Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue? First published September 1, 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members – click here to … Read more
Once you start noticing how rigorously the status quo is maintained, you start to notice it everywhere – and it always seems to be the same people who are worst affected. Watch Alice Snedden’s Bad News – Prisoner Voting Rights and other episodes in the series here. I think that, politically, I’m an optimist. I … Read more
Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue? The right to vote in Aotearoa is currently denied to anyone imprisoned for over three years. To figure out if this is fair or not, Alice meets with … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: New poll sets tone for election campaign, new testing criteria for Covid-19 outlined, and weirdness occurs around prisoner voting bill. We’re now three months out from the election, and the latest poll has returned to something approaching a balanced state of play. The One News Colmar Brunton survey … Read more
Finally, voting rights for prisoners serving less than three years has been restored. It’s a cause to celebrate, but it appears to have been overshadowed by some procedural games and unhelpful amendments, writes Andrew Geddis. Last night should have been a cause for muted celebration in parliament, with the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Bill’s … Read more
Criminologist Antje Deckert has just completed a two-year study of how women offenders are portrayed in New Zealand newspapers. The results show that journalists are telling very different stories abut Māori and Pākehā. That our criminal justice system is in desperate need of reform and that we need to reduce the number of Māori individuals … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Nervousness about latest batch of tourist numbers, Waitangi Tribunal hammers prisoner voting ban, and more refugees heading for smaller provincial centres. The tourism industry is showing definite signs of a wobble, with arrival number growth looking flat and certain key markets dropping away. Despite 2019 being … Read more
A new ruling on the ban on prisoner voting delivers a fierce reminder of the need for urgent change. Now it’s over to the government: put up or shut up, writes Andrew Geddis. In some ways, it tells us nothing we didn’t already know: the legislative ban on prisoners voting enacted in 2010 by National … Read more
Last month the Waitangi Tribunal heard submissions on the current prisoner voting ban, something New Zealand’s Supreme Court has found to be in breach of human rights. Carmen Hetaraka asks: if now isn’t the time for the government to act, then when? “When you start you’ve got all these principles. And in the political process, … Read more
Arthur William Taylor was released from prison this month, and is set to continue his legal work started behind bars including campaigning to restore voting rights to people in prison. But why did prisoners lose the right to vote in the first place? On November 10, 2010, a young Simon Bridges took to the … Read more
Aren’t Can’t Don’t: As a formerly incarcerated person, I know that denying the right to vote violates respect for human dignity, sending the message that absolute rehabilitation is impossible, writes Awatea Mita. This post was first published 28 November 2018. It’s 11.00pm and I am returning to Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility as a “release … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Shift in media mindset shown by Stuff’s climate change coverage, GCSB blocks Chinese telco tech company, and Greens push for prisoner voting rights. We’re going to lead off today with something a bit different to the usual – we wouldn’t normally start with a story about … Read more
On the 125th anniversary of women exercising suffrage for the first time in NZ, the support party has called for a change in the law that sees incarcerated people ‘unjustifiably denied the right to vote’. The Green Party has added its voice to a growing call for a change in the law that denies people in … Read more
Aren’t Can’t Don’t: The ban on prisoners voting is the worst kind of anti-democratic law – harsh, disproportionate and fundamentally at odds with the idea that human rights belong to all of us, write Tania Sawicki Mead and Ashlesha Sawant of JustSpeak Many New Zealanders would likely vote for fairness as our foundational virtue as … Read more
Aren’t Can’t Don’t: As a formerly incarcerated person, I know that denying the right to vote violates respect for human dignity, sending the message that absolute rehabilitation is impossible, writes Awatea Mita. It’s 11.00pm and I am returning to Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility as a “release to work” prisoner. I’ve earned a position of … Read more
While the suffrage anniversary offers real cause for celebration, in 2018 not everyone has the right to vote. In the first of two films in our Aren’t Can’t Don’t series, made with the assistance of NZ On Air, women explain what it meant to be denied an opportunity to vote while imprisoned. One hundred and twenty-five … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: ERA hits out at teacher demands ahead of strike, police want new terrorism powers, and Supreme Court makes big call on prisoner voting. The week of rolling primary teachers strikes begins today, with teachers under pressure after a rebuke from the Employment Relations Authority. Radio NZ reports the … Read more