January to late April 2023
Banner created by Linda Sutton, lost at the women's event on 25th March at Albert Park.
Events of Note
On 7 February 2023, the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, resigned.
The New Prime Minister is Chris Hipkins. The Deputy Prime Minister is Carmel Sepuloni.
6 March was NZ Census Day. Everyone was required to answer questions about their gender, and the gender of people in their households. Many women conducted a boycott of the census, or at least of the gender questions.
On 25 March, a Let Women Speak event at Albert Park, Auckland, with the UK women’s rights campaigner Kellie -Jay Keen, was violently shut down by protestors. 2,000 anti-woman protestors invaded the space of 150-200 women’s rights supporters. An elderly woman was punched in the face and several women were assaulted. Kellie-Jay Keen’s life was at risk and she had to be helped out through the crushing mob by her marshals and security guards.
The police did nothing to protect the women or Kellie Jay Keen, until she was already out of the crowd.
This followed a week of failed efforts to keep Kellie-Jay Keen out of the country, and wall to wall attacks on her by the media and the establishment. Kelly-Jay Keen was labelled an anti- trans rights activist and accused of being a Nazi, because some Nazis had crashed a Let Women Speak event in Melbourne a week before.
On 25 March and subsequently, the New Zealand media mostly ignored the violence, calling the event peaceful and celebratory. However multiple vidoes and livestreams were shared in New Zealand and internationally, causing outrage.
On 28 March, Shaneel Lal, a leader of the protest, won Young New Zealander of the Year award.
On 3 April, NZ’s Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins, struggled to define what a woman is.
By April, many more groups had sprung up in response to the violence against women on 25 March and the silencing of women. On 15 April, they held rallies across the country in support of women’s rights.
For a more detailed report, with links to videos and media reports about the 25 March event at Albert Park, please see the attached document
Download the latest report from New Zealand, Jan - April 2023
Upcoming Events
In June 2023, the Birth Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Act (the Sex Self ID law) comes into force,
On 14 October there will be a General Election
For more information from New Zealand, see the WDI Australia and New Zealand facebook page
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