SPCS

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Prostitution Reform (Control of Street Prostitution) Amendment Bill

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Moving prostitutes off New Zealand streets is the only solution to the problems of prostitution – compromises will not work, said NZ First Party Spokesperson for Social Policy/Welfare and Manukau East Asenati Lole-Taylor in a media release on 31 July 2014.

Lole-Taylor failed to retain her seat in parliament at the recent election held on 20 September 2014, so her private member’s bill – Prostitution Reform (Control of Street Prostitution) Amendment Bill – which she submitted to the ballot while a List MP, will need to be re-submitted in the name of another MP, presumably one of the current 11 NZ First Party members, if it has any chance of ever reaching the select committee stage for consideration. It was not selected from the ballot while she was as MP.

The purpose of the Bill is to amend the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 and prohibit street prostitution in New Zealand. The Bill restricts the locations where the business of prostitution or commercial sex services may occur to licensed or small owner-operated brothels. [Read more…]

C.S. Lewis: God’s PR Man — by David H Lane

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David Lane SPCS. David H Lane recalls the life of C.S. Lewis, a literary giant of the 20th century, and the vision he sought so passionately to communicate through the witness of his life and writings.

Lane’s article “C.S. Lewis: God’s PR man” was published as a feature in New Zealand’s Christian Newspaper – The Challenge Weekly – on 5 December 2005 and on the website of the Wellington Christian Apologetics Society Inc. It was first published in the Evening Post (Wellington, New Zealand) on Thursday 26 November 1998 to mark the centenary of the birth of Clive Staples Lewis on 29 November 1898 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. See PDF: CS Lewis Evening Post

The article drew a number of responses from readers of the Evening Post in its Letters to the Editor columns, in the days following publication. C.S. Lewis died on 22 November 1963 and he was a novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist. (To view larger image of article below – go to right hand bar on this web page).

David Lane SPCS on C.S. Lewis: God's PR man

Socially conservative Pacific Island support base speak out on homosexuality

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Embattled David Cunliffe will formally step down as Labour leader today – amid a warning that the party’s socially conservative Pacific Island support base does not want him replaced by Grant Robertson.

Robertson has strong caucus support. But Cunliffe loyalists point to the backing he has from the Pacific Island community in South Auckland. Labour held the Mangere, Manukau East and Manurewa electorates at the election, although its share dropped by around 5 percentage points.

One community leader, who did not want to be named, said many in the community were uneasy about tactics used in the last week to force Cunliffe out. And Robertson’s homosexuality clashed with socially conservative attitudes of voters, who would turn instead to NZ First, he said.

‘‘If Labour want to go from 24 [per cent] to 14 and put NZ First from 10 to 19, that’s the way to go. He won’t unify the party. He will destroy the South Auckland power base, that three Ms.

‘‘It’s not so much Grant, it’s what aligns with their beliefs … it will probably be a tipping point.’’

Full story:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10558668/Cunliffe-formally-steps-down

 

“Gay” prime minister of NZ may be ‘a step too far’ – says transsexual former Labour MP

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Georgina Beyer, the world’s first transsexual mayor and a former Labour MP, warned in late August 2013 that New Zealand is not yet ready for a “gay” prime minister and may be seeing a social conservative backlash.

With the Labour leadership yet again up for grabs, it again raises the question of whether Grant Robertson, the “gay” deputy leader, could be elevated to head the party, making him a strong possibility for prime minister [in the future].

But Beyer, who was an MP for eight years until 2007, said in late August 2013 that Labour needed to be realistic.

“I don’t think we’re ready yet,” she said…..

Grant Robertson, who is currently contending for the Party’s leadership against David Cunliffe, who recently resigned, acknowledged on TV3’s The Nation on Sunday 28 November 2014 that the fact he was “gay”, might stop some people voting for him, just as the fact “I like rugby and drink beer might be an issue with some people as well”. In trying to trivialise the “gay” issue which has proven problematic and cuts very deep with his Party’s largely conservative Polynesian base, he may well run the risk of being perceived as insensitive to their deeply-held cultural and religious views. [Read more…]

Listed Chinese firm targets Lochinver and other NZ farm assets

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The National Business Review reported yesterday in its lead story:

The goal posts have shifted in the deal to buy Lochinver Station with a second Chinese company now involved in the overseas investment application process.

NBR ONLINE has learned Shenzhen-listed Hunan Dakang Pasture Farming is raising capital to acquire the New Zealand acquisition vehicle from Shanghai Pengxin Group.

The deal includes 16 Crafar farms and the 75% stake in Canterbury’s Synlait Farms, already acquired by Shanghai Pengxin, and also the potential acquisition of Lochinver, a 14,000ha property near Taupo….

Wellington man David Lane, who writes on the blog “Society for Promotion of Community Standards” [SPCS] says the recent delays lack transparency.

“The OIO [Overseas Investment Office] clerarly instructed Shanghai Pengxin to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in New Zealand as an appropriate vehicle to purchase the Lochinver Station”.

Lane says if Dakang is now buying that subsidiary through An Yuan Dairy, the scheme runs counter to what the OIO requested.

‘Some 45% of the ownership of the assets will be in the hands of those who have not been scrutinised by OIO”.

Source: National Business Review. Story by Chief Reporter Duncan Bridgeman. 26 September 2014

For full article see: http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/listed-chinese-firm-targets-lochinver-and-other-nz-farm-assets-db-p-163047