u/-Zoppo

NZBORA (New Zealand Bill of Rights Act) is not supreme law. And I'm not interested in looking at the American Constitution here, but the German Constitution.

The very first entry:

> Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.

The only mention of dignity in NZBORA is reserved for people the state has locked up.

New Zealand inherited the Westminster idea that Parliament is the supreme law-maker. No court can strike down an Act for being unjust, and there's no higher entrenched law it must obey.

Geoffrey Palmer proposed that the Bill of Rights become entrenched law that couldn't be amended or repealed without a 75% parliamentary majority or a referendum, giving it supreme-law status, with the judiciary empowered to invalidate any Act of Parliament contrary to it. Parliament stripped that out and passed the watered-down ordinary statute we have now.

We were offered a constitution that could defend people, and Parliament declined to be bound by it. Back then the public wasn't demanding it, so Parliament felt free to gut it. Enough people have now been visibly harmed that "the government can do anything to a minority" can finally stop being abstract and start being something voters punish.

Every year we have these 3 parties trampling on vulnerable people. The pay equity act for women? Long gone. Safety and acceptance of transgender people? About to be gone if this passes. Disabled people relying on prescription THC to avoid opiates? Already gone thanks to roadside drug testing.

The disabled people, women, transgender people, and everyone else deserve to be able to defend themselves.

The right will never agree to these changes, because they weaponize this to win elections by creating an enemy then promising to defeat it. Tell me, do you genuinely feel so threatened by trans people that you need politicians to protect you from them? It will take decades to change this, but we need to do it.

Are you satisfied with our pathetically weak politicians on BOTH sides of the fence?

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I would like to know what solutions there are. Entrenchment via referendum? If we can get a government over the line who does not use these ghoulish tactics then that might be a way forward. A referendum only needs a simple majority of the public, not the 75% of Parliament we'd never get. It wouldn't be enough to put the referendum forward, they would need to shut down any well funded misinformation campaign like Labour failed to do with the "Say Nope to Dope" campaign that preyed on fear and ignorance with falsehoods.

The well funded parties will absolutely try to prevent this. A sympathetic government doesn't just pass the clause; it puts it to referendum so the next government can't quietly undo it the way this Parliament gutted Palmer's version. Now, entrenchment in NZ isn't fully bulletproof - the provision that does the entrenching can itself be amended by a simple majority, so a determined hostile government could unpick it. But we have to try.

EDIT: Holy cow did not expect all the responses. Thank you everyone. 99+ notifications, I will be unable to respond to most lol

Hi, I have large hands and therefore fingers. Messing around with my finger placement I can improve the result of this chord but it quickly degrades my wrist pose, requiring tension.

234 didn't just feel like a way around this it feels quite natural to me, especially for transitions between E<->A<->D.

Still new to this. I've done one lesson with a teacher and have second in a few days. I thought weekly lessons were too short but now it feels too long lol.

Hi, I purchased this 2 weeks ago but didn't think to show it. I had my first lesson yesterday. It'll probably be a while before I'm good enough to actually enjoy it but I'm committed to getting to that level.

I got a good deal on the guitar, 25% off, gig bag and luthier setup included. The teacher described the luthiers setup as unorthodox but he really liked what he did with it, so evidently should be a reasonably unique sound even for a strat.

I've been practicing every day since I got it. Actually I have no goal here other than "play guitar". But I think if I keep going I'll eventually find something beyond that. I don't time my practices but probably at least an hour a day.

I've had good advice from the community here and am enjoying seeing everyone's progress too.