Film and Video Labelling Body – censorship and charity

October 31, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The Film and Video Labelling body (“FVLB”), like the Society for Promotion of Community Standards Inc (“SPCS”), is constituted as an incorporated society under the Incorporated Societies Act 1908. Like the Society, which is a registered charity (registered with the Charities Commission on 17/12/2007 Reg. No. CC20268); it too is a registered charity (registered 28/01/2008 Reg. No. CC20715).

For many years the FVLB was headed by Mr William (Bill) Hood, with whom the SPCS had regular contact. He retired as FVLB committee member and executive secretary on 31/01/2011. Ms Sharon Rhodes has taken over his leadership role.

The gross income of the FVLB for “service provision” for the financial year ended 31/12/2010 was $1,504,338, according to financial records it registered with the Charities Commission (www.charities.govt.nz). From this income, $588,376 was absorbed in salaries and wages.

The FVLB employs five persons full time and two part-time  to achieve its “service provision” and the total hours worked by “all employees” per week is 262 hours (equivalent to 6.55 full time persons). Each full time equivalent employee receives on average an annual remuneration package of about $90,000 per annum.

The FVLB has been registered as a charity by the Commission on the basis that its purpose it to serve “some other public benefit” to society ( it does NOT qualify as a charity on the basis that it fulfils any one of more of the remaining three charitable purpose categories:  relief of poverty, advancement of education or adavancement of religion). (Note: The SPCS qualifies as a charity for its “advancement of public welfare” or “public well-being”, which are terms recognised in law). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Broadcasting Standards Authority, Censorship, Complaints to Broadcasters, Film Ratings, Films Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Family First NZ calls for a new law on abortion

October 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment

“Family First NZ is calling for a law which requires informed consent (including ultrasound) for all potential abortions, and counselling to be provided only by non-providers of abortion services. Parental notification of teenage pregnancy and abortion should happen automatically except in exceptional circumstances approved by the court.” Family First NZ.

Family First NZ, a registered charity with the Charities Commission, issued the following Media release today entitled -

“Reduced Abortion Rate Welcomed But Still Concerns”

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Abortion, Pro-life

Moral welfare of young girls at risk from high risk porn offender

October 27, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Paedophile may remain a risk

The Crown is having second thoughts about its decision not to seek an open-ended preventive detention sentence for a 39-year old man [name removed] who disclosed more sex offences involving children, while he was undergoing treatment in prison.  He disclosed 16 sex charges against eight young girls while doing the Kia Marama sex offenders’ programme in Christchurch Men’s Prison.

After his guilty pleas, the Crown decided not to seek preventive detention but it has been rethinking that decision after access was barred to reports on his treatment at the programme.  Without those reports, the Crown faced a difficult assessment of any future risk to the community that the offender might pose.

In court today, the offender agreed to allow access by the Crown and his defence counsel to reports prepared on his treatment after the crown prosecutor sought a direction on the matter from Christchurch District Court Judge David Saunders.

The offender has a history of offending stretching back 20 years and the latest offences for which he now faces sentencing were committed from the 1990s to 2005 in Timaru.

He is seen as having a deeply entrenched sexual attraction to children, and is assessed as a high-risk pornography offender.

He is serving a two-year four-month term imposed in May last year for possession of objectionable material including images of bestiality and child pornography.

 For more see: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/5862862/Paedophile-may-remain-a-risk

Story by David Clarkson, Dominion Post, 27 October 2011.

 

Filed Under: Child Sex Crimes, Crime, Porn Link to Rape, Pornography, Sexual Dysfunction

Suicide pact charges ‘barbaric’ says lawyer – Dominion Post

October 27, 2011 by Leave a Comment

A judge told her to walk away and live, but the lawyer for a woman who escaped serious penalty for her part in a suicide pact in which another woman died says she should not have been charged.

 http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/5858567/Suicide-pact-charges-barbaric [Read more...]

