I am a proud mother, wife, creator, activist, healer, researcher, a prolific seeker of knowledge and solution orientated person who unapologetically strives for fairness, truth and justice for all!
I have spent most of my life fighting against things that I knew were wrong, which is a big part of what brought me to standing as a candidate today.
Unlike many candidates, I do not have degrees or bank accounts full of money and assets, nor do I have any allegiances to any particular individual group or organisation apart from the NZ Outdoors Party. However, what I do have is passion, dedication, understanding and vast knowledge from all of the often heart wrenching experiences I have endured and the ability this has given me to think outside the box and to find simple solutions because I can see the big picture. Thankfully, I also have seemingly never ending stamina and resilience to never give up until I succeed at whatever I am fighting for. And right now, I am fighting for You, me, our families, our communities and our very survival as a country!
I spent most of my working life in either childcare as a nanny or as a volunteer doing things such as, counselling and supporting people through our church at the time, who were struggling as solo parents or who struggled with abuse past and present, mental health, severe illness and drug issues and I did regular hospital and Old peoples home visits, did meals on wheels, soup kitchens and working with the homeless doing out reaches, was a counselor for life line in Nelson, rescued x pacer horses and reabilitated them, rescued cats through the cats protection and other animals through the RSPCA, was involved in many community garden and orchard and tree planting projects over the years and things of that nature and took in children of families and friends who were struggling and needed a safe place and some love and support. I also used to write for animal writes where the last submission in their regard I put forward to the government was that I agreed that animals were sentient beings and that our laws needed to reflect that, why and how.
In recent years I have been an administrator for Green cross which was initially created to educate the public about the benefits of Cannabis and to try to change the laws in its regard. Over time it grew to include supporting those who had been arrested and incarcerated for cannabis to supporting access and research and education for doctors, nurses, patients, providers, lawyers and government representatives and ushering in many other such organisations since. I have sat on several boards over many years that have included the moratorium to stop arrests, and this years upcoming referedum to legalise cannabis, which is misleading because cannabis is already legal. It is just that access and the ability to grow it, procure it, sell it and poccess it is restricted and in most cases is still wrongfully considered a criminal offence when, at the very least, it should be considered a health issue.
I did work for about a year at the health funding authority and the clinical training agency before the existence of the Ministry of “health” and I got a lot of my education there on the intricacies of how government actually worked. What I learnt shocked and dismayed me, however it gave me a lot of solutions about what could be done to rectify the foundational flaws embedded in the system itself.
I have also along with my husband in the past ran several small businesses, mostly in hospitality and I learned that I was naturally entrepeneurial and those same skills I find I still utilise in my daily life.
I have known a lot of tragedy in my life and before our precious son was born and after, we have lost several babies in vitro and when our wee miracle was about 3 and a half he got whooping cough and the Ministry refused to alert our town of the outbreak and in doing so caused our son to develop a nutrient deficiency and eating disorder and soon after we found out he was aspergus. Throughout that time and up until now we have had no real support or help of any kind in regards to any of this and in fact any interference has only caused extra heartache and terrible setbacks and so we have resorted to taking care of our sons health needs ourselves and we home school him. The state of our health and education system is in such disarray for any usual issue the public may have, let alone for those with serious or more complicated issues and so restructuring both of these systems is a huge priority to me.
The life I experienced growing up here in Christchurch New Zealand was a very different one to the one we experience today and that fills me with sadness. I would not say that my childhood was a particularly happy one and in fact I would say it was in many ways quite the opposite, however what we did have was a great many opportunities for play and recreation, beautiful beaches and rivers and creeks full of nourishing food and safe drinking water, residencial streets full of fruit and nut trees, vast forests full of thriving native and other birds and wild animals, clear blue skies, thriving small business and innovation and an education and health system that more than held its own in the global community with a model of self sustainability and self empowerment that looked at improving and thriving for generations to come.
New Zealand despite all of its issues was a beautiful country to be proud of and what set it apart was its beautiful green environment, resilience, self reliant and self sustainable way of living, high quality export of goods as well as people, what was known as kiwi ingenuity and the incredible sense of self responsibility and pride of the people to represent the best selves and therefore country we could. If we did not agree with something we would fight for it on mass, just like we need to be doing right now! Some of us still are out there fighting as hard as we can.
