Wednesday 20 May 2009

The Hand Mirror's Mt Albert by-election survey launched!

Readers of some vintage may recall that we ran a candidate survey prior to the 2008 General Election which elicited almost 50 responses, including replies from all the political parties then in Parliament (either from individual candidates, or the party as a whole, or both), including a number of sitting MPs. Both Labour and National, amongst others, sent official party responses. You can see a full index of the responses, and a link to the questions we asked, here.

Due to the success of that survey, and its popularity amongst our readership, we have decided to do a survey for the by-election, using web-based survey tool Survey Monkey this time to make it easier for everyone.

The questions are as follows:
Write-in answers:
  • What particular issues do you believe women in Mt Albert face?
  • How do you think women's representation could be preserved and/or enhanced if the proposed Auckland Super City proceeds?
Multiple choice answers, with an option to comment as well:
  • Should the Ministry of Women's Affairs be: Abolished OR Decreased OR Continued at the current level OR Increased
  • In considering allegations of rape the law should: Require the defendant to prove sex was consensual OR require the victim to disprove sex was consensual (status quo)
  • Should access to abortion be: Abolished OR Restricted OR Continued as currently provided OR Increased to on demand
  • Should paid parental leave be: Abolished OR Decreased OR Continued at the current level OR Increased
  • In the forthcoming Child Discipline referendum New Zealanders should: Vote Yes OR Vote No or Abstain
  • Pay Equity measures by Government are: Necessary OR Unnecessary
  • Social change advertising campaigns, such as It's Not Ok, should be: Abolished OR Decreased OR Continued at the current level OR Increased
The email to candidates inviting them to take part has gone out today to the following candidates (or at least the email of someone within their organisation):
If more hats are thrown in the ring do kindly let us know and they too shall receive an email about the survey. Update: in fact here are the extra names according to Scoop, hat tipped in the direction of Mr Idiot Savant/Independent Lefty Liberal.
We'll put the responses up as they come in and as our workload allows. Cut-off date is Wednesday 10th June 12noon Friday 12th June*, with the by-election voting on Saturday 13th June.


* Because I've had so little blog time since we launched it that I was slack about following up etc.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

* Should the Ministry of Women's Affairs be: Abolished OR Decreased OR Continued at the current level OR Increased

Abolished immediately

* In considering allegations of rape the law should: Require the defendant to prove sex was consensual OR require the victim to disprove sex was consensual (status quo)

Status quo, there are far to many false allegations made to change the law.

* Should access to abortion be: Abolished OR Restricted OR Continued as currently provided OR Increased to on demand

Severely restricted and not at all after 13 weeks unless the life of the mother is at extreme risk.

* Should paid parental leave be: Abolished OR Decreased OR Continued at the current level OR Increased

Abolished, if you cannot afford to feed it then do not breed it.

* In the forthcoming Child Discipline referendum New Zealanders should: Vote Yes OR Vote No or Abstain

Change the legislation to encompass the Burrows amendment.

* Pay Equity measures by Government are: Necessary OR Unnecessary

Unnecessary, we already have equal pay.

* Social change advertising campaigns, such as It's Not Ok, should be: Abolished OR Decreased OR Continued at the current level OR Increased

Abolished.

Bruv

katy said...

"* Should paid parental leave be: Abolished OR Decreased OR Continued at the current level OR Increased

Abolished, if you cannot afford to feed it then do not breed it."

Do you understand what Paid Parental Leave is??

stargazer said...

bruv, last i heard you were a frogblog troll, not a candidate for mt albert. and we already know that you're views are far right, so how about you save yourself some time by not wasting it here.

anthea said...

I may well be throwing food under the bridge here, but you want abortion severely restructed and people who can't live on nothing to stop breeding??????? Do you understand why this is problematic?

Anna said...

Bruv, when you make statements like 'we already have equal pay', it's good form to back them up with evidence. If there's no evidence, that should tell you something about the worth of the statement.

If you can't add anything useful I'm going to start deleting you - you're just getting in the way of people who want to have intelligent conversations.

Anna said...

If people stopped breeding, there wouldn't be any children to smack. Then what would we do?

Trouble said...

DFTT. I'm much more interested in hearing what the real candidates have to say than arguing with random stirrers.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anna said...

Debate is fine, Bruv, but making statements with no evidence or reasoning to support them isn't a debate. It's a hindrance to people who enjoy informed discussion, and it's boring. So I'm deleting you. Feel free to come back when you've got something worthwhile to say.

Julie said...

I should also note that there are quite a few more candidates, and Idiot/Savant has a full list here. I'm away at the moment and internet access is sporadic and crap so things like editing posts: we duz nt hav teh technologe until the weekend.

stargazer said...

best definition of a troll: tries to make the thread all about him/her. thanx for deleting anna.

back on topic, you've done a great job with the questionnaire julie, & i'm looking forward to the responses.

Anonymous said...

What is radical about making sure parents can AFFORD to have children before having them? Why should the state be paying for you to have children? Even questioning this basic theory is the reason why so many children are born into families that cannot look after their own properly, that turns kids into murderers and rapists.

Sure there are grey areas but if we were all more responsible parents (as I am sure you all are) then society would be a lot better for it.

stargazer said...

so what's your plan for stopping people from having kids if they can't afford them? compulsory abortions? forced contraception? and how are you to implement those policies, when people refuse? or are you going forcibly take their children from them? if so, who would look after them, who would pay for their upbringing and nurture them?

and which party currently in parliament do you think would be prepared to pass such laws? i'd suggest that there's not a single one, so your little rant is a waste of time.

much better to ensure that families have a decent income to live on, and provide education for parents.

Anonymous said...

I thought that one of the pillars of feminism was free speech, seems that is not the case.

That is quiet sad.

Bruv

Anna said...

Well, that depends on the feminist you talk to, Bruv - and it's a little bit patronising for someone who clearly has no knowledge or interest in feminism to tell the ladies what our beliefs are. This feminist thinks that speech used to deliberately offend others for no good reason doesn't add much of value to the world. And this blog clearly doesn't exist to give a platform to trolls. If you're interested in the ethos of this blog, you can participate constructively. If not, you can go somewhere else - entirely up to you.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
stargazer said...

bruv, you can find our views on freedom of speech in the comments of this post. we have clearly stated that moderation discussions are to be held by email and off the blog. the fact that you can't even adhere to that simple request shows that your comments are not likely to survive on this blog.

Anonymous said...

Told ya Bruv!!!