MEDIA RELEASE
7 AUGUST 2007

NZ Warriors To Stand Up Against Child Abuse

The NZ Warriors will be joining the ‘Stand Up Against Child Abuse’ event tomorrow.

At 12.12pm they will be stopping their Press Conference, and standing up against child abuse, along with many other NZ’ers across the country.

Family First NZ, For the Sake of Our Children Trust and Sensible Sentencing Trust have asked all NZ’ers to stop for 3 minutes at 12.12pm on Wednesday to take time to reflect on how they personally can be part of the solution to NZ’s unacceptable rate of child abuse.

“It is a symbolic stand as many NZ’ers have said how frustrated they are at the lack of action in dealing with child abuse,”says Family First’s Bob McCoskrie. “This could be a significant national event in turning the tide of attitudes and action towards child abuse. Abraham Lincoln said “With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.” We believe tomorrow will be a tipping point in motivating people to look to themselves and their own communities and resources for answers.”

“If we don’t face it and we don’t talk about it, we can never change it,” says For the Sake of Our Children Trust’s Christine Rankin. “We want to focus people on the future and how we can fix this. It is symbolic, but people say they want to stand up and be counted.”

The groups are aware of schools, workplaces, community organisations and churches who are “standing up against child abuse”tomorrow. They have been inundated with messages of support and a sense of urgency from NZ’ers that each one of us must be part of the solution.

A number of prominent NZ’ers will be gathering outside Starship Hospital including Petra Bagust, Greer Robson, Martin Devlin, Wynton Rufer, Sara Chatwin, Anthony Samuels and others.

Radio stations have been asked to play Destiny Child’s “Stand Up For Love” during these 3 minutes. This song was the Anthem for the World Children’s Day 2005.

ENDS

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