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SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Family First call for investigation into censor’s decision over teen novel– Into the River

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A conservative lobby group is calling for the country’s book censor to be investigated for removing a teen novel’s R14 rating.

Family First [a registered charity] made the request in a submission arguing for a permanent age restriction on award-winning novel Into the River.

Director Bob McCoskrie said the deputy chief censor’s "highly politicised" decision to remove the book’s restriction in August was illegal.

"Parents and families need to have a level of trust and confidence in what the censorship board decides."

Into the River sparked a row over censorship as the Film and Literature Board of Review and Classification Office debate its classification.

Deputy chief censor Nic McCully removed the book’s R14 restriction in August, which the Review Board’s president then over-turned.

McCully has since left her role as deputy chief censor.

A Classification Office spokeswoman confirmed Jared Mullen replaced McCully as deputy chief censor in August.

She said the process to replace her started in 2014 and was not related to the classification of the book.

The office defended its legal processes in reviewing the book’s classification.

Full Story:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/72403409/family-first-call-for-investigation-into-censors-decision-over-teen-novel

Twice-Bankrupt David Ian Henderson guilty on tax charges

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Christchurch bankrupt Dave Henderson has been found guilty of seven tax charges involving about $163,000.

Henderson, 60, faced seven charges of aiding and abetting his company Dweller Ltd to apply tax deductions or deemed tax deductions for purposes other than payment to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue.

Henderson’s trial took nearly a year to conclude. It started last November and carried on into May, June, August and September.

The offences occurred in 2010. About $163,00 of tax was not paid.

Henderson was remanded on bail for sentencing on November 12. The offending carries a maximum penalty of five years’ jail and/or a $50,000 fine.

The convictions end another chapter in Henderson’s battles with Inland Revenue.

Henderson has previous convictions on tax charges and fought IRD over a $1m tax assessment in 1996. He eventually got the assessment overturned and was granted a refund of $65,000. A book (1999) and movie (2007) followed.

IRD put Henderson’s mothership company Property Ventures Ltd (PVL) into liquidation in 2010 and he was in the same year made bankrupt.

Christchurch District Court Judge Gary McAskill said on Thursday Henderson’s decision-making role was illustrated by emails he exchanged with staff members in 2010..

See full story:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/72386302/bankrupt-henderson-guilty-on-tax-charges

Kaikohe speaks out on sexual abuse of children

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[Northern Advocate 19/09/15] A Kaikohe group campaigning against sexual violence is holding a rally next week to highlight the long-term harm caused by child sexual abuse.

The group is also considering a protest to coincide with Auckland’s “Boobs on Bikes” in October, saying the parade normalises pornography and could lead to more behaviour like that of the infamous Roast Busters.

Organiser Mike Shaw, a Kaikohe pastor, said next Thursday’s rally aimed to raise public awareness of “the death of childhood caused by sexual abuse”.

Marchers would carry a coffin down Broadway to make their point. Fifty people took part in an earlier march in July but he expected more this time.

Mr Shaw said a march would not change anything on its own but it would give a voice to the pain of sexual abuse survivors.

“And if people are talking about it, solutions and actions will be generated,” he said.

Already work was under way to provide Kaikohe schools with information about intervention and prevention of abuse, as well arranging support when survivors had the courage to speak out.

People were getting better at speaking out against domestic violence, thanks in part to the It’s Not OK campaign, but sexual abuse remained a “no-go zone”.

The as yet un-named group grew out of MP Kelvin Davis’ Massive hikoi against sexual violence earlier this year. Some group members are also considering protesting at Auckland’s Boobs on Bikes parade organised by porn tycoon Steve Crow.

Mr Shaw said the group was concerned that normalising pornography, and its easy availability on the internet, could lead to sexual offences among youth and more behaviour like that of the infamous Roast Busters, who bragged online about their sexual exploits with underage girls.

He believed children were copying what they saw online and that watching hardcore pornography was warping the views of some youth as to what was acceptable behaviour. [Read more…]

MASSIVE sexual violence rally in Kaikohe

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Victims, ex-abusers and supporters stomped down the street to say sexual abuse is not ok.

The MASSIVE sexual violence march aimed to break the silence and raise awareness on Kaikohe’s Broadway July 23.

Supporter and survivor of sexual violence Judy Mihaka says it is prolific in our communities.

She says it’s something many people in her generation of baby boomers have experienced.

“All my friends, everyone I know has been molested in some way.”

She says the first step of the journey for rehabilitation, for both victim and abuser, is to admit it.

“It’s a hard thing for someone to put their hand up and get up in front of strangers and say ‘I did this’.”

Stop Demand, Korowai T?manako and the Riders against teenage suicide were involved in the rally and the whole community was invited, Kaikohe community leader Mike Shaw says. Even the Plunket van joined the march.

Full story published 24 July 2015

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/northland/70491224/massive-sexual-violence-rally-in-kaikohe