MENZ Issues: news and discussion about New Zealand men, fathers, family law, divorce, courts, protests, gender politics, and male health.

Violence law faces challenge
by GILL VOWLES
March 14, 2010 08:50am

A TASMANIAN group has filed a $200 million class action against Premier David Bartlett and the Director of Public Prosecutions.

It is believed to be the first Australian class action against a law.

JAIL (Juries Against Illegal Laws) filed papers with the Federal Court of Australia on February 4 claiming that the Family Violence Act 2004 (Tasmania) was invalid.

The group is claiming $200 million in damages under Section 46 of the Australian Human Rights Commission Act.

JAIL is also seeking an additional $200,000 in damages for unlawful assault, trespass, negligence, conspiracy to cause economic loss, intimidation and defamation.

The writ further seeks an order that the Tasmanian Government and DPP Tim Ellis cease to engage in arresting people without proper evidence or procedures, giving police judicial powers, denying people the right to a fair and proper hearing and usurping the proper role of the courts.

JAIL president Ray Escobar said that if the class action was successful the money would be given to all the Tasmanians who had suffered under the Family Violence Act.

JAIL, formed in early 2008, now has more than 200 members around Tasmania who have been, or are related to, victims of false applications for violence orders.

Mr Escobar said JAIL was being represented by one of the finest legal minds in Australia, Sir John Walsh of Brannagh, who lives on Norfolk Island.

Sir John said he agreed to represent JAIL because the case raised important and fundamental questions of human rights, such as the presumption of innocence, right to a fair trial and the separation of powers.

“The legislation, and the way it is enforced, is contrary to human rights and to international law as accepted by Australia,” Sir John said.

“The legislation conflicts with the Constitution of Australia and with the fundamental rights of all Australians.”
Sir John said he was confident a federal judge would apply the law of the Commonwealth and the fundamental principles of Australia’s legal system.

JAIL’s application has been set down for hearing in the Tasmanian registry of the Federal Court of Australia at 10am on Monday, April 12.

Link Here
For those interested in further info, contact: Ray Escobar, “Lest We Forget”, J.A.I.L
Email: rjescobar1@bigpond.com

Erin Pizzey: An Open Letter to Women in the Domestic Violence Movement
Friday, March 12, 2010
By Abusegate Bob

Link Here

AN OPEN LETTER TO WOMEN IN THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MOVEMENT FROM THE FOUNDER OF THE MOVEMENT AND AUTHOR OF THE FIRST MODERN BOOK ABOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

When I first tried to open the refuge, the police, the charities, the social service agencies, the newspapers, all said it would stand empty. They said it wasn’t a significant problem, that it happened only rarely, and when it did it was already being handled effectively by the existing agencies.

Domestic violence against women was only a minor problem, and very few women were getting seriously hurt anyway. Of course, when we finally did open, and got a little support at last to make women aware of our existence, we were filled to overflowing and the phone was ringing off the hook.
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AUSTRALIA – THE CONCEALED COLONY “The Truth Will Set Us Free”
The website is now reaching toward two milllion views and gaining traction.
It exposes all manner of corruption and practices we, the lay people, collectively face.

Kindest Regards
Paul and Opal Catton

Well I haven’t been able to post this petition so it’s full size, but it’s big enough to collect signatures on. If anyone finds a way to restore it to fit almost an entire A4 page, they could inform the group.

Kerry asked me to post this release.

SKELETON SUICIDE PETITION HITS NERVE

The skeleton suicide petitioners say they have hit a nerve on the streets in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Since launching the skeleton suicide petition at parliament they have gathered thousands of signatures for an inquiry into suicide. The working party on suicide claim New Zealand has a serious social problem indicated by the latest OECD suicide statistics. Wearing their skeleton suits the “skeletoneers” are taking their deadly concerns to Hamilton, Tauranga, Napier and Hastings before presenting the petition at parliament at 11.00am on Friday the 19th March.

Skeleton spokesman Kerry Bevin said “we must confront this tragic secret. It is ok to talk about suicide. Decent kiwis can no longer accept so many feel worthless and powerless, too many attempt and finally complete. The suicide toll is too high; the human right to a better life is being undermined”.

