I hope they throw the book at the 23-year-old woman who’s been charged after making a false rape complaint against a Wellington taxi driver.

The speakers at the New Zealand Men’s Issues Summit held in Auckland on 6th May 2005 were filmed by Murray Bacon and Bryan Norton. The videos have been formatted for the web by John Potter, and are available online thanks to www.archive.org. Video of John Tamihere at Men’s Issues Summit [26 MB .wmv] Video of […]

A Waikato woman has been jailed for making false complaints that she was raped by a policeman and sexually assaulted by his colleague. Sally Marie Inglis, 44, was sentenced to five months jail at the Tauranga District Court yesterday after being found guilty of two charges of making a false complaint to police. Judge Robert […]

by Chris Trotter. Otago Daily Times, August 12th 2005 I was one of those who signed the petition organised by Don Brash and Lynley Hood calling for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the arrest, trial and conviction of Peter Ellis in the Christchurch civic creche case. … While recommending a number of worthwhile changes […]

A shake-up of the Family Court would see a counselling and mediation service established to handle disputes, freeing up judges for the most high-risk and complex cases. Chief Family Court Judge Peter Boshier outlined the proposals in a speech to the Auckland Family Courts Association last night, saying the changes would help to reduce delays […]

More cases involving children should be dealt with outside court or by someone other than a judge, the principal Family Court judge says. … In a speech tonight to the Auckland Family Courts Association, Judge Boshier said the changes were needed to maintain confidence and reduce delays as requested by Parliament. He said: “Better processes […]

Vivienne Crawshaw has ended her series of articles in the Herald about the NZ Family Court. Two years of big advances in family law It would be an interesting exercise to analyse the outcomes she presents in her stories as a balanced picture, compared with the hundreds of actual Family Court judgements now in men’s […]

Media Release Parents for Children Child Support Act Creates Unjust and Inequitable Situation for Student Loan Borrowers Parents for Children have been supporting a father, who has a student debt, though the Family Court child support departure order process. The dad was seeking a variation to the rigid child support formula assessment (a Departure Order) […]

Hamilton police will decide this week whether to charge two women who made separate false rape complaints at the weekend. Detective Sergeant Nigel Keall said police spent time and resources investigating the women’s complaints. “It’s just a waste of resources that could have been used elsewhere.” … Senior investigators estimate that between 60 and 80 […]

A parliamentary committee has rejected a call for a royal commission of inquiry into the case of convicted childcare worker Peter Ellis. … A petition calling for a top-level look at the creche case has been with Parliament’s justice and electoral select committee for two years. Committee chairman Tim Barnett said today a royal commission […]

Is the glare of publicity too harsh for Family Courts to endure?, ask Citizens for Justice. They note that: On or about 29 July 2005, at about 5pm, exactly 29 days – just 4 weeks and 1 day – after the new “Care of Children Act 2004” came into effect, all those beautiful Family Court […]

Some items in the media about the Christchurch Men’s Issues Summit. In Father & Child Magazine Issue 30, Winter 2005 Page 18: Another forum touts the message that men are hard done by. It has all the ingredients of another expensive failure, writes Harald BreidingBuss. … Now, eight years later, we have had a ‘Men’s […]

Press Release: Society For Promotion Of Community Standards Inc. Bradford’s Repeal of s. 59 Criminalises all Parents Ms Bradford’s private members bill – the Crimes (Abolition of Force as a Justification for Child Discipline) Amendment Bill — that repeals section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961, was referred to the Justice and Electoral Committee last […]

“Thank you for the opportunity to open the training induction workshop, which launches the Family Safety Team pilot initiative. “The strength of this project is its integrated and collaborative approach. Family Safety Teams involve Justice, Police, CYF and, in the community sector, the National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges, Child Abuse Prevention Services, and the […]

Medical opinion is swinging towards prostate cancer screening for men, a leading Christchurch urologist says. The debate was reignited at the national GPs conference in Christchurch yesterday, despite current Ministry of Health advice against a national screening programme. In a show of hands, most GPs at the conference debate indicated they would offer prostate-specific antigen […]

The father of a girl videoed being sexually abused by her CYF-appointed caregiver says he pleaded with social workers not to place his daughters and son with the man because they would be in danger. Police are investigating the man after they discovered thousands of child pornography images on his computer and videos in which […]

By Barbara Faithfull 21st July 2005 Women’s Refuge appeal week is here again, and once again generously helped along by Body Shop, with lavish displays of Refuge literature etc. and other persuasive materials. Last year they also began a public petition for Refuge, calling on the government to increase its spending, and the N.Z. Herald […]

Around eleven pm that night a few short hours later he walked from the remnants of his family home, down to the local railway line, his choice of self imposed execution.

Excerpts from RadioNZ Morning Report Wed 6th July 7.08 am The families of four men convicted of rape wept at the High Court in Wellington yesterday as the verdicts were read out. … The rapes took place 16 years ago, and apart from the victim’s testimony there was no supporting or forensic evidence that the […]

New rules aimed at making it easier to settle paternity disputes are under fire even before they’ve come into force. Critics say couples will not always be able to prove who fathered a child because one partner will still be able to say “no” to DNA tests. … “You’re convicted without a trial at the […]

A bill removing the legal defence of “reasonable force” for parents punishing their children should be examined by a parliamentary committee rather than dismissed out of hand, Prime Minister Helen Clark says. Greens MP Sue Bradford’s private member’s bill that would repeal section 59 of the Crimes Act is expected to face its first reading […]

Chief Family Court Judge Peter Boshier says judges will interpret the new Care of Children Act to give both parents “optimum good quality time” with their children when the parents separate. The new law also gives children the right to their own lawyers in separation tussles, gives grandparents and others in the wider family the […]

If one hand is a false obligation surely the other is a false duty. The more pragmatic might ask – “Will the issue be ignored before the election and the corruption continue afterwards.” Regardless, such complicity betrays both a decent society and our children.

Dr Muriel Newman Speech to the Christchurch Mens Political Forum, Christchurch Community Law Centre, 7pm. Today we are being asked what our parties would do for New Zealand men. For a long time I have been extremely concerned about government policies, which disadvantage men and marginalise fathers. Since entering Parliament, ACT has consistently campaigned to […]

The Government will close a loophole that enables DPB recipients to block the collection of child support payments. Social Development and Employment Minister Steve Maharey revealed the planned change yesterday, after being questioned about assertions by National that more than 200 fathers on the Domestic Purposes Benefit refused to “name” the mother of their child […]