people powered change

In 2020, the Protect Ihumatāo campaign was successful after six years of mana whenua making a collective stand for their sacred land.
Originally confiscated in 1863, a Fletcher housing development was proposed for a heritage site that had deep cultural and historical significance to the whānau from Ihumātao. They took the kaupapa around the world, and inspired a new generation of Māori to call for the return of Indigenous land.
ActionStation members and more than 50,000 people around the country supported this campaign by signing petitions, writing letters to decision makers, donating over $100k and joining the whānau on the whenua itself. The Crown agreed to acquire the land and activate a process with local mana whenua to determine its future.

In 2022, Aotearoa had its first ever Matariki public holiday.
Matariki is the Māori new year and is based on the lunar calendar. It is a time to gather with friends and whānau to remember those who have passed, to reflect on the year that has been, and to celebrate new beginnings.
Building on the work of Māori experts and advocates such as Professor Rangi Mātāmua, Laura O’Connell Rapira from ActionStation led a 35,000 strong petition, published independent polling that showed majority support across the country and coordinated powerful media coverage on the issue. In 2020, with support from the Greens and long term leadership from the Māori Party, the Labour Party announced they would make Matariki an official public holiday each year.

Since May 2019, Ruby Powell has been leading collaborative campaigning for a change in our welfare system. From coordinating mass open letters, powerful videos, hundreds of media stories, providing media and political opportunities for people with lived experience to lead change, and training people to speak to their communities and MPs about how we can create an Aotearoa where everyone can thrive.
At the end of 2020, on the back of a widely supported open letter calling for increased income support, the Fairer Future collaboration was born. As a result of all the collective campaigning, in Budget 2021 the Government introduced the biggest increase to benefits in a decade. The collaboration's latest release is Seven Steps for a Fairer Future.

Millan Ruka (Te Uroiori, Te Parawhau, Te Mahurehure ki Whatitiri) was facing an uphill battle, single-handedly trying to stop a water bottling factory at Porotī Springs near Whangarei.
Working with ActionStation, Millan mobilised over 800 people to come together and make submissions against the factory which would have increased pollution and went against the community’s wishes.
Together we showed the overwhelming opposition, and as a result, the project was stopped.

In July 2017, the ActionStation community supported one the most moving events ever held on the steps of Parliament.
For over an hour, Ngā Mōrehu (the survivors) shared stories of the abuse they suffered while in state ‘care’ and the impact that abuse has had on their lives and on the lives of their families and children.
Our community rallied around volunteer campaign leader Anneleise Hall to tautoko (support) her call for an inquiry into the historic abuse of people in state care, adding a much needed community voice to the Human Rights Commission’s campaign. The Royal Commission of Inquiry launched in 2018.

In late 2016, we put out a call for stories of people’s experience of the public mental health system along with our collaborators Kyle MacDonald and Mike King.
We received over 500 personal stories and from that created the People’s Mental Health Report which has five recommendations to improve mental health services in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The report received widespread media coverage pushing mental health up the public agenda.
As a result the government launched a mental health inquiry, and free counselling for 18 - 25 year olds.