Mr Bevin noted “alarming rates for males and Maori were sidestepped by Peter Dunn’s suicide plan committee who totally ignored the social devastation of suicided fathers following separation.
Autocide is not mentioned either. No clear intervention or funding for the “at risk” is proffered nor any legislative scoping or mental health supports set. Who is going to get real about suicide before this self-destructive cycle becomes a morbid population?” He asked.

“We took our plea to John Key in Parnell. No response from the prime minister. The media seem oblivious too. However we are encouraged by thousands of concerned citizens. Unfortunately many have direct experience with suicide. The Fathers Coalition and the Republican Party have been supportive” said the skeleton spokesman.

Phone working party on suicide

Kerry Bevin (09) 473 3747
Jack Gielen (07) 859 2939
Craig Jackson (04) 389 2291

It is often said on these boards that New Zealand is a highly feminist society. After doing a little research online I have to disagree.

According to dictionary.com, the definition of feminism is:

1 The doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women EQUAL to those of men.

2 An organized movement for the attainment of such rights for women.

3 Feminine character.

Wikipedia has a similar definition:

“The term feminism can be used to describe a political, cultural, or economic movement aimed at establishing equal rights and legal protection for women. Feminism involves political, cultural and sociological theories, as well as philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. It is also a movement that advocates gender equality for women and campaigns for women’s rights and interests.”

The question is simple. Is feminism in New Zealand advocating EQUAL rights for men and women? It would certainly appear that this is not the case, with various experiences on this site indicating that anti-male attitudes and policies are well and truly entrenched throughout New Zealand. Man hating is not part of feminism; feminism is about equality.

Now it could be argued that the New Zealand government and other governments around the world are giving extra help to females because of gender inequalities, thereby equalizing the gaps between the sexes in traditionally male areas, (pay rates and such like.) But this doesn’t make any sense either, after all, how can women have equal rights to men, if men don’t have equal rights to women; it’s a two edged sword.

Or is feminism truly just about women? This certainly seems to be the case in New Zealand, where the “equal“ rights of women seem to dominate our society. If feminism is about equality, then this can hardly be called a “victory” for the feminists; unless their agenda was not equality in the first place. In reality a search for equal rights would result in the feminists being just as concerned for the rights of men, and this would give rise to extra help in order to equalize human rights in the areas that men are not equal to women, for example in relation to family and children. Men were just as oppressed by the old sex roles as women, and although it is now considered acceptable for a man to play a more active part in the family, we are a long way from gender equality when it comes to other matters of the family, as is shown by the experiences of men during family breakdown.

The only conclusion is that what is called feminism is not about equal rights at all, both in New Zealand and throughout western countries. Men are actively discriminated against right throughout western society. It is considered fine in western society for women to display open misandry, to insult men in public, or thorough advertising; political policies are brought in that are anti male in their agenda; examples abound throughout this site in every area of anti-male behaviour and policy that we can imagine.

So with all this anti male behaviour from supposedly equality seeking feminists perhaps it’s time to find a new word whose definition matches the reality of the “feminists” in western society.

We know that “feminists” are no longer concerned about reaching equality with men. Two groups of people are either equal or in-equal and this brings us to the inescapable conclusion that the agenda of “feminism” is superiority of women over men. This certainly seems to match the facts of New Zealand’s treatment of men and brings us to a completely different word to describe these “feminists” A word that feminists themselves touted in the 1960s. Chauvinism.

According to dictionary.com, the definition of chauvinism is:

1 Zealous and aggressive patriotism or blind enthusiasm for military glory.

2 Militant devotion to and glorification of one’s country; fanatical patriotism.

3 Biased devotion to any group, attitude, or cause.

4 PREJUDICED BELIEF IN THE SUPERIORITY OF ONE’S OWN GENDER, GROUP, OR KIND.

It is this fourth definition that was applied to men in the late 1960s thereby giving rise to the term, “Male Chauvinist” this was based on an entrenched attitude in the past that men were superior to women. I might add that this attitude still exists in certain places in the world where feminism didn’t reach, such as Central Asia.

