RAM - Residents Action Movement

Media release 18 September 2008

Northland associations of Grey Power
back People's Procession to Parliament

Grey Power is getting behind the People's Procession to Parliament calling for GST to be removed from food.

The times and venues of the main stopovers of the People's Procession have been sent out from the Grey Power national office to all regional associations of Grey Power. Their members are being invited to get along to the mass signings of the GST-off-food petition.

"We warmly welcome support from Grey Power," said  Vaughan Gunson, Northland procession organiser and deputy chair of RAM (Residents Action Movement), initiator of the GST-off-food campaign. "Many of their members are on fixed incomes, so are really being hurt hard by soaring food prices."

"I've had retired people ring me up asking for copies of the GST-off-food petition so they can collect more signatures," said Vaughan Gunson. "When this kind of thing happens, you know an issue has lots of support."

Two Northland associations of Grey Power are getting actively involved in the People's Procession.

"We're right behind the People's Procession to Parliament," said Liz Renner, president of Kerikeri Grey Power. The Kerikeri association has funded adverts for the Kerikeri stopover of the People's Procession in the local paper, The Bay Chroncile.

"The Far North association of Grey Power supports the GST-off-food petition and People's Procession to Parliament," said Gordon Bibb, Far North Grey Power president. "We advise our members to sign the petition at the Kaitaia Markets on 20th September."

"These Grey Power branches are in step with public opinion," said Vaughan Gunson. "We're picking up a groundswell of support for the campaign to remove GST from food. It's growing every day. I expect thousands more people to sign the petition on the People's Procession over the next two weeks."

The People's Procession kicks off in Kaitaia on Saturday 20 September, then stops at another fifteen North Island centres before finishing at the steps of Parliament on 3 October. Here the petition will be received by Maori Party MPs who are the only ones in the current parliament supporting the removal of GST from food.

The Maori Party is also mobilising its members to be at People's Procession stopovers. So are some unions and community organisations.

Removing GST from food is a core policy that RAM will be campaigning for in the general election. RAM is standing electoral candidates in Whangarei , Rotorua, Wellington and Auckland, plus 25 candidates on the party list.

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