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A huge hi to all our Members, supporters and friends,

Gosh can you believe another election is only 7 months away.

We in the Outdoors & Freedom Party have well prepared for it having had an important planning get together last month. Part of the planning has included our efforts to get a coalition together with as many of the smaller parties as signaled by the membership at large.  In each case it has caused nothing but delay after delay only to come to a fruitless conclusion. We have tried to talk to everyone and tried all sorts of formulas but apart from the Yes Aotearoa Party (whom we are working with) little has been achieved. So we are now at full speed getting our party into full election mode.  The NZ Outdoors & Freedom party is now officially a Component party so any party who wishes to talk to us in the future about a coalition please do.

A number or party stalwarts have been helping out in the Hawkes Bay cleanup and we are all juggling our lives to accommodate the ongoing tsunami of issues and jobs so don't hesitate if you can help.

A number of things come to mind that need attention from members.

With an election coming up we need funds. How you can donate is in a link under this. We do not accept funding from large corporates and rely on our membership to help. The reason is that we need to retain our independence and not be beholding to anyone but our members.

So much has happened in the last few months. Last week we presented our submission to the select committee on the Therapeutics bill now before parliament. You can see our facebook live stream of it here.  https://www.facebook.com/NZOutdoorsandFreedomParty/videos/164026966497003

Parliamentary Petition. Board Member Aly Cook has managed to get a parliamentary petition going and is urgently looking for signatures to get this over the line. It is not easy to get a parliamentary petition going so please support it now. https://petitions.parliament.nz/7e760f56-5aa0-448e-8c2b-9652f7fe3215

Waitangi Speakers Tent. We put in a big showing in Waitangi and our co leaders scrapped it out in the speakers tent, with the Greens actually singing over the top of us to drown out our speech.   https://www.facebook.com/NZOutdoorsandFreedomParty/videos/1525437011310076

Sue Grey, co leader and Liz Gunn championed the Baby W case in the Auckland high court which bought a storm of media inquiries even from overseas in the UK and the USA. We found out NZ media had been told by management not to publish anything about the Outdoors Party or report anything so our news blackout continues for what reason is lost on me.

While on that subject we also found we had been assigned a police detective to keep an eye on what we publish. We really do feel big brother does not like our party as we don't get published in the polls or in the media. We must be really rattling the cage.

Co Leader Donna Pokere Phillips stood in the Hamilton By Election and you can check out a good interview with Donna here on joining the Outdoors & Freedom Party. https://www.facebook.com/NZOutdoorsandFreedomParty/videos/657506009180129

Pine Forests and Carbon Credits.  I wrote a paper on the effects of pine trees on our environment after giving a small speech at a meeting at Manakau Heads.  That paper will be below in a link.  I personally would like to do more on the fishing industry but oh  gosh there are too many issues to deal with. If anyone with expertise in this area wants to delve into that minefield then please do and report back with a paper for us to publish.

Image required. If you have an image that depicts a family group or some mates in a rockpool gathering kaimoana or in a pipi bed or like then please we would love to have a look at it as we have a need for something like that. It needs to be NZ of course. Send to me alan@fishnhunt.co.nz

Over the last few months we have held lots of meetings all over the country. We did meetings at Manakau Heads, Warkworth, The Barn in Taipa Northland, Whangarei, Waitangi  all were full houses and often people standing or listening through windows. That's a wonderful sign that people want to hear what we are saying. The same was said for Sue Grey who did a tour of the South Island on her own and had well attended meetings all over the South and up the West Coast.  We will again undertake another meeting tour in a couple of months time nearer to the election.

Eligibility to vote from overseas

I wonder how many people noted this bill and understood its effect.

The Bill passed in Parliament this week also extends the eligibility criteria for New Zealanders living overseas to enroll and vote in the 2023 General Election.

From 31 March 2023, if you live overseas, you can enrol if you’re a:

• New Zealand citizen who has been in New Zealand within the last 6 years, or
• New Zealand permanent resident and have been in New Zealand in the last 4 years.

After the 2023 election the eligibility criteria will change back to the current settings of 3 years for New Zealand citizens and 12 months for New Zealand permanent residents.

On other matters we have a petition on the Therapeutic Bill at http://oursay.co.nz/index.php/2023/01/22/petition-hands-off-our-food-herbs-and-natural-products/

So far that petition has sent 16500 plus emails to parliament, as each time it is signed it sends your petition to the government.

Summer just showed up over the last few days so I'm keen to at least get some sun as I understand it ends tomorrow!

If anyone is interested you can also go to my own personal facebook page and read a bit I wrote about the police assault on me last year that broke my hip.

https://www.facebook.com/gunangler/

very shortly we will email you with regards to our AGM and candidate lists. If you would like to be on out list or a candidate then email Catherine. catherine.giorza@gmail.com

That's all for now and I again thank you all for being members, supporters and friends of the party.

Alan Simmons. President.