This definition, when applied to women seems to match the reality of modern western society very accurately. There is an increasingly disturbing trend of women seeing themselves as superior to men, therefore deserving rights that men do not have. This is seen right throughout western society, and is becoming more deeply entrenched as time passes. It seems that western society is becoming full of female chauvinists masquerading as feminists and pretending to be victims.

My challenge to all men and women is to call these “feminists” what they really are.

They are FEMALE CHAUVINISTS!!!

United Future, (New Zealand political party) President and gender affairs spokesperson Judy Turner has told the media that her party stands for men’s rights when it comes to family violence. The Families Commission was set up by the Labour Government in a deal with United Future party after the 2002 election because United Future believed that the family is the core unit of our society and is the place where all values and skills for living harmoniously in a modern society emanate from. As we know, feminism (Labour) is about destroying the traditional family unit as it is a radical movement insisting on changing societal norms. So the Families Commission was set up to remove the conflict between the two party’s policies.

One of the things the Families Commission deals with is family violence and the rights of each individual in the family where women are a class, gay and lesbians are a class, children are a class, elderly are a class and minority groups are a class. The only class that doesn’t exist are young men over the age of thirteen to grown men who are not yet elderly. Judy Turner is aware this is discrimination and wants to see this changed.

Her statement comes after the release of the 2010 family violence death report which states 12 men, 16 children and 13 women were abused so badly they died at the hands of the people they should have been able to trust – their own family members.
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Dear Angela and Ors,

Many continue to provide distracting and alternative opinions from the many issues and realities expierenced by the significant majority of users of this website, it thus diminishes to a bun-fighting merry-go-round contest, thus with denigration of the valuable resource /advice available to men and families that this site is able to provide.

This Post would require reply from Angela as it has been previously requested under this forum under occassion

1.Why are you here?
2.What do you wish to achieve?
3.And why?

We always remain in
Kindest Regards
Paul & Opal Catton
(09) 271 3020

At the salon, I overheard the receptionist admit to another woman, “I haven’t taken my vitamins today. I’m walking around unprotected.”

The woman commiserated with her. “I haven’t taken my Prozac today—everyone’s walking around unprotected.”

The DVA and and the essence of its implementation and the industry around it are the main reason for the deaths statistics cited in the article below. Most of the deaths are a consequence of the brutish and violent Family Court intervention. I call the review panel to poke its nose inside the Family Court dodgy practices and money hungry lawyers.

Numerous analysis and comments here in this website point the finger at the Family Court and the domestic violence industry.

Note that suicides among kiwi dads did not make it into the reports stats.

Article read from here

By KATIE CHAPMAN – The Dominion Post

Figures that show at least 41 New Zealanders died at the hands of family members in 2009 have been labelled “staggering” by some working to stop family violence.

The Family Violence Death Review Committee issued the figures in its annual report to Parliament. But it says the number could still get higher, as some deaths at the end of the year have not yet been included.

The figure is made up of 16 children, 13 women and 12 men – 10 deaths above the national average of 14 women, six men and 10 children killed each year.

A family violence death is defined as “the unnatural death of a person (adult or child) where the suspected perpetrator is a family or extended family member, caregiver, intimate partner, previous partner of the victim, or previous partner of the victim’s current partner”.

Committee chairwoman Wendy Davis said this was the first year the committee, which was established by the Health Ministry in 2008, had formally provided an official toll.

It was a shocking, yet unsurprising, result, she said.

“Nobody in New Zealand who works in the family violence area is surprised by these.”

The committee planned to analyse each death to highlight “crisis points” where intervention may have been possible, she said. The more information, the better equipped they would be to address the problem, she said.

“As a group we are very aware of the complexity of the problem we are helping to try and solve.”

Family violence researcher and campaigner Ruth Herbert, who is a member of the Round Table for Violence Against Women, labelled the figure “staggering”. “To actually hear it as an official number kind of makes me a bit weak at the knees.”

Now the information was public it had to be used to make a difference, she said.

“This country has to stand up, open its eyes, and realise what’s going on behind closed doors.

“We need to take a concerted approach to this. We need to base what we’re doing on evidence. It really needs a family violence programme. It’s all been rather ad hoc to date.”

The Family Violence Death Review Committee’s report says it aims to review each death and make recommendations by the end of 2010.