It is my privilege to present the first Annual Report for Safer Technology Aotearoa New Zealand. As a group, we commenced formal meetings in June 2019, with the initial public meeting being a talk by Dr Mary Redmayne about Children and Screens. The second public meeting was a workshop in September 2019. Andrew and Sue Lewis presented a number of public meetings on 5G in different areas of Christchurch, which we supported through providing the venue and advertising – Fendalton, Halswell, North New Brighton, Heathcote and Opawa.
We provided sponsorship for Andrew and Sue’s presentation of this talk, in different provincial towns around the lower South Island. They were doing this work until Covid lock down caused the cancellation of the Lyttelton talk. Our grateful thanks to Andrew and Sue Lewis and those who helped with venue and advertising arrangements for their public talks. Stop 5G’s first public protest was held in the Square, with around 300 attending, which Tremane Barr, Pauline Wayman, Andrew Lewis, Sue Lewis and Christine McCurdy organised – a great success which saw the protest featuring in the media. There were delays due to Covid lock down and STANZ was formed and incorporated in July 2020.
Our inaugural public meeting was held on the 1st of August 2020, with a number of presentations on EMR issues. On October 3rd a rally for Safer Wired Technology was held at the Bridge of Remembrance, an International Day of Protest. We have disseminated related international EMR petitions and news releases also via the weekly ‘Progressive Network’ newsletters.
Tremane Barr has worked with a web designer on behalf of STANZ to create the website, which went live in April. Tremane sent out newsletters to the 200 addresses on the data base prior to the establishment of the website. Now that the website work has largely been completed the newsletter will resume monthly from August onwards. www.safertechnology.co.nz
Thank you to those who worked tirelessly to gather signatures for National and Christchurch City Council petitions. We contributed to the Lisa Er petition to Parliament which gathered 20,000 signatures nationwide, it has been presented to Parliament and is awaiting the response from a Select Committee.
Derek Gilbert and Tremane Barr have liaised with the 5G National Coordinators group via regular Zoom meetings over the past year.
In the past year both Tremane Barr and Susan Turnbull have made submissions to various political bodies on behalf of STANZ:
Susan Turnbull reports: Vodafone and Spark would like to make panel antenna installations around the country and not just in Christchurch/ Canterbury, much cheaper and easier by getting the district council(s) to re-word their district plan rules on the topic. This however means they (Vodafone and Spark) then don’t have to get a National Environmental Standard changed which is a much harder, longer and more expensive task.
They are bargaining that the government, local and regional, would place a higher value on getting telecommunications infrastructure installed, for the sake of “prosperity” than making sure the infrastructure does not cross the limits of safety for the public, as spelled out (albeit vaguely) in the National Environmental Standard for Telecommunications. Vodafone and Spark are only committing to “managing adverse effects” of radio frequency field exposure. They want it to be recognised that there are constraints of affordability and technical do-ability, that would detract from the achieving of “successful” management.
They are looking for council consent (if not expectation as well) to possibly overstepping this NESTF Standard from time to time, as if it does not really matter too much.
Our stance is that the Standard does matter as RF exposure is hazardous. We submit that the Christchurch District Plan should not be re-worded but left as it is as there appears to be good reason for it to be like it is. Any rule change on a matter of this importance must only happen at central government level (Ministry for the Environment). Subsequent to this being submitted, Susan Turnbull was asked by the CCC planners to meet and discuss her submission. Tremane Barr and Pene Clifford accompanied her to this meeting.
Tremane Barr has made two submissions on how 4G, 5G and the internet are contributing to a massive increase in greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change. One was to the National Climate Change Commission and the other to the Christchurch City Council.
All of these submissions can be found on the STANZ website:
https://saferemrtechnology.org.nz/category/stanz-work/political-submissions/
1. At the beginning of the year 2020 Susan Turnbull offered to purchase a high performance emf field meter to lease to STANZ.
2. Derek Gilbert was tasked by STANZ to work with Susan to choose the specifications for the meter, which offers various packages of software to allow customisation. Derek has spent many hours liaising with the vendor, who supplies these meters to telecommunications companies among others.
3. Susan has paid a large sum of money out of her own pocket for this meter. We are in the process of developing a possible lease agreement for the use of the machine – the terms and conditions (and strategic policy goals) are not yet determined.
4. Depending on the outcome of this AGM, it may be that STANZ is not the most appropriate organisation to have the lease and use of this meter from Susan.
5. It may be preferable that it is lent to a separate smaller association which will have to be formed for the benefit of people whose primary interest focuses on electromagnetic radiation pollution and its effect on human and environmental health.
The members of the committee this year have been: Anne Gastinger, Susan Turnbull, Tremane Barr, Faye Fraser, Rosemarie Gutsmann, Derek Gilbert, Karen Currie, Justine Mouat and Pene Clifford.
This committee has worked on these issues over the past year and grateful thanks is due to all of them.
Pene Clifford
Chair
31 July 2021