Filed Under: Crime, Moral Values Tagged With: ,

Promotion of the “moral welfare” of children and young persons

October 27, 2011 by Leave a Comment

In 1952 the Minister of Child Welfare in the McLarty government of Western Australia, Arthur Watts, introduced amendments to the Child Welfare Act to widen the definition of “neglect” to include children “living under such conditions as to indicate that the mental, physical or moral welfare of the chid is likely to be in jeopardy” [emphasis added]. These amendments were enacted into law with strong support from Liberal Premier Sir Ross LcLarty’s government.

The concept of the ”moral welfare” or “moral well-being” of children and young persons is well-documented in case law, as is the nature of activities that when promoted or supported (AND even when there is a tendency to promotion or support), are “likely to be injurious to the public good” or ”likely to [put] in jeopardy” the “moral welfare” of  members of the public, including vulnerable children and young persons (see below).

It is the ever-present threat of “likely” harm and injury (mental, physical and moral) and their far-reaching negative inter-generational consequences, as well as the accepted Judaeo-Christian belief in human dignity (“Man made in the image of God” – often not acknowledged), that have undoubtedly undergirded successive governmental decisions (driven perhaps in part by quickened consciences and pragmatism) to enact child protection and censorship laws to safeguard our precious children and young persons from the dangers of exposure to child abuse, family violence, depiction of gratuitous violence and inappropriate sexual content in the media and exposure to morally corrupting hardcore pornography etc. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Censorship, Family, Human Dignity, Moral Values, Pornography, Prostitution Tagged With: , , , , ,

Gay Community cannot redefine marriage – Dom Post – Opinion

October 26, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Marriage about purpose, not rights – Opinion – by Bob McCoskrie – national director of Family First NZ – a registered charity with the Charities Commission – writes:

DEBORAH RUSSELL, (“Marriage should be for all”, October 21, Dominion Post) says the state has no business in the marriage game, but then argues that the state should redefine marriage to allow same-sex marriage.

Marriages are a matter of significant public concern, as the record of almost every culture shows.

If it weren’t for the fact that sexual intercourse between a man and a woman leads to children and brings with it a further obligation to care for tose children, the notion of marriage would probably never have existed.

Marriage encourages the raising of children by the mother and father who conceived them. Onn average, children raised by their biological parents who are married have the best outcomes in health, education and income, and by far the lowest involvement with the criminal justice system.

Russell then argues that denying same-sex marriage is “discriminatory” and “reinforces the power of traditional churches by endorcing their morality”.

Firstly, it is true that marriage by definition is discriminatory. A homosexual cannot now legally marry. But neither can a wholelot of other people. A five-year-old boy cannot marry. Three people cannot get married to each other. A married man can’t marry another person. A child cannot marry her pet goldfish. A football team cannot enact group marriage – the list is endless. It is disingenuous to complain to complain about rights being taken away, when they never existed in the first place. It is like trying to argue that Kiri te Kanawa is being discriminated against since she cannot play for the All Blacks, or Richie McCaw can’t play for the Silver Ferns.

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/5849413/Gay-community-cannot-redefine-marriage

 

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Civil Unions, Family, Marriage, Moral Values Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Disestablishment of the Charities Commission

October 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment

There has been an open call for public submissions to the Government Administration Select Committee which is considering The Crown Entities Reform Bill – a call made prior to the dissolution of parliament on 20 October 2011. If enancted into law, it will disestablish the Charities Commission and transfer its function to the Department of Internal Affairs. Under the proposed new legislation, the registration and deregistration of charities will be carried out by a new independent decision-making board of three people. 

The Society (SPCS), a registered charity (CC20268), is currently finalising a detailed report to be submitted to the select committee and Minister responsible for the Commission, focusing on the practices and activities of the Monitoring and Investigation Team of the Charities Commission.

The recent overturning by the High Court (via a judicial review) of the decision of the Charities Commission to deregister the charity Liberty Trust – which has charitable purposes based on biblical principles of debt-relief – has in part prompted some politicians to seriously question the functions of the Commission and the independence of the decision-making processes that its Monitoring and investigations team engage in. A number of controversial deregeistration decisions and public disquiet have prompted politicians to call for changes.

