On Tuesday, the Kiwi Party and Family First were found to have fallen short of their required number of signatures to trigger a non-binding citizens' referendum. The Clerk of the House granted them an extension, however. Two ultimate outcomes can now be envisaged. One is that the pro-belting lobby will still be unable to collect the requisite number of authentic signatures, but this may not necessarily be the best one. For one thing, as with the UN Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and homosexual law reform, there will be a communicative national network of social conservatives available, which will take time to degrade and relapse into entropy. If there's legislative action on any progressive social issue, then this could be a headache for those involved. The other is that they will finally succeed, which will bring us into new and ominous territory, for it will be the first time that a 'morality' based citizens referendum will have passed muster, and that should ring alarm bells for us. As I have previously argued "citizens" referenda are actually right-wing anti-citizenship measures designed to enshrine discriminatory social service or legislative provision. In the United States, numerous local Christian Right lobby groups have used them to prohibit same-sex marriage, or indeed, any other form of LGBT relationship equality or recognition legislation from passage. Another use is denial of social services to illegal immigrants, which is equally reprehensible. As far as I'm concerned, the CIR Act 1993 should never have been passed in the first place, and should be repealed as soon as its chief backers, New Zealand First and the Kiwi Party, are out of Parliament. The Kiwi Party is unrepentant about having an additional two months granted to collect the necessary number of signatures for its anti-child petition, and one wishes that Green MP Sue Bradford had taken a tougher line on the issue rather than acquiescing. What's worse still, Kiwi Party leaders Larry Baldock and Gordon Copeland want a lower threshold for CIRs, and a more lenient, less intensive signature authenticity appraisal procedure, as well as review from the Attorney-General. Given that their party won't be in Parliament after the next election, this is fortunately a quite forelorn hope. Under the guise of 'participatory democracy', citizens' referenda are an attack on human rights and civil liberties. They have nothing to do with meaningful citizenship and everything to do with promoting discrimination and social exclusion. It is high time that this pernicious right-wing legislation was gone from our country. Children's rights may be under attack now. What will be next? Same-sex marriage? Inclusive adoption reform? Transgender rights? Removal of the provocation defence from the Crimes Act? Recommended: David Broder: Democracy Derailed: Initiative Campaigns and the Power of Money: Harvest Books: 2001. Richard Ellis: Democratic Delusions: The Initiative Process in America: University of Kansas Press: 2002. Peter Schrag: Paradise Lost: California's Experience, America's Future? New York: New Press: 1998. Peter Schrag: "Take the Initiative, Please: Referenda Madness in California:" American Prospect (1996): http://www.prospect.org/print/V7/28/schrag-p.html Not Recommended: Kiwi Party: http://www.thekiwiparty.org.nz/ Family First Lobby: http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/ Craig Young - 4th May 2008