The Bikers Political Party

[shrub]

Diesel powered vehicle owners

My guess is they would like the RUC reduced, which means the money would need to come from somewhere else, which in turn means the levies on fuel would increase.

4wd clubs, car clubs

not sure what we have in common with them (apart from competing for track days) and I can't imagine they'd give a toss about road surfaces, unmarked ice grit, riding gear, tar snakes etc

truckers

Me, I love trucks and used to own and drive a furniture truck, but as for us having the same interests? They're more likely to want the RUC reduced and to get more trucks on the roads, which i'm not that fussed on because trucks fuck roads and are a pain in the arse when you get stuck behind one in the windies. They'd probably quite like to see bikers in high vis vests too so they can see us more easily. I used to hate having a bike suddenly fly past unexpectedly because he'd been tucked up my arse - which is why I always sit in a driver's mirror.

MAG are engaging very pro actively with Cyclists and getting good feedback as I understand it

Now you're talking - cyclists and motorcyclists have a lot in common only there are more of them and they tend to have more money (if you look at the demographic data available), so work with them and do what they're doing which is lobbying the political parties and engaging in carefully planned and well orchestrated PR campaigns.

And if we were to form a Bikers Party that got into parliament, what would we demand? What are our issues? What does the government need to do to get our votes?

[Maha]

......and, a biker party will need more than just bikers voting for them. 1.2 million cyclist in NZ!...they count.

[StoneY]

We all seem to have a similar opinion here...question is, what do we do with it?

I don't think collaring one of the existing parties will get us anywhere
And I dunno if we can garner the resources and support required....

But what the hell someones gotta try so, shall we? And is so, HOW?

[Bassmatt]

What about a Non Commercial Road Users Party. The name needs work but it could campaign on the issues already discussed plus having an agenda to remove all the bullshit road "safety" policies like Speed Kills and focus on reducing the road toll through changes like improved driver training etc. That potentially gives votes from all the road users who are pissed off with the state of things re drivers, roading, etc

[Maha]

Your time and energy Brent will better directed in other directions than this 'go nowhere fast' option. You should know by now that ideas such as this are just that..ideas. This 'idea' was spoken about last year around a table by a couple friends and, thats as far as it got. The idea is wonderful, the support and logistics of it is where it ends.

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

Wouldn't it make much, much more sense to align with an existing political party that is going to be willing to make those issues a platform? Why reinvent the wheel?

I ver much doubt there wouldn't be a party that would... and they would not truely be on our side they would be just after their own gain... I don't trust any politican as it is let alone align myself with them...

[Fatt Max]

Your time and energy Brent will better directed in other directions than this 'go nowhere fast' option. You should know by now that ideas such as this are just that..ideas. This 'idea' was spoken about last year around a table by a couple friends and, thats as far as it got. The idea is wonderful, the support and logistics of it is where it ends.

Good point. It is a great idea but it is the logistics that could stand in the way. There were talks of forming one and then standing at either the Botany or another by election up north somewhere. That could have been a n interesting exercise.

All up though, it would be a HUGE undertaking. Most of us are involved in some shape or form with other motorcycle groups. My personal choice would be to see a tighter formation of the groups in order to reduce the 'division' that our pollies are rumbling on about. From there we could be the catalyst for hooking up with other road user groups.

Just my opinion people, thats all.

Ok, must dash, I have a campaign meeting with the 'Freedom for Pastry' party

Toodle pip..

[Maha]

I ver much doubt there wouldn't be a party that would... and they would not truely be on our side they would be just after their own gain... I don't trust any politican as it is let alone align myself with them...

Would the leader of the 'Biker Party' be considered a politican?

[Conquiztador]

We all seem to have a similar opinion here...question is, what do we do with it?

I don't think collaring one of the existing parties will get us anywhere
And I dunno if we can garner the resources and support required....

But what the hell someones gotta try so, shall we? And is so, HOW?

Well, I don't think it is too tricky in todays electronic world. Like someone already said on here (think I blinged you, but if not I will today).

So the plan would be:
- A few of us that are serious about giving this an attempt do some emailing, txt'ing and phone calls to each other.
- Decide on name and a basic approach.
- Get the required 500 names on a list with required details and then get registered as a political party.
- Start a webpage that informs all and everyone what this is about.
- Email all we know re that we are now serious and require their support, ask them to forward the email to all and everyone.
- Get information on all messageboards that is happy to have us there.
- Print up a A3 poster that can be taken to bike shops, put on to notice boards etc.
- Have a presense at whatever bike gatherings that is going on.
- Have candidates in the election.

Hey, I realise that this is a very simplistic view of what needs to be done. But as we do not have a million or two to spare we would need to take this approach. And the costs would be minimal. I do recon that in todays world we do not get in to expensive marketing using harware. The web should be enough. There is Facebook, Youtube, webpages and messageboards.

Perhaps also talk to some of the small parties who have done this and see what they learned?

[Conquiztador]

Would the leader of the 'Biker Party' be considered a politican?

Define politician?

[Maha]

Define politician?

A wise man once said....

''A 'Biker Party wont get the 5% required to get into parliament because, that is around 118,000 people based on 2008 figures. Even if every motorcyclist and scooter rider gave the Biker Party their vote they would fall short by a good 20,000 votes''.

Find that extra 20,000 votes and it might just scrape in.

[Conquiztador]

A wise man once said....

''A 'Biker Party wont get the 5% required to get into parliament because, that is around 118,000 people based on 2008 figures. Even if every motorcyclist and scooter rider gave the Biker Party their vote they would fall short by a good 20,000 votes''.

Find that extra 20,000 votes and it might just scrape in.

Define politician? (Or are you saying that once you are in you are a politician?)

[Maha]

Define politician? (Or are you saying that once you are in you are a politician?)

One would become politically aligned yes.
Peter Sharples said last week that even thought the Maori party has been on politics for however long, they have acheived not one thing.

Not every Cannibas smoker would vote for the Legalise Cannibas Party...

[Bald Eagle]

A wise man once said....

''A 'Biker Party wont get the 5% required to get into parliament because, that is around 118,000 people based on 2008 figures. Even if every motorcyclist and scooter rider gave the Biker Party their vote they would fall short by a good 20,000 votes''.

Find that extra 20,000 votes and it might just scrape in.

Well there where only 3 parties that got over the 5% at the last election Blue/Red and Green. If it wasn't for having their own seats the Maori Party wouldn't be there as they only got 2.3%.
The floating percentage of all others was 14.4%, the National/Labour difference was 10.9%.

[Fatt Max]

Regardless of how many supporters we could get, I always liked the idea of a vote to the biker party being obe not given to the other main parties.

Riders are voters and all that.

BTW, the census is coming up, is there an opportunity to put yourself down as a 'biker' anywhere? Didnt 11,000 people put themselves down as a Jedi Knight once? Is that maybe a way of kicking this off to some degree, be a biker at census time?

Dunno if that would work, any ideas?