referendum

Need More Signatures!

photo credit: Wellstone

Family Fist have fallen short on their petition to force a referendum on repealing the amendment to Section 59 of the Crimes Act. Under the law, a petition requires 10% of the eligible electorate to force a referendum for an issue. Family Fist had around 269,500 signatures that were allowable, many discarded due to fake names or multiple signatures. They now require around 15.5k signatures within 2 months to allow this to go ahead.

However, as mentioned elsewhere, this may jepordise their chance to have this referendum alongside the general election – something they would definitely prefer as to try and influence the votes for the general election.

“The passing of the anti-smacking law by most of our politicians last year was an act of breathtaking arrogance which ignored the wishes of the very people who elected them to represent them in the making of our laws.”
– Bob McCroskie

It should be noted that a citizen initiated referendum is non-binding, it’s an official poll on public opinion but politicians are not required to act on it. Considering that the law was passed in the house 113:8 with members from both the left and the right voting on it, one wonders how effective it will be should it go ahead.