maxworldbiker
16th October 2009, 18:06
Speaking as one who knows a bit about what's involved in making a highly visible political mark by way of motorcycle, having done it once already, I suggest there needs to be some thought about what solid action might need to be taken that goes beyond the letters to the editor etc, suggested elsewhere among the threads related to this issue. ANY type of protest is valuable, of course, and there's no reason not to do any of that. It all helps. But fragmented responses don't carry the sort of weight needed to sling this issue onto a political table too visible to be ignored, swept under the carpet, explained away by stats designed to confuse or befuddle, or whatever else they might try to trot out, to get us all to go away quietly and accept the status quo - as it will be. In-da-face is the only kind of action most politicians seem to really understand or take seriously.
My suggestion is that if the submission deadline passes and there's no government back-track, a political protest can be organised. A nationwide petition, put out there and then collated back in each region by people who care enough to do the spadework and dare to believe that sometimes a collective voice does make a difference. Oragnise a mass rally of machines at Parliament. When we did that last year the noise was enough to make the pen-pushers and policy-makers all rush out of the beehive, spilling their lunches down their shirts as they came, to see what all the bloody noise was about. TVNZ were there, all the big newspapers were too, and people took notice because they didn't have a choice.
That's what needs to happen again, to get this decision overturned if the submission doesn't do it, and it can work IF enough people are committed to making it happen. Step Nick Smith out onto the steps to be accountable, get the Shadow ACC minister out there too, have a raging debate on the steps and thrash it out. Confront the government with the petition, the ACTUAL statistics that blow their theories out of the water, drag the govenment out of its comfort zone and challenge them publicly to substantiate their so-called justification for the hike.
There is a very clear set of guidelines and protocols for formally submitting a petition to Parliament and having it accepted and noted. There are also very specific procedures and protocols for gaining permission to enter Parliament on motorcycles and undertaking to exhibit appropriate behaviour when there.
I've done all this before and I can do it all again, and for an issue such as this, I'd say there's enough collective weight to take it forward like a juggernaut. That all depends of course on how many people are prepared to do more than sit and whinge among their mates at the unfairness of it all and who actually do care enough to stand up and be counted.
Its something to think about. NOW. Because - take it from me - the kind of organisation required to pull something like that off takes months. Start thinking now about what to do after the submissions fail - if they do (they likely will). Its either that or swallow the lumps, as far as I can see. Once its a done deal, the only ones who will have any right to whinge are those that can legitimately say that they did all they could to try and prevent it - when they had the chance.
My suggestion is that if the submission deadline passes and there's no government back-track, a political protest can be organised. A nationwide petition, put out there and then collated back in each region by people who care enough to do the spadework and dare to believe that sometimes a collective voice does make a difference. Oragnise a mass rally of machines at Parliament. When we did that last year the noise was enough to make the pen-pushers and policy-makers all rush out of the beehive, spilling their lunches down their shirts as they came, to see what all the bloody noise was about. TVNZ were there, all the big newspapers were too, and people took notice because they didn't have a choice.
That's what needs to happen again, to get this decision overturned if the submission doesn't do it, and it can work IF enough people are committed to making it happen. Step Nick Smith out onto the steps to be accountable, get the Shadow ACC minister out there too, have a raging debate on the steps and thrash it out. Confront the government with the petition, the ACTUAL statistics that blow their theories out of the water, drag the govenment out of its comfort zone and challenge them publicly to substantiate their so-called justification for the hike.
There is a very clear set of guidelines and protocols for formally submitting a petition to Parliament and having it accepted and noted. There are also very specific procedures and protocols for gaining permission to enter Parliament on motorcycles and undertaking to exhibit appropriate behaviour when there.
I've done all this before and I can do it all again, and for an issue such as this, I'd say there's enough collective weight to take it forward like a juggernaut. That all depends of course on how many people are prepared to do more than sit and whinge among their mates at the unfairness of it all and who actually do care enough to stand up and be counted.
Its something to think about. NOW. Because - take it from me - the kind of organisation required to pull something like that off takes months. Start thinking now about what to do after the submissions fail - if they do (they likely will). Its either that or swallow the lumps, as far as I can see. Once its a done deal, the only ones who will have any right to whinge are those that can legitimately say that they did all they could to try and prevent it - when they had the chance.