1. It all began in 2012 when I observed a jailhouse lawyer arguing a case beshackled in the court beside me in the High Court precinct. I wrote to him and we subsequently met in prison and decided to bring a case against the government to allow prisoners the right to v...

1. A Colmar Brunton poll conducted this month shows a majority of people would like to see prisoners serving sentences of less than three years imprisonment voting at general elections. 

2. Mike Hosking eat your cake. In a previous post, I published a recording of my i...

1. Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, acknowledges that prisoners serving sentences of three years imprisonment or less are eligible to vote in general elections. However, the current law prohibits all prisoners from exercising this right, which is guaranteed under the Bi...

Mike Hosking's comments reveal the untruthfulness about prisoner voting.

Low Turnout Rates for Maori Voting

1. At the conclusion of Newstalk ZB's interview with me above, host Mike Hosking made several comments about prisoner voting that were simply not true, not to ment...

Barrister, Richard Francois, interviewed by John Campbell about the Waitangi Tribunal's Report with prisoner right's advocate and former inmate Arthur Taylor. 

Background

1. On 10 July 2014, a group of Maori prisoners led by Maori women’s advocate, Hinemanu Ngaronoa, fil...

The Electoral (Strengthening Democracy) Amendment Bill seeks to repeal sentenced prisoner disenfranchisement. This action supports the Majority View of the Supreme Court in the Declaration of Inconsistency (DOI) case, but will the Minority have the final say in terms o...

On 21 January 2019, Minister of Justice, Andrew Little, appeared before the UN Human Rights Council.

He stated that New Zealand can do more to advance the rights of its people. On the same day, a group of Maori prisoners and Arthur Taylor filed a cla...

Reporter, Ruth Hill interviewed barrister, Richard Francois, on 14 December 2018, the day the Supreme Court delivered its second judgment in a month on the voting rights of New Zealand citizens. Refer Ngaronoa, Wilde, and Taylor v Attorney-General [2018] NZSC 123....

1. All women who are eligible to vote in New Zealand simply cannot after 125 years of electoral law. However,  we say that they can, which clearly belies the legend presented by the  government because in reality 2018 is not the 125th...

All people who have their rights violated by laws that cannot be justified under the Bill of Rights can now apply to the High Court for relief in the form of a declaration of inconsistency (DOI). 

1. Many people are missing the point of the Supreme Court's ruling o...