Posts Tagged ‘Family First’

Legislating against hate speech sounds like a bad idea

Monday, November 14th, 2022
hate speech

It would be a tragedy for this country if, influenced by overseas excesses, we were to legislate for hate speech. Such legislation could have a chilling effect on debate here on all manner of issues, says former Attorney General Chris Finlayson. Yet that’s exactly what’s likely to happen. Justice Minister Kiri Allan says she will Read more

Government takes Family First to Supreme Court

Thursday, June 24th, 2021
charitable status

Family First and the New Zealand Government are arguing over the group’s charitable status at the Supreme Court in Wellington this week. The Government is appealing a recent Court of Appeal decision which upheld Family First as a charity. Bob McCoskrie, Family First’s National Director says the case is not about his group. “The attempt Read more

Appeal Court confirms Family First is a charity

Thursday, August 27th, 2020
charity

Family First New Zealand has won a battle over its charity status. In a decision released on Thursday morning, the Court of Appeal set aside a Charities Registration Board decision in 2017 to deregister Family First as a charity. “This decision is a win for the freedom of speech and belief in New Zealand,” says Read more

Select Committee ignores women with post-abortion grief

Thursday, July 30th, 2020
abortion grief

A select committee considering a private members bill which allows for bereavement leave for miscarriages have come back with their report, and have rejected calls for the leave to be extended to allow support for women with post-abortion grief. When lodging the original bill, Labour MP Ginny Anderson said, “I think [abortion] would be [grounds], Read more

Overwhelming Rejection Of Abortion Bill

Monday, November 11th, 2019

More than 90% of the submissions on the Abortion Legislation Bill have rejected the proposed decriminalisation of abortion. Just under 8% support the Government bill. The in-depth analysis of a random sample of 1,000 submissions by an independent researcher found that 90.6% of submissions were opposed. This means that over 18,000 submissions in total rejected Read more

End of Life Choice referendum: no simple yes-no answer possible

Thursday, October 24th, 2019
referendum

On Wednesday night, New Zealand’s Parliament voted by a 63 to 57 majority in favour of amending David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill to make its acceptance conditional on a binding referendum. With the acceptance of the amendment requiring a referendum, the Bill is likely to pass the third reading in November. However, it Read more

Abortion after 20 weeks gestation likely to be more frequent

Thursday, September 19th, 2019
abortion law

In a submission to a Select Committee, Family First national director Bob McCoskrie stated proposed changes to abortion legislation would make late-term abortions more accessible and therefore more would occur. “Currently it’s only available for exceptional circumstances, danger to the life and health of the mother, or the child,” said McCoskrie “But in this bill Read more

Family First goes to court over second deregistration decision

Thursday, May 3rd, 2018
family first

Family First has made another bid to retain its charitable status. The hearing at the High Court in Wellington this week is the second appeal after the Charities Board ruled in 2013 and again in 2017 that Family First be removed from the charities register. When Family First appealed the 2013 decision, the High Court ordered the Read more

Chief censor says New Zealand needs to do more to tackle pornography problems

Monday, April 16th, 2018

The chief censor says New Zealand needs to take a societal approach to tackling the pervasive effects of porn, including further regulation. Family First national director Bob McCoskrie is calling for an expert panel to better understand the breadth and nature of the health and social issues created by pornography, and how to tackle it.  Continue reading

Pornography more extreme, deviant and violent – Ministry of Health

Thursday, April 5th, 2018
pornography

New Zealand’s Ministry of Health wants more research into pornography because it has become “more extreme, deviant and violent over the last two decades.” The ministry was responding to a request from the Government and Administration Select Committee for a written submission on a petition it is considering which was presented in June 2017 by Family First’s Read more