To stop our water being stolen from us in the billions of litres, to stop our seas being stripped of sea food destroying the marine life and ecosystem at the same time…
To stop our waterways and drinking water from being poisoned by inhumane commercial farming and devastating unnecessary 1080 drops whose negative affects are both immediate and long lasting…
To stop gmos that exist only to profit a few that poison our crops and penalise those that utilise seeds that can produce over and over and over again in a purely self sustaining way because to the government self production is not growth only profitisation that benefit a tiny few…
To stop this accelerated rollout of 5g when it causes all sorts of health issues when we already have a perfectly efficient service that we have paid a great deal of money for and not enough is yet known about it yet it is being forced on us and especially on our most vulnerable…
To stop people being arrested for poccessing and being denied access to a substance that has been proven to enhance peoples and animals health and well being which is Cannabis and like its cousin hemp has the potential to create a thriving and sustainable industry here in New Zealand that could put us right up there on the world stage because it has been proven that we grow the best in the world and the rate of use here is much higher than other places around the world and they both have the potential to heal and restore what has been depleted from and has toxified our environment and, so much more.
For generations, we have stood up to the worst of bullies, and the time has come for us to do the same now!
You want a country that You can feel safe in, a country where You, your families and your community can thrive and to not only survive but to truly live!
You want an education system that teaches your children how to problem solve, how to think for them selves, how to be innovators, how to be the best that they can possibly be by tailoring their education around their strengths while arming them with the foundations of learning that have been the basis of our education system for decades, that put us ahead of the world in so many ways. And You want an education system that teaches how to use technology as another tool and not as the primary authority on all things, endangering the health and well being of your children and, future generations, producing a nation of non critical thinking order followers whose teachers become little more than monitors wasting their own vast skills and knowledge!
You want a health system that offers You and your family an individualised whole body system approach where the aim is to work out what it is your body lacks and how to rectify that, to give You the greatest chance of the most optimal health and well being far into the future, utilising all possible care, products and treatments available, not just the ones pushed by pharmaceutical companies, rather than an outdated economic driven war time system approach that was garnered towards putting soldiers right back out in the field, instead of the most important aim which is to heal and promote immediate and long term health.
You want a justice system that is there to serve the public and keep You, your families and your communities safe, rather than one thats very existence was to exploit the most vulnerable in our society and to ensure that we would at the most be given the illusion of safety. The current system is set up to ensure that true justice is rarely served and that the undeserving profit off the victims of crime and that the majority of the worst criminals, that cause the worst suffering, go unpunished whilst others who commit victimless so called “crimes” or need help rather than punishment, end up with stiff penalties totally disproptionate to what they have been accused of, forced into deals that they are basically blackmailed into, with no support or voice for them or their loved ones and stigma and frankly abuse that they endure inside and outside prison that ensures a likelihood that they will end up back inside again because, contrary to the rhetoric the public is fed, positive reintegration into the community with a focus on staying out, is Not a priority within the inner workings of the corrections system. The majority of these people are anything but animals. They are our brothers, our sisters, our mothers, our fathers, our sons and our daughters or could be and they are people who somewhere some how were lacking whatever they needed to thrive. We can not help people if we are going to treat them like no good worthless scum. We need to give them the tools to build up pride in them selves and to learn and enhance skills and coping mechanisms in the face of disappointment and hardship which will see them able to thrive. That way they become an asset to the community rather than a hindrance. You want an efficiently run justice system that has rules that are the same for all and that do not negatively affect the everyday working and well being of individuals, families and communities with long, inexcusable time delays and constant preventable mistakes that often have far reaching devastating consequences for many.
You want a police force that is approachable, that is there to protect and serve You and your families, that is full of men and woman that are of the highest integrity and that like the fire service are there to put out fires not to create more to ensure that they still have a career. You want a police force that runs efficiently, that when you call them You are assured of respect, confidence and assuredness that You and your need will be taken seriously and given the attention deserved. You want to know that those in the force are working toward what is best for You and your community instead of what is best for them and their career.
You want a safe, beautiful, green, environment, with prestine fresh waters that you can drink out of, swim in, fish from and explore, thriving life filled forests safe to hike and hunt in or simply walk your dog, free energy innovations and healthier more sustainable power solutions that are properly maintained and real wide spread waste management sustainable solutions.
You want a government that promotes and rewards self sustainability, innovation and small business rather than corporate take overs and profit driven destruction that we are seeing and experiencing the negative results of today.
You want a government that remembers that they exist for the people and that it is us New Zealanders whose voices they must listen to and who in all they do must be accountable to and that everything they do must be transparent because their job is to do what us New Zealanders want them to do!
And what anyone who loves their families, and who loves this country and is loyal to it has in common is, that they want New Zealand to be healthy, happy and wealthy in all the things that truly matter in life!
I know what You want because I am just like You. I love my family and this country and I want this country to thrive in every way, this country that we and our forebearers all built together. And like You I can see that there is a lot of things to fix and I am only one person. And we are only one party. However the solutions are so simple and together if You join with us, we become Many and, united as one, there is Nothing that We can’t achieve. Join Us! Vote for the NZ Outdoors Party today! Vote for me Charlotte Staples MP for Christchurch East!
