In just over two weeks, advanced voting begins and, despite the efforts of media and many politicians, it is becoming clear that co-governance isn't something Kiwis are willing to blindly accept.

Yesterday, The Post (formerly The Dominion Post) reported on polling by Freshwater Strategy that shows that, with your support, Hobson's Pledge is helping to shift the dial.

For the past year, the most political parties have tried to dance around the issue, dismissing those who have had questions on or objections to co-governance. It has made it very hard to instigate sorely needed debate and research we commissioned at the end of last year showed most New Zealanders were confused about what co-governance actually is!

In fact, we discovered that some candidates have blocked e-mails coming from our candidate contact tool www.bottomline.co.nz.

This blatant refusal to even hear the concerns of voters, at the same time as they are asking for our votes, is an insult to our intelligence and to the spirit of democracy. Here's hoping they reconsider.

Last week, I urged you to ask questions and attend candidate meetings.

Don't stop now! Meet-the-candidate debates and catch-ups are continuing across the country. By showing up, and encouraging your friends and family to do the same, you can make sure that every electorate candidate knows opposition to co-governance will win votes this election.

Find tips and tricks on our website.

This week, we are focusing on taking action through a simple text!

Stand against co-governance by sending a message to your friends and family urging them to vote for parties that oppose co-governance. Feel free to copy and paste our examples, we've drafted a couple below:

“Hi there! I'm just contacting you because I'm really concerned about the direction New Zealand is going in. A crucial issue I believe we need to address is co-governance. It is fundamental to our democracy that every Kiwi has equal rights under the law. Co-governance divides us and creates separate systems, rights, and access to services dependent on race. We must make it clear to political parties and local candidates that we will not vote for division. If you're willing to speak up about this and send a message to your candidates, head to www.bottomline.co.nz. Let's protect our country's future for all New Zealanders."  

Or for friends you know are already opposed to co-governance:

"Hi there! I know you've been worried about co-governance. Check out www.bottomline.co.nz and send a message to your electorate candidates that your vote will only go to those who oppose divisive co-governance."

Keep an eye out for Hobson's Pledge action:

Starting on 20 September, thanks to your generosity we have full page adverts in regional papers and the NZ Herald calling for an end to co-governance because New Zealanders are better together. These ads are similar to the billboards we have up all over the country already.

We are also working hard online to ensure that our messages are getting out to New Zealanders. If you use Facebook or Instagram you'll likely see our ads pop up. Plus we have found that sometimes people aren't aware of the most outrageous things being said by co-governance proponents so we are running video ads on the Google Ad Network and YouTube. Here are two examples we currently have in circulation: Rawiri Waititi | John Tamihere

It is fair to say we are throwing the kitchen sink at this election. You can help by simply sharing any of our content or ads that you come across. Take photos of billboards and newspaper adverts, share posts on Facebook, send links to videos. However you can, just get the message out there.

The more people know that it is okay to discuss our democratic rights, the sooner we can have the vital conversations needed to secure equal democratic rights. 

Authorised by: Hobson’s Pledge, Suite 311, 184 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010