF you had been out collecting signatures you would realise how long it takes to get signatures. It averages about 10-15 an hour and takes a bit of courage to stand on a street corner and ask people to sign and take the odd bit of abuse from National party supporters… It is a massive effort and the Greens have collected over 160,000 of those signatures.

          • fatty 1.1.1.1.1
            21 November 2012 at 5:52 pm

            take the odd bit of abuse from National party supporters

            That sounds like fun. Take it as a compliment and blow them a kiss…I would

          • Lanthanide 1.1.1.1.2
            21 November 2012 at 6:31 pm

            What’s that got to do with the predictions it would only take 6-9 months?

            • Draco T Bastard 1.1.1.1.2.1
              21 November 2012 at 7:55 pm

              So, how many months has it been?

              Seems that the petition started in March or April this year. Enough signatures have already been collected but now they’re going for overshoot to decrease the probability of Murphy playing his part.

              By my count March +9 = December. April +9 = January.

              Predictions are notoriously inaccurate but I’d say things are within reasonable tolerance.

              So, what was your point again?

          • geoff2 1.1.1.1.3
            21 November 2012 at 9:45 pm

            I,ve signed up 17 times

            [lprent: we already have a current geoff, changing your handle. ]

            • Draco T Bastard 1.1.1.1.3.1
              21 November 2012 at 10:20 pm

              Which just proves that you’re really, really, stupid. You wasted you time for no appreciable gain.

            • David H 1.1.1.1.3.2
              22 November 2012 at 8:37 am

              To say nothing of the time you waste when people have to check for duplicates. He must be an Act supporter they’re that stoopid.

            • toad 1.1.1.1.3.3
              22 November 2012 at 9:23 am

              And it is people like you who make us do the extra work of collecting more than should be necessary.

  2. alex 2
    21 November 2012 at 5:09 pm

    Also nice one Ben for putting something up about this. If anyone needs evidence that Labour and the Greens can work together, the Keep Our Assets petition is the perfect example.

  3. Mark Fletcher 3
    21 November 2012 at 5:16 pm

    Citizens Initiated Referendum is a bit ironic considering the “Keep Our Assets coalition*
    * Grey Power, LABOUR, GREENS, Unions, Student Associations and Greenpeace.”

    Are hardly Citizens!

  4. AmaKiwi 4
    21 November 2012 at 10:41 pm

    In Switzerland they need 50,000 signatures for a BINDING referendum, and they have twice our population.

    • infused 4.1
      22 November 2012 at 12:57 am

      Who cares.

      • felix 4.1.1
        22 November 2012 at 1:50 am

        No-one really, except people who are interested in democracy.

        You can sit this one out.

        • AmaKiwi 4.1.1.1
          22 November 2012 at 2:26 am

          I put that info up about Switzerland so you can appreciate the tokenism of our referendum which the government has promised to ignore, even if we get 2 million signatures.

          NZ is a parliamentary dictatorship. Changing the dictatorship of the Labour caucus over the members is a small step in the correct direction. The real goal is when all the voters can overrule the stupidities of the NZ parliament with veto referendums.

          This is not a battle between Left and Right. Labour governments have passed laws that deserved be put to binding referendums.

  5. Bunnykinz 5
    22 November 2012 at 1:37 am

    Is there anyway for voters abroad to sign this? I am on the electoral roll but am overseas, obviously can’t physically sign the petition. I think a few of the other Kiwis I am in contact with may well be registered voters. Is there some way to sign it abroad?

    • AmaKiwi 5.1
      22 November 2012 at 2:29 am

      You can get someone to email you the petition, fill it out, sign it, and:

      1. fax it in, or
      2. send it by courier.

      I am told faxed signatures are supposed to be accepted as legally binding. The bureaucrats might decide differently.

      I forgot to mention, you have to be on the voting rolls. If you are not, your petition won’t count.

  6. kiwicommie 6
    22 November 2012 at 2:28 am

    Surprisingly I am neutral on asset sales even though I would prefer they weren’t sold (I can see benefits holding them and benefits not), so won’t be signing. Truth though is that John Key would ignore the referendum and sell the assets anyway.

    • AmaKiwi 6.1
      22 November 2012 at 2:39 am

      The banks which used to be ours (ASB, BNZ, etc.) and now belong to various Australian banks sent $3.6 billion to Australia in profits this year.

      $3.6 billion is $900 for every man, woman, and child in NZ. If we still owned them the $3.6 billion would be in NZ, not sent overseas.

      Isn’t that enough reason to not sell our assets?

      • kiwicommie 6.1.1
        22 November 2012 at 2:51 am

        Struth, New Zealand is a colony of the East India Company…scratch that…Australia Inc, China Inc and America Inc. 😉

      • DJ 6.1.2
        22 November 2012 at 8:08 am

        What a flawed argument. If they were running at that profit to start with, why would they have been sold?

        Could it be that now they are being run properly they are making this profit? God forbid capitalism really works!

    • toad 6.2
      22 November 2012 at 9:28 am

      At his political peril. If Key were to sell the assets despite a huge majority opposing asset sales in the referendum he will suffer a major electoral backlash.

  7. Roflcopter 7
    22 November 2012 at 8:30 am

    Pointless if they aren’t selling the assets, isn’t it?

  8. Stan 8
    22 November 2012 at 12:19 pm

    Nah too busy to sign a petition