 The SPCS has strongly endorsed the charitable activities of Liberty Trust (Charity Reg. No. CC11287), which won an appeal by way of High Court judicial review of the Commission’s deregistration decision. The Charities Commission was set up under the Charities Act 2005 and it registered Liberty Trust as a charity on 8 October 2007.

Further reading:

Liberty Trust – Resurrected as charity by High Court ruling

http://www.spcs.org.nz/wp-admin/post.php?post=2574&action=edit

Liberty Trust website

www.libertytrust.org.nz

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

May Wang charged with corruption – NZ Herald

October 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Former Crafar farms bidder May Wang has been charged with corruption in Hong Kong, over business dealings said to have happened here in New Zealand while she was trying to buy the dairy farms.

Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption has charged the bankrupt May Wang with conspiring to bribe officials with two New Zealand properties and money laundering, and has issued a warrant for the arrest of Jack Chen for his role in the scheme.

For full article see: NZ Herald 19 October 2011

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10759961

Filed Under: Crime Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Christchurch charity – Pillars Inc. – focus on children of prisoners

October 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment

PILLARS Inc, a registered charity with the Charities Commission  has recently published a manual for organisations working with children of prisoners. “The charity (No. CC 23953), registered on 6 May 2006, has just completed “ground-breaking in-depth research on ‘A Study of Children of Prisoners’ in New Zealand. The research [which took more than two years to complete], looked at the impacts of arrest, sentence, and imprisonment of a parent on the children. A core goal of the project was to understand the situation and needs of the children of prisoners, so that the cycle of crime for the next generation can be stopped, and to bring down prisoner numbers by reduction in crime.” (Challenge Weekly, 3 October 2011, p. 3). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: , , ,

Media Matters in NZ to fight BSA ruling

October 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Media Matters in New Zealand Inc., a registered charity with the Charities Commission, has engaged Tony Ellis QC, one of our country’s most respected Civil Rights lawyers, to fight the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) recent decision to penalise Donald McDonald for his use of the BSA complaint system.  Tax-payer funded lawyers acting for the BSA and TVNZ will engage with Tony Ellis QC in the High Court of New Zealand and Media Matters is seeking funding support for its legal action from its members.  

Registered as a charity on 30 June 2008 (CC42477), Media Matters in New Zealand Inc (Incorporating Children’s Media Watch) exists among other things to warn and alert New Zealanders to the “dangers” posed by the media, “especially its threat to the well-being of the young and vulnerable in our society”. It encourages its members to use the BSA complaints system where there has been a perceived breach by the broadcaster of the Broadcasting Standards (as set out clearly in legislation – see the BSA website). The Society for Promotion of Community Standards Inc. also encourages its members to do likewise and it fully endorses the objectives of this charity.

John Terris, National President Media Matters, in his recent notification to members of the organisation’s forthcoming AGM on 9 November 2011, wrote:

“One of the few avenues available to us is the complaints system, administered by the Broadcasting Standards Authority, which, has become so permissive that it is now turning on the very people it was set up 20 years ago to serve. (See BSA.govt.nz Decision No. 20120)

“In an unprecidented move, the BSA actually fined one of our members, Donald McDonald of Wellington,  just because, in their view, he complains too much. And why would he not, given the disregard for accuracy which characterizes our television news.

“Simply put, they want to stop him from complaining (as he does on a regular basis) so they can ignore the serious negative effects of TV on the young, reflected in things like the rising rate of youth crime, the misuse of drugs and alcohol, and the climate of greed and envy and all other ills in our society which televisions feeds and nurtures.”

[The BSA has chosen to target Don McDonald] “a pensioner of limited means who is a member of the Royal Society of NZ and a respected scientist, while art the same time. they penalise our television channels with a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket when they err instead of imposing a hefty fine for their shameless exploitation of our kids.”

Source: Media Matters in NZ Newsletter/AGM Advert - written by President John Terris.

Filed Under: Broadcasting Standards Authority, Children's Television Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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