ACT on Campus does not promote, nor discourage, the consumption of alcohol by New Zealanders we simply advocate the idea that the individual should make this decision for themselves without interference from the state.

In a free society the government's role is to protect its citizens from harm by keeping the peace and enforcing the rule of law. The government should intervene only when direct harm is being done to someone by another.

It is not the job of politicians to protect people from themselves and their choices - this is what we call a nanny-state. The government has no role in telling New Zealand’s when and where they may consume alcohol and how much fun they are allowed to have.

The one exception to this rule is in the case of minors where we recognise that the rules often need to be different and that those responsible for children may be in a better position to make decisions for them.

The drawing of a line to determine the age of maturity is not a science and will never be perfect but in New Zealand we consider age 18 to be old and wise enough for someone to get married, to join the police or the army and go to war, to sign contracts and get a credit card, to own a gun and even to vote.

Our challenge to MPs who wish to raise the drinking age is for them to reject any votes they receive from 18 and 19 year olds at the next election. If an 18 year old is not rational enough to be able to have a beer after work with their workmates, how can they possibly make such an important decision as to who should represent them in parliament?

ACT on Campus urges all MPs to oppose the raising of the drinking age to 20.

[Original notes - actual comments may have varied slightly.]

The youth wings of the National, Labour, Green and ACT parties have joined forces in the Keep It 18 campaign, to tell their MPs that increasing the purchase age for alcohol to 20 is the wrong thing to do.

“Parliament has twice voted for the purchase age to be 18, and it is disappointing that the Law Commission is trying to turn the clock back again,” said group spokesperson Jenna Raeburn.

In 1999 Parliament voted to change the age of purchase from 20 to 18 by 59 votes to 55. The previous law had numerous exemptions to it, so in fact 18 year olds had been able to legally drink alcohol in licensed premises for many decades.

In 2006 a move to change it back to 20 was defeated 49 votes to 72. The members of Keep It 18 urge MPs to not spend time on trying to reverse history, but instead to focus on measures that target problem drinkers, rather than seek to punish all 140,000 18 and 19 year olds.

“While primarily focused on the purchase age, we also are concerned over the proposed nationwide setting of closing times, and mandating a one way policy for bars after 2 am. In our opinion, these also fail to target problem drinkers, and again will disadvantage the many responsible young people who enjoy a night out dancing and drinking with friends.”

Young Nationals President Daniel Fielding said “Let's not have a return to nanny state policies, a blanket measure of raising the drinking age will not change the drinking culture. This can only be achieved by introducing measures that places responsibility back onto the individual“

Nicola Wood, Young Labour spokesperson for Keep It 18 said “Young Labour feel a higher drinking age would serve only to exacerbate the harms caused by alcohol. If we want to create a culture of responsible drinking, we need policy which better enables young people to make positive decisions about how they use alcohol, while at the same time acknowledging that this broad problem cannot be pinned on one sector of society. We will oppose any change to the law which discriminates unfairly against young people “

Zachary Dorner, Young Greens spokesperson said “Raising the drinking age has more to do with pointing the finger at young people than solving the real issues. What we need to do is to take a look at ourselves and start treating alcohol as the harmful drug that it is”

ACT on Campus President Peter McCaffrey said “Politicians have no right to tell New Zealanders what they can consume and when they can consume it. The government's role is to protect you from others not from yourself. The government should focus on targeting people who are causing harm to others rather than act as a nanny-state, telling everyone how much fun they can have “

Jenna Raeburn continued “All our political parties have 18 and 19 year old members who are allowed to vote, allowed to marry, allowed to have sex, and trusted enough to go out and do volunteer work for their parties. Saying that these same members can not be trusted to purchase a bottle of wine from a supermarket or a pint of beer at a bar is hypocritical and insulting, and we urge all MPs in Parliament to reject an age change.”

“We accept the problems caused by alcohol abuse in our society, and are happy to work with MPs in identifying which proposals put forward by the Law Commission are worth supporting. But increasing the purchase age is not one of them. Criminalising 140,000 18 and 19 year olds is the wrong answer,” concluded Miss Raeburn.

ENDS


NOTE: The five spokespersons will hold a joint press conference on Thursday (29 April) at 1 pm to formally respond to the report, outline their opposition to a change in the purchase age, and comment on other proposals made by the Law Commission.

For further information please contact:

Jenna Raeburn, Group Spokesperson for Keep It 18, phone 021 055 6614, e-mail: jenna.lafille@gmail.com

Daniel Fielding, Young Nationals President, phone 021 397 050, e-mail daniel.fielding@national.org.nz

Nicola Wood, Young Labour Spokesperson, 021 127 4706, e-mail: wellington@younglabour.org.nz

Zachary Dorner, Young Greens Spokesperson, 022 618 6761, e-mail: zachary.dorner@younggreens.org.nz

Peter McCaffrey, ACT on Campus President, 021 1417 026, e-mail president@actoncampus.org.nz

ACT on Campus held our 2010 AGM on the 26th of March, where the results of our executive elections were announced.

The new executive has now taken over and we wanted to introduce ourselves to everyone.

We're all looking forward to ensuring the passage of the VSM bill, spreading freedom on campuses around the country and ensuring ACT on Campus and the ACT Party is ready for the general election next year.


The 2010/11 Executive:

President Peter McCaffrey Peter is a fifth year student at Victoria University where he has completed a BA in Political Science and International Relations and is close to completing a BSc in Operations Research. Peter became involved in ACT on Campus in 2006, was the Treasurer in 2007 and 2008 and the Vice President in 2009. Peter stood for ACT in the Otaki election in the 2008 election and is a libertarian with occasional anarcho-capitalist tendencies. When taking a break from politics, Peter volunteers his time as the Treasurer for a national youth-for-youth charity, enjoys watching and playing football, xkcd, milkshakes and slushies, Facebook and even finds the odd spare hour for university study.

Vice President Lukas Schroeter Lukas is a libertarian who has been an ACT party member since 2003 and represented Rodney Hide at Youth Parliament in 2004. He has been an ACT on Campus member since starting study at Victoria University in 2006 and will complete his LLB/BCA(econ) this year. Lukas has also spent time interning at the New Zealand Business Roundtable. When not at University or work, he enjoys badminton, organising parties, jogging on Wellington's waterfront and travelling. A particular highlight in the latter included spending five days in North Korea in 2008.

Treasurer Sam Bonner Sam has been an ACT Party member since 2005 and active in ACT on Campus since he began studying Information Systems and e-Commerce and Political Science at Victoria University in 2007. He has held the position of ACT on Campus Treasurer since 2009. As a libertarian Sam is committed to increasing the ACT Party’s influence in government and ensuring high quality, freedom enhancing policies are enacted. In his spare time Sam enjoys reading, films and web development.

Secretary Andy Moore Andy studied Commerce and Political Science at the University of Canterbury. He is a Christian and a pro-life libertarian who wants the government to get out of the market and out of individuals' lives. He holds that individuals must be free, irrespective of morality, to do whatever they want, so long as their actions do not take away the freedoms of another. Andy is currently working as a political researcher and in his spare time is involved in political action, charitable community work and supporting the pro-life movement in New Zealand.

Here is the ACT on Campus submission to the Education and Science Select Committee on the Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill. Hit the Fullscreen button for a better view.

Minister's Drug Revelation Leads To Call For Resignation

ACT on Campus is calling for the resignation of Justice Minister Simon Power, following his comments on Drug Reform policy on Thursday.

Responding to a set of drug law reform proposals laid out by the Law Commission, Mr. Power told The Dominion Post on Thursday that there was not a single solitary chance that as long as he was the Minister of Justice that drug laws would be relaxed in New Zealand.

“Where's the justice in Minister Power proclaiming what will be the law without regard for the Commission's research and the views of the New Zealand public? The Minister should resign and make way for someone who is willing to consider the evidence and listen to the public.” said Peter McCaffrey, ACT on Campus Vice President.

ACT on Campus is encouraged by the Law Commission's proposals which would allow marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes, and ensure that those using marijuana recreationally would not be criminalised and imprisoned, but instead be sent to rehab.

“Victimless crimes should not be crimes at all and highly restrictive drug laws are more harmful than the drugs themselves as they drive the drug trade underground, often leading users and addicts resorting to crime to fund their habits.” said Peter McCaffrey.

ENDS

Media Contact: Peter McCaffrey, 021 1417 026, vicepresident@actoncampus.org.nz

An email sent to Kate Wilkinson, Paula Bennett and John Key:

-----------------------------------------------------

Dear Ministers,

Thank you for your recent comments regarding the minimum wage for youth.

National had very sound reasons for opposing the changes made to youth minimum wage laws by the previous Labour Government, but in light of Minister Bennett's comments that she hasn't seen any evidence of a link between minimum wages and higher unemployment I wished to draw your attention to a few points.

Firstly, I recommend reading the following posts by Eric Crampton, and economics professor at Canterbury University, who has studied the government's own statistics and found increases in unemployment in youth since the law change (note, higher increases even than what would proportionally be expected due to the recession):

http://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/2010/02/youth-rates.html
http://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/2010/02/youth-rates-revisited.html

He has also applied similar techniques to data from previous minimum wage changes and come to the same conclusions:

http://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/2010/02/youth-rates-re-revisited...

In addition, I'd suggest that both common sense and principle should be considered.

If the government were to impose a $5 minimum price on coffee, would you purchase a good $5 coffee that used to cost $5, or a bad $5 coffee that used to cost $2? Employers have no incentive to hire an inexperienced and more risky young worker, than an older, more experienced and more proven worker when they cost the same amount.

Furthermore, principally, why should the government have the right to tell a young person (or anyone really) that they may NOT work for a lower wage, even if they wouldn't mind doing so, and must instead go without a job at all?

Here is some quick analysis of the candidates' responses to some of the questions:



Please note that not all questions were phrased as Yes/No questions or for short answers, so in some cases this table represents our interpretation of candidates responses. For explantations, justifications and the candidate's own words, please read the full survey.

ACT members will have now received their voting forms for the 2010 ACT Board Elections.

This year, ACT on Campus has conducted a survey of the various candidates and we're pleased to present the results for members to read before they cast their votes.

Board Candidate Survey 2010

The candidates are:

Bruce Haycock - Vice President
Kevin Campbell - Vice President
Nick Kearney - Auckland North (Board)
Peter Tashkoff - Auckland North (Board) - Withdrawn
Lech Beltowski - Auckland South (Deputy)
Clyde Johnson - Auckland South (Deputy) - No Response
James Read - Waikato (Deputy) - No Response
Carl Freimann - Central (Board) - No Response
Robert Douglas - Central (Board)
Ivor Watson - Upper South (Deputy)

Ballot papers must be returned before 4pm on the 23rd of February, so there is plenty of time, but don't leave it too late!

The US Supreme Court has today voted 8-1 and 5-4 to strike down various campaign finance restrictions on US elections, including the infamous McCain-Feingold law.

The laws banned spending that was seen to "influence" a vote in any way or that could "potentially" rather than actually lead to corruption, but contained exceptions for unions' spending - very reminiscent of the Electoral Finance Act here in New Zealand.

One organisation has already announced its plans to run a campaign against "earmarks" at the 2010 election.

[Via